Comparison

Shade Compass vs SunArc

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

Head to head
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
Read full description

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!!

About

SunArc

Features
Read full description

SunArc shows the sun’s path and position on a map for your location, date and time. See where shadows will fall, from buildings, trees or custom objects placed manually. Check how shadows change throughout the day and across different seasons. Will your solar panels still get enough sun in winter? Will that tree block the afternoon sun from your kitchen window? Or when will your terrace finally be in the shade? Useful for photographers, hikers, home buyers, balcony owners, campers, gardeners, beach lovers, future solar power heroes and vitamin D hunters. One purpose. No account. No ads. No subscription.

Screenshots

Shade Compass4 screens
SunArc4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: SunArc at Free against Shade Compass's $0.99. SunArc also leads on iOS requirement (16.4 vs 18.0). Shade Compass's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1). On update cadence, 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

SunArc is free to download; Shade Compass costs $0.99 up front. SunArc sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Shade Compass asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Shade Compass ships an update every 10 days, SunArc every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 28, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Shade Compass versus SunArc: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterShade CompassSunArc
Price$0.99Free — better
Rating5.0 (2 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings2 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 10 days — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaid—
DevicesiPhone, Apple WatchiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.016.4 — better
Further details — not scored
Size1.2 GB50 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperIra SeferovichPascal von Burg

In-app purchases

None

Shade Compass

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

SunArc

One-time1
  • ShadeCheck Unlock$0.99

Questions

Is Shade Compass free?
Shade Compass costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is SunArc free?
SunArc is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Shade Compass or SunArc have ads?
Neither Shade Compass nor SunArc shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Shade Compass or SunArc?
Shade Compass ships an update every 10 days, and SunArc every 3 weeks. Most recently, Shade Compass was updated on October 28, 2026 and SunArc on October 31, 2026.

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