By vs AstroShort
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
By
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The Physics of Stars — in your hand. By-Pass is an interactive physics laboratory that brings the fascinating complexity of Newtonian mechanics to your iPad and iPhone. Here, you become the architect of orbital systems and watch simple forces give rise to highly complex mathematical patterns. Unlike simple animations, By-Pass uses its own physics engine with a simulation rate of 60 Hz to calculate real gravitational interactions accurately and without compromise. The physical core: Master of Orbits: Create satellites and planets with intuitive gestures. Use drag gestures to define the initial launch velocity and watch as objects settle into stable orbits or drift away into the vastness of outer space. Dynamic Gravitational Centers: Choose between 1, 2, or 3 suns. Experiment with the unstable and fascinating solutions of the famous three‑body problem. Each additional center dramatically alters the gravitational field and sends your planets onto unpredictable, dancing trajectories. Variable Gravitational Exponents: Switch between a fully realistic simulation (exponent 2.0) and modified fields for extremely long‑lasting, geometric path traces. Precision & Performance: Experience the simulation with a render target of 120 FPS. The physics runs independently at 60 Hz, ensuring smooth visuals even in the most complex systems. Procedural Matter: Each planet (Rocky, Lava, Gas, Ocean, Icy) is generated at runtime and behaves as a discrete physical entity within the simulation.
AstroShort
Explore the entire universe from your fingertips, flying between planets, moons, and even black holes. Dive deep into factual information sourced from NASA, with interactive real-world locations and animated scenes. Offers both an explorer and a kid-friendly mode for all ages.
- Interactive solar system exploration
- Detailed planet and moon information
- Real-world location exploration
- Animated scenes and landmarks
- Explorer and Kid modes
- Offline functionality
- User-submitted feature ideas
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Astro Explorer was built together — with curiosity, a sense of social connection, learning and education at its heart. It began as a gift from a dad to his kid, and grew into a hand-built universe for curious minds of every age. THE WHOLE UNIVERSE, BY TOUCH Fly between the Sun, all eight planets and the Moon. Zoom from a planet up close all the way out to the Milky Way — and the real black hole at its heart, Sagittarius A*, shown as the 2022 Event Horizon Telescope image. Nothing here needs reading to explore — a child who can't read yet can pilot the entire universe with a fingertip. DEEP FACTS ON EVERY PLANET Tap any planet — all eight, plus Pluto — to open its observation plate: its moons, its weather, the missions we've sent, and how it truly sizes up. The facts go deep, in plain language, and every one is sourced straight from NASA fact sheets and JPL. GO INSIDE REAL WORLDS Earth, Mars and the Moon aren't just spheres. Drill down to real places — the Grand Canyon, Olympus Mons, the Sea of Tranquility — meet animals, visit landmarks, and watch each place come alive with its own animated scene. Every fact carries its source, straight from NASA planetary fact sheets and the International Astronomical Union. TWO WAYS TO EXPLORE - Explorer mode (the default): a clean, premium look where grown-up facts, side-by-side planet comparisons and a daily discovery feed are one tap away. - Kid mode: a playful skin made for little hands — bigger buttons, a gentler pace, and deeper content tucked safely behind a parent hold-gesture. BUILT BY ITS EXPLORERS Here's the part we love most. Have an idea for the app? A child can simply say it out loud. Their words are turned into text right on your device, a grown-up reads it and decides whether to send it — anonymously, never any audio, never any account. On the Builders Board inside the app you can watch ideas from explorers around the world come together: what's being considered, what's being built, and what just shipped. Great ideas can become real features in days. This app is built by its explorers. HONEST BY DESIGN - Works fully offline — every planet, place and fact, with zero connection. - No accounts. No ads. No analytics. No tracking. Ever. - The only thing that ever touches the internet is the daily discovery feed: a single anonymous download of the same public file everyone gets, with no identifiers and no cookies. Offline, it shows the last feed with a visible date. - Facts are sourced and scale is honest: planets are stylized so small worlds stay visible, but the truths always hold — Jupiter is always the biggest, Mercury always closest to the Sun. Made for families. A friendly narrator reads names and facts aloud, so a pre-reader can explore and learn by ear. Safe for the youngest explorer to use alone, deep enough for the most curious adult.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is iOS requirement: AstroShort at 15.0 against By's 26.0. On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
By ships an update fortnightly, AstroShort every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and October 16, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | By | AstroShort |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Number of ratings | — | 1 — better |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly — better | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | — | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 14 MB | 117 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Appno GmbH | Edon Zogaj |
In-app purchases
By
No in-app purchases
AstroShort
No in-app purchases








