Astrolabe vs Heliora
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Astrolabe
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Astrolabe turns your iPhone into a window on the heavens. Hold it up and the Sun, Moon, planets, stars, constellations, and even the International Space Station appear in augmented reality, placed exactly where they really are in your sky — for your location, at any moment in time. Drag the time scrubber to watch the Sun glide along its arc from sunrise to sunset, or pick any date — past or future — and see how the sky looked, or will look. Tap any body to read its altitude, azimuth, rise and set times, magnitude, distance, and the Moon's exact phase. Tap the empty sky to hide every control and just look. Astrolabe is built on precise astronomy (the SwiftAA / Meeus algorithms and an SGP4 satellite propagator), so positions are accurate to far better than you can point a phone. And it's honest about its one real limit: the iPhone compass. When the magnetometer drifts — indoors, near metal, in a reinforced building — a one-tap "Align to Sun" calibration locks the sky to reality. FEATURES • Live AR sky: Sun, Moon, and every planet at their true positions • Time travel: scrub the day or jump to any historical or future date • ~5,000 stars and the full set of constellation figures • ISS and bright-satellite tracking from live orbital data • Correct Moon phase, rise/set/transit, twilight, and golden-hour times • A "Today" timeline of every sky event, tap to jump there • Search any body and a live find-arrow that guides you to it • Daily trajectory arcs, cardinal markers, and a horizon grid • One-tap Sun/Moon calibration that bypasses compass error • View the sky from any place on Earth with a manual location • A clean Liquid Glass interface with light, dark, and night modes Works fully offline for the Sun, Moon, planets, and stars — only live satellite data needs a connection (and is cached). No account, no ads, no tracking. Augmented reality requires a recent iPhone with ARKit support.
Heliora
Visualize the sun's path and position using augmented reality and a 3D compass. Plan photography, trips, or sky observations by predicting solar events like sunrise, sunset, and golden hour for any location.
- Augmented reality sun path visualization
- 3D compass for azimuth and altitude
- Map-based location planning
- Sunrise, sunset, golden hour prediction
- Dawn and dusk stages
- Timeline exploration
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Heliora is a clean, intuitive, and full-featured tool for predicting the Sun’s position and path. With the 3D Compass and augmented reality (AR), you can see the Sun’s path at a glance and predict its azimuth and altitude at any time. Use the map to choose any location and understand how the Sun’s position and the light will change there before you arrive. Daily Details gives you quick access to sunrise, sunset, golden hour, blue hour, and the different stages of dawn and dusk, so the day’s most important solar moments are always easy to find. Explore the timeline freely and choose any place on the map. Whether you are planning a photo, arranging a trip, or simply observing the sky, Heliora helps you understand the light in advance and find the right time and place. Heliora — follow every ray of sunlight. Privacy Statement: https://yongxiaoshao-sudo.github.io/heliora-privacy/ EULA: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Astrolabe at none against Heliora's 4. Heliora's advantage is iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). 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
Both are free to download. Heliora sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Astrolabe asks for nothing beyond the download.
| Parameter | Astrolabe | Heliora |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Positive reviews | — | 100.0% of reviews |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | — | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 6 MB | 11 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Jakub Kot181059615751 | 永晓 邵 |
In-app purchases
Astrolabe
No in-app purchases
Heliora
- Buy Me a Coffee$0.99
- Buy Me a Slice of Cake$2.99
- Buy Me a Meal$3.99
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- Big Support$9.99






