Comparison

Skyty Wall vs Skyby

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Skyty Wall

Features
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Skyty Wall turns any spare iPad, iPhone or Mac into an ambient flight board — a live display of the aircraft overhead, rendered in the style that suits your room. Others sell €500 LED panels or €3,000 split-flap walls. Skyty Wall is pure software on hardware you already own. €4.99, one payment, forever. THREE THEMES AT LAUNCH • LED — Amber dot-matrix on black with bloom and scanlines. Homage to the classic airport flight wall. Free tier. • Split-flap — Cream flaps on dark wood. Every character flips when the list changes. Vestaboard homage. Premium. • Minimal — Cream paper, editorial serif, hairline dividers. High-contrast and quiet — for rooms that prefer understated. Premium. LIVE DATA, REAL FLIGHTS Skyty Wall pulls real-time ADS-B data from adsb.lol (no hardware needed — just internet). 8-second refresh means you see flights enter and leave your radius as they happen. Tap any aircraft to see its airline, route, and type. KIOSK-READY FOR THAT OLD IPAD Mount an iPad on the wall, set the radius around your home, and leave it running. Skyty Wall keeps the screen on while the board is visible, hides its own chrome after five seconds, and handles network drops gracefully with stale-data indicators. PRIVATE BY DESIGN No account. No analytics. No third-party SDKs. Your saved locations sync via your own iCloud — we never see them. That's a design decision, not a privacy promise to renegotiate later. PREMIUM — €4.99 LIFETIME • All three themes, on every device you own • Focus mode — one flight, huge. Auto-follow the closest or pin a specific callsign • Directional "window mount" filter — only watch the slice of sky the device is facing • Unlimited saved locations • Flight enrichment — airline, route and aircraft type on every row • Live Activity on iPhone — closest aircraft overhead on your Lock Screen • All widgets (S, M, L) with route and aircraft type • Custom accent colour per location • Family Sharing included One payment. No subscription. No in-app nags. Free tier stays free and useful (one location, LED theme, basic widget) — Premium unlocks the rest. DEVICES • iOS 17+ • iPadOS 17+ (primary surface) • macOS 14+ (window modes for ambient desktop display) • Universal Purchase — buy once, runs everywhere ABOUT THE MAKER Skyty Wall is made by the same team behind Skyty, the offline GPS flight tracker for passengers. Skyty is for people in the air; Skyty Wall is for people on the ground, looking up. hello@skyty.app

About

Skyby

Instantly identify commercial flights overhead without searching. Track airline, origin, destination, and aircraft type in real-time. Set alerts for specific planes or monitor your chosen airspace.

Highlights
  • Instant overhead flight identification
  • Real-time airline, origin, and destination
  • Aircraft type and altitude display
  • Inbound flight indicator
  • Customizable alerts for specific aircraft
  • Automatic logbook of flights
Features
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Know exactly what's flying over you. Look up, and whatever is overhead appears on screen. Airliners, private jets, helicopters, and more, identified instantly. No searching, no typing, no menus. NOTE: Some features shown in the screenshots require Skyby Pro. Whether you're a planespotter camped at the end of a runway or a casual fan glancing up from home, Skyby reads the sky in real time and shows the aircraft directly above: the airline or operator, the aircraft type, the altitude, and, for scheduled flights, where it came from and where it's headed. An inbound indicator shows when a flight is coming into range. Two ways to use it: Set it and forget it. Prop Skyby on a desk, shelf, or windowsill and leave it running: a quiet radar for your patch of sky. Set an alert for the aircraft you care about, and Skyby chimes the moment one flies over. Pull it out and look up. On a walk or in the backyard, open Skyby and see what's flying over right now. From airliners to helicopters: Skyby identifies it all. The passenger and cargo jets, the private planes and business jets, the helicopters overhead. And yes, if a blimp drifts over, Skyby catches that too. Prefer to keep it to the airlines? Flip on Commercial Only in settings. Set your spot, or take it with you: Use your current location Drop a pin anywhere in the coverage area to watch the planes over home while you're away Or set the pin to live, and Skyby follows you as you move WHAT YOU GET Instant overhead ID for the aircraft above you Adjustable search area, up to 3 nm free (wider with Pro) Alerts that chime when a plane you care about flies over (A380 and 747 built in, free) An inbound indicator when a flight is coming into range Real routes and aircraft types for scheduled flights A logbook that saves your catches automatically Available across the US, Canada, UK, Europe, Australia/New Zealand, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Philippines and Singapore today, with more on the way Skyby Pro adds aircraft photos matched to the tail number (when available), custom alerts (any airline, aircraft type, flight number, or tail), your full logbook with search and bookmarks, detailed stats, and an even wider search radius. Skyby runs on iPhone and iPad, and it shines on iPad propped up on a desk or shelf. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Skyty Wall4 screens
Skyby4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Skyby at weekly against Skyty Wall's fortnightly. Skyby also leads on iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Skyty Wall sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Skyby sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Skyty Wall ships an update fortnightly, Skyby weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 11, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Skyty Wall versus Skyby: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSkyty WallSkyby
PriceFreeFree
Rating—4.4 (9 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—85.7% of reviews
Number of ratings—9 — better
Update frequencyFortnightlyWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
Monetization—Freemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS17.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size83 MB11 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperKim EngelsStoryForward

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Skyty Wall

One-time1
  • Skyty Wall Premium$3.99
4 purchases

Skyby

Subscriptions2
  • Skyby Pro$2.991 Month
  • Skyby Pro Annual$19.991 Year
One-time2
  • Skyby Founder Lifetime$19.99
  • Skyby Pro Lifetime$49.99

Questions

Is Skyty Wall free?
Skyty Wall is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Skyby free?
Skyby is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Skyty Wall or Skyby have ads?
Neither Skyty Wall nor Skyby shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Skyty Wall or Skyby?
Skyty Wall ships an update fortnightly, and Skyby weekly. Most recently, Skyty Wall was updated on October 11, 2026 and Skyby on October 24, 2026.

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