Comparison

Horizon vs Below Me

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

Head to head
About

Horizon

Features
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Hold up your phone and watch the night sky come alive. Horizon-AR uses your camera, GPS, and device motion to place real-time augmented reality overlays exactly where celestial objects appear in the sky above you. TRACK THE SOLAR SYSTEM Follow the Moon, Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn with a live arc overlay showing each object's full path across the sky tonight. Rise and set times update in real time based on your precise location. 110 MESSIER DEEP-SKY OBJECTS IN AR Activate Hot Targets mode and see every Messier object currently above your horizon floating in the AR view — galaxies, nebulae, open clusters, and globular clusters, each colour-coded by type. Tap any label to open a detail card showing: • Object type and Messier catalogue number • Common name (Andromeda Galaxy, Orion Nebula, Pleiades…) • Current altitude above the horizon • Apparent visual magnitude • Recommended instrument — naked eye, binoculars, or telescope • Favourite toggle, saved across sessions When objects cluster together, a single tap fans them out radially so you can reach each one individually. FILTER BY OBJECT TYPE Narrow the Hot Targets overlay to just galaxies, just nebulae, or just star clusters with a single tap. Objects you've starred appear in your Nightly Overview for quick access every session. FREEZE THE SKY Long-press anywhere to lock the entire AR view — overlays and camera image — as a still frame. Perfect for star parties, sketching, or sharing a screenshot. Tap once to unfreeze. NIGHTLY OVERVIEW Open the Tonight sheet for a full list of rise, transit, and set times for all solar system objects plus your Messier favourites, sorted for the coming night at your location. WORKS WITHOUT FULL PERMISSIONS No camera access? Horizon-AR switches to a star-field background with altitude rings and an azimuth grid so you can still explore the sky. Declined location? Enter coordinates manually and continue without interruption. No account. No subscription. No ads. Privacy: your location and camera data never leave your device.

About

Below Me

This app uses your device's camera to show you countries and geographical features on the other side of the Earth. It provides a live augmented reality view of borders, sea names, and distances, allowing you to explore the planet from your current location or simulate others.

Highlights
  • Live AR view of country borders
  • Distance and direction readouts
  • Offline functionality
  • Simulate locations worldwide
  • Detailed geographical relief
  • Day-night line visualization
Features
Read full description

What's on the other side of the horizon? Point your iPhone or iPad at the horizon, tilt it down, and Below Me shows you the countries that lie beyond the curve of the Earth, as if you could look straight through the planet. Below Me isn't a map. It's a window. Every border you see is placed where it really is from where you stand: computed on the WGS84 ellipsoid with great-circle math and projected through the Earth along your line of sight. Tilt further and the countries get farther away. Point straight down and you're looking at your antipode. FEATURES • Live AR view: country borders, sea names, a labelled 10° grid and distance labels floating over your camera image • Crosshair readout: which country or sea you're looking at, how far away it is and in which direction • Info panel you can fold away to a small tag for a clear view • Mini globe showing your position and line of sight, drag it to spin • Outdoor mode that dims the camera for bright daylight • Colour tints for land and seas, thin or bold borders • Choose kilometers or miles • English and German • Works offline. No account, no tracking, no internet needed FREE Explore everything within 5,000 km of where you stand. PRO – ONE-TIME PURCHASE • Whole Earth: range up to 20,000 km, all the way to your antipode • Place search: any country, 34,000 cities offline or any place worldwide via Apple Maps. Up to five red markers, and an arrow guides you there through the Earth • Relief: mountains, shelves and deep-sea trenches as coloured, shaded terrain • Your exact antipode, marked in yellow straight below your feet • Fine borders and coastlines (Natural Earth 1:10M, five times more detail) • Home marker: a red dot shows where home is when you travel • Major cities with distance • Local time at the point you're looking at • Country info card: outline, capital, area, population, currency, calling code, languages • Live day-night line and the sun through the Earth: tilt down at night and see where it's shining right now • Simulate a location: explore the Earth from New York, Tokyo or anywhere else Buy once, keep forever. Family Sharing included. No subscription. For the curious, travellers, teachers, pilots, sailors and anyone who has ever stood on a beach and wondered what lies out there. Requires an iPhone or iPad (iOS 18 or later).

Screenshots

Horizon4 screens
Below Me4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Horizon at none against Below Me's 1. Horizon also leads on iOS requirement (15.1 vs 18.0). Below Me's advantage is update cadence (daily vs every 2 months). On price, ads 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. Below Me sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Horizon asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Horizon ships an update every 2 months, Below Me daily. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and November 4, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Horizon versus Below Me: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHorizonBelow Me
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—1 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsDaily — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
Monetization—Free with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.1 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size42 MB32 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMichael BartosMarc Bachmann

In-app purchases

None

Horizon

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Below Me

One-time1
  • Below Me Pro Version$3.99

Questions

Is Horizon free?
Horizon is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Below Me free?
Below Me is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Horizon or Below Me have ads?
Neither Horizon nor Below Me shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Horizon or Below Me?
Horizon ships an update every 2 months, and Below Me daily. Most recently, Horizon was updated on October 31, 2026 and Below Me on November 4, 2026.

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