Celestial Navigator vs CourseSpeed
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Celestial Navigator
This app assists with celestial navigation training by providing a perpetual almanac, star finder chart with animation, and tools for calculating lines of position and meridian passages. It can utilize device sensors for real-time chart positioning, though a marine sextant is still required for actual navigation.
- Perpetual almanac
- Animated star finder chart
- Line of position calculation
- Meridian passage calculation
- Real-time sensor integration
- Celestial object data
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Celestial Navigation Calculator with - perpetual Almanac - star finder chart with animation. Use phone sensor for altitude. - calculation of lines of position ( intercept/delta ) - celestial object data - meridian passage calculation - running fix support - astronomical position calculations with two or more altitude observations - Hipparchus 150 star catalog - World chart with lines and position Program can be set to use device's sensors (gyro, compass) to position the star finder chart in real time. Capture celestial object approximate altitude. Correct Altitude with a Marine Sextant reading (not included). You still need a marine sextant to do celestial navigation, but the phone sensors may be used for training. Software for iPhone and iPad, with the same features. e-book with manual and celestial navigation tutorial.
CourseSpeed
This navigation app provides real-time course, speed, and position data on a clear display. It offers turn-by-turn navigation with voice prompts, map overlays, and the ability to save tracks and points of interest. Additional features include sunrise/sunset times, horizon distance calculation, and specialized functions for sailing and geocaching.
- Real-time course, speed, and position display
- Turn-by-turn navigation with voice prompts
- Map view with track history and waypoints
- Save and load track history and points of interest
- GPX file export for computer viewing
- Sunrise/sunset times and horizon distance calculator
- Anchor watch and geocaching search functions
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App Summary: Although the CourseSpeed App was developed for boating, the App can be used anywhere, for example Boating, Hiking, Bike Riding, and Geocaching. The app was developed to conveniently have Course, Speed, and Position available on one screen in sufficiently large fields to be seen several feet away from the iPhone as well as to show the current position on a map. However, it also provides other views that perform the following, additional useful functions: 1. Allows the current position to be followed on any of three map types and, from the map, get Turn-by-turn navigation directions with voice prompts to anywhere. The current track history can be displayed along with user entered waypoints along the track line. Both the track history and waypoints can be saved to a history file. Saved history files can be loaded to the map later for reference. 2. Allows Point-Of-Interest map pins to be added to the map. These are also saved to a file and displayed whenever the App is started and are independent of the track history Waypoints. The Map Point-Of-Interest pins can be edited or deleted. 3. Saving track points in a GPS Exchange Format (GPX) file which can be moved to a computer. The GPX track may then be viewed on any mapping program/web site that reads GPX files. 4. For the current location, displays the times of sunrise and sunset as well as the current Sun azimuth and elevation for the current day, or any other day with user date input. 5. Provides a Horizon Distance Calculator that calculates the distance an observer can see for any height of an observer and any height of an object. 6. Provides the capability to add a Mark point on the Map to which Speed-Made-Good and bearing is displayed. (Useful for sailors, geocachers, hikers) 7. Provides a Speed-Made-Good-To-Windward indication for sailers. 8. Provides an "Anchor Watch" function for boaters to determine if their anchor is "dragging". 9. Provides a Geocaching search function to use a user entered "Mark" as a geocache location. 10. Allows the management of track history files, and GPX files; i.e. renaming or deleting them. 11. Allows the following settings to be saved automatically whenever the user changes them. The settings are selectable from either the "Settings" view or other views. All are saved to a file on the iPhone and restored when the App is restarted: 1 Speed smoothing enabled 2 Course smoothing enabled 3 Course smoothing type 4 Use fractional speeds when speed less than 10 enabled 5 Enabling the recording of a GPX format track file. 6 Latitude/Longitude display format 7 Elevation Display Mode 8 Course display format 9 Speed display format 10 Map type 11 Horizon Distance units 12 Enabling/disabling Speed-Made-Good function 13 Wind Direction 14 Anchor Distance The CourseSpeed iPhone App supports Apple's "Light" and "Dark" modes. The CourseSpeedWatch App is also available for use with a paired iPhone running the CourseSpeed App. The CourseSpeedWatch App functionality is a subset of the iPhone App functionality and contains only data fields and buttons but no mapping capability. The following data fields/buttons are visible on a single, scrolling, screen: 1 Position (Latitude & Longitude) 2 GPS receiver Accuracy (Horizontal & Vertical) 3 Course 4 Speed 5 Altitude 6 Trip 1 Odometer value 7 Trip 1 Odometer Start/Pause/Resume button 8 Trip 1 Odometer Reset button 9 Trip 2 Odometer value 10 Trip 2 Odometer Start/Pause/Resume button 11 Trip 2 Odometer Reset button 12 Distance to a user entered Mark 13 Bearing to a user entered Mark 14 Start/Stop/Clear track button 15 Save track button 16 Current track distance 17 Sunrise time 18 Sunset time The CourseSpeedWatch App supports one watch face "complication" called "Sun Rise/Set". A detailed description of all the functions and options is available from the App's "About" page and also on the web at santuit-sw.weebly.com (Then click on the CourseSpeed App and CourseSpeedWatch App)
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: CourseSpeed at 5.0 against Celestial Navigator's 2.0. CourseSpeed also leads on update cadence (every 4 weeks vs every 9 months). On price, ratings volume, ads and in-app purchases 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
CourseSpeed holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 2.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3 and 2 respectively.
Celestial Navigator ships an update every 9 months, CourseSpeed every 4 weeks. The most recent releases landed on August 12, 2026 and September 15, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Celestial Navigator | CourseSpeed |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.0 (3 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 42.9% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 3 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 9 months | Every 4 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 11.0 — better | 12.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 32 MB | 12 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Omar reis | David Jennings |
Customer experience
Celestial Navigator
CourseSpeed
In-app purchases
Celestial Navigator
No in-app purchases
CourseSpeed
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Celestial Navigator free?
Is CourseSpeed free?
Which has better reviews, Celestial Navigator or CourseSpeed?
Do Celestial Navigator or CourseSpeed have ads?
Which is updated more often, Celestial Navigator or CourseSpeed?
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