xSky vs Bright Comets
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
xSky
Explore the cosmos with a virtual telescope. Point your device at the sky to identify celestial bodies. Zoom in for detailed views and use a search function to locate specific objects.
- Virtual telescope functionality
- Identify Sun, Moon, Planets, Stars, Galaxies
- Zoom up to a million times
- Screen lock to stop motion
- Object search arrow
- Soft music and sound effects
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xSky is a simple to use virtual telescope app. Just look at the sky through your device. Lock the screen and zoom in to explore in more detail. Features: • Sun, Moon, Planets, Galilean Moons, Stars, Constellations and Galaxies. • Pinch the screen to zoom up to a million times. • Use lock button to stop motions. • Search arrow will help to locate any object in the sky. • Soft music and sound effects.
Bright Comets
Discover visible comets in the night sky with this astronomy tool. Simply point your device upwards, and a red marker will guide you to the comet's location using real-time data.
- Locate visible comets
- Real-time sky pointing
- Red target marker guidance
- Uses device location
- NASA JPL ephemerides data
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This app helps you locate all bright comets currently visible in the night sky. Just hold your device up to the sky and find the red target marker on the screen. That's where the comet is! The app uses your location and up-to-date ephemerides from the NASA JPL's Horizons database to calculate the comet's position.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: xSky at none against Bright Comets's 1. Bright Comets's advantage is update cadence (every 5 days vs every 3 months). On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume 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. Bright Comets sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. xSky asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.2 for xSky against 4.3 for Bright Comets. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 75 and 153 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 80% of xSky's written reviews are positive against 75% of Bright Comets's.
xSky ships an update every 3 months, Bright Comets every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on September 26, 2026 and September 20, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | xSky | Bright Comets |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.2 (75 ratings) | 4.3 (153 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 79.7% of reviews — better | 74.7% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 75 | 153 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 5 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 60 MB | 23 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Oleg Sur | Hanno Rein |
Customer experience
xSky
Bright Comets
Bugs and requests
xSky
Reported bugs
9 issues- App keeps crashing
- Location services not working/picking a country
- App closes immediately upon opening
- App is glitchy and moves by itself
- Search button not working in horizontal position
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- App not working on iPhone 12
- App out of sync with reality
- Sun located incorrectly at noon
- Mercury in retrograde causing app to not open
Requested features
9 requests- Camera feature for high-quality photos
- Ability to turn down exposure for photos
- Facts read aloud about celestial objects
- Traditional constellation names (e.g., Virgo, Taurus)
- Show International Space Station or other satellites
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- Option to turn off constellation lines
- Improve search button size and usability
- Fix search button in horizontal mode
- More mythological graphics and information about stars
Bright Comets
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
xSky
No in-app purchases
Bright Comets
- Coffee$1.99
