Comparison

Square and Compass vs Shade Compass

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

Head to head
About

Square and Compass

Features
Read full description

Square & Compass – Masonic Brotherhood App Discover a modern platform designed for Freemasons and those interested in Masonic values, tradition, and brotherhood. The Square & Compass app brings together education, communication, events, and personal development in one secure and elegant experience. Features: * Masonic education and resources * Lodge event calendar and notifications * Brotherhood networking and communication * Digital documents and member tools * Inspirational quotes and teachings * Secure member access and privacy protection Built around the timeless symbolism of the Square & Compass, this app combines tradition with modern technology to support connection, learning, and unity among members.

About

Shade Compass

Visualize the sun's path and your shadow's position throughout the day. Plan outdoor activities, photography, or gardening with augmented reality features and detailed celestial data.

Highlights
  • Live sun and shadow visualization
  • Augmented reality sun path
  • Object shadow casting
  • 24-hour time scrubber
  • Golden hour and twilight alerts
  • Moon and planet tracking
  • Seasonal sun path analysis
Features
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See where the sun will be, where your shadow will fall, and exactly where the shade lands — at any hour, at any spot on earth. Then keep going: garden planning, fishing and hunting windows, UV, air quality, tides, golden hour, and the night sky. Point your phone and the live compass orients to the world around you. Sun direction and altitude sit right on the dial, your shadow is drawn opposite it at true length, and sunrise and sunset are marked at the exact bearings they cross the horizon — with times corrected for the ridge in front of you, not just the flat math horizon. Drag the time scrubber and watch the whole day play out — perfect for a campsite, a patio, a photo shoot, a garden bed, or the shady side of a trail. SEE THE SHADE IN AUGMENTED REALITY • Point the camera and watch the sun's real path trace across your actual yard • Drop a tree, canopy, umbrella, vehicle, pergola, or solar panel and see its true cast shadow • Play a sunrise-to-sunset time-lapse and watch the shade sweep the scene • Tap any spot to read its hours of direct sun — today, or averaged across the year • Scan the whole yard for a full sun-and-shade map (iPhone Pro models with LiDAR) FOR THE GARDEN • "What grows here" — plants scored against your hardiness zone, soil, and measured sun • Frost-anchored planting windows: start indoors, direct sow, transplant, harvest • Projected harvest date and frost margin before you commit to a seed • Lock in a grow plan and push its reminders to your calendar in one tap • Watering guidance from rainfall, evapotranspiration, and a running soil-water balance • A household planner that sizes a garden to actually feed your family FOR ANGLERS, HUNTERS, AND SURFERS • Best Times windows for trout, bass, big game, birds, small game, and surf • Built from sun and moon position, season, and light at your exact coordinates • Fly hatch charts by region, lures with how to fish them, and a reading-water guide • Knot library with step-by-step instructions and a 200-term field glossary • Tides from NOAA harmonic data, plus buoy wave height, period, and direction • River flow and water temperature wherever there's a gauge nearby FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS AND STARGAZERS • Golden hour, blue hour, civil, nautical, and astronomical twilight, and true dark • Sunset quality scored from the cloud layers overhead before you drive out • Starting exposure for the light you're in, plus light direction and polarizer guidance • Moon phase, rise, set, and bearing; visible planets and an AR planet finder • Milky Way, meteor, and aurora windows, with live Kp and solar activity A WEATHER APP BUILT FOR BEING OUTSIDE • Current, hourly, and 10-day, plus a 7-day strip you build from 23 metrics • UV burn timer tuned to your skin type, with safer windows • Air quality with a likely cause — wildfire smoke, ozone, a winter inversion • Weather alerts, frost warnings, and a Lock Screen rain nowcast where available • Thirty years of local storm history and the months that carry the most risk • A plain-language read on whether today is actually worth going outside for ON YOUR WRIST, LOCK SCREEN, AND HOME SCREEN • Apple Watch app — dial, today, live conditions, and best times — plus complications • Widgets for sun, shadow, moon, UV, and the day ahead • Live Activities for golden hour, rain, UV burn, and your next prime window • Ask Siri for a shade report anywhere ANYWHERE, EVEN OFFLINE • Sun, moon, shadow, planting, and every field guide compute on the device itself • 32,000 cities offline, exact coordinates, dropped pins, saved places carried by iCloud • Any date, past or future — plan an October trip, or compare June to December • Month-by-month daylight hours, sun path, and bearings across the whole year One purchase covers iPhone and Apple Watch. No ads. No accounts. No subscriptions. No tracking. No data collection. Just the sun, your shadow, and a straight answer about the day ahead. Frequent and Responsive updates for feature requests and bug fixes!!

Screenshots

Square and Compass3 screens
Shade Compass4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Square and Compass at Free against Shade Compass's $0.99. Square and Compass also leads on iOS requirement (15.1 vs 18.0). Shade Compass's advantage is update cadence (every 10 days vs every 4 weeks). On 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

Square and Compass is free to download; Shade Compass costs $0.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Square and Compass ships an update every 4 weeks, Shade Compass every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on October 13, 2026 and October 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Square and Compass versus Shade Compass: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSquare and CompassShade Compass
PriceFree — better$0.99
Rating—5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—2 — better
Update frequencyEvery 4 weeksEvery 10 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
Monetization—Paid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, Apple Watch
Requires iOS15.1 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size54 MB1.2 GB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperCristi OpreaIra Seferovich

In-app purchases

None

Square and Compass

No in-app purchases

None

Shade Compass

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Square and Compass free?
Square and Compass is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Shade Compass free?
Shade Compass costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do Square and Compass or Shade Compass have ads?
Neither Square and Compass nor Shade Compass shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Square and Compass or Shade Compass?
Square and Compass ships an update every 4 weeks, and Shade Compass every 10 days. Most recently, Square and Compass was updated on October 13, 2026 and Shade Compass on October 10, 2026.

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