Solar System Scope vs Polar Explorer
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Solar System Scope
Explore and discover the solar system and outer space with realistic 3D visualizations and detailed celestial simulations. This app offers an educational and engaging experience for all ages, featuring a comprehensive encyclopedia and a night sky observatory.
- 3D Encyclopedia of celestial bodies
- Realistic 3D visualizations
- Night sky observatory with time simulation
- Accurate orbital parameter calculations
- High-quality planetary and moon maps
- Multilingual support
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Solar System Scope is a fun way of Exploring, Discovering and Playing with the Solar System and Outer Space. Solar System Scope (or just Solar) contains many views and celestial simulations, but most of all - it brings you closer to the furthest reaches of our world and lets you experience lots of fantastic space sceneries. It aspires to be the most illustrative, easy to understand and simple to use space model. - 3D Encyclopedia In Solar’s unique encyclopedia you will find the most interesting facts about every planet, dwarf planet, every major moon and more – and everything is accompanied by realistic 3D visualizations. Solar’s encyclopedia is available in 10 languages: English, Spanish, German, Russian, Italian, Korean and Slovak. More languages are coming soon! - Nightsky Observatory Enjoy Stars and constellation of the night sky as viewed from any given location on Earth. You can point your device at the sky to see all objects in their proper place, but you can also simulate Night sky in the past or in the future. Now with advanced options that let you simulate ecliptic, equatorial and azimuthal line, or grid (among other things). - Scientific Instrument Solar System Scope calculations are based on up-to-date orbital parameters published by NASA and let you simulate celestial positions at any given time. - For Everyone Solar System Scope is well suited for all audiences and ages: It is enjoyed by space enthusiasts, teachers, scientists, but Solar is successfully used even by children of 4+ years of age! - Unique Maps We are proud to present a very unique set of planetary and moon maps, that let you experience a true-color space as never before. These accurate maps are based on NASA elevation and imagery data. Colors and shades of the textures are tuned according to true-color photos made by Messenger, Viking, Cassini and New Horizon spacecrafts, and the Hubble Space Telescope. Basic resolution of these maps is for free – but if you would like the best experience, you can check out the highest quality, which is available with In-App purchase. - Join our vision Our vision is to build the ultimate space model and bring you the deepest space experience. And you can help - try Solar System Scope and if you like it, spread the word! And don’t forget to join the community and vote for new features on our homepage.
Polar Explorer
Explore historical, current, and future sea levels through interactive maps and images. This educational app uses text and audio guidance to cover over 100 topics, engaging users with questions to deepen their understanding of climate science.
- Interactive sea level maps
- Historical and future projections
- Text and audio guidance
- Over 100 exploration topics
- Question-based learning
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Polar Explorer is an education app. It educates the user about past, present and future sea level. Education is achieved by exploring maps and images created with real data. The user can be guided by text and audio. There are more than 100 topics that can be explored. The user is guided through the app by responding to questions. The app is funded by NSF.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Polar Explorer at none against Solar System Scope's 1. Polar Explorer also leads on update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 4 months) and review sentiment (100% vs 80%). Solar System Scope's advantage is ratings volume (895 vs 10). 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. Solar System Scope sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Polar Explorer asks for nothing beyond the download.
Polar Explorer holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Solar System Scope has 895 ratings behind it against 10, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 80% of Solar System Scope's written reviews are positive against 100% of Polar Explorer's.
Solar System Scope ships an update every 4 months, Polar Explorer every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Solar System Scope | Polar Explorer |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.4 (895 ratings) | 4.6 (10 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 79.8% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 895 — better | 10 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 | 6.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 154 MB | 10 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | INOVE, s.r.o. | Columbia University |
Customer experience
Solar System Scope
Polar Explorer
Bugs and requests
Solar System Scope
Reported bugs
4 issues- Crashes when dragging Jupiter
- Upside-down orientation on tablets
- Unable to restore purchases
- Freezes and crashes on launch
Requested features
5 requests- Add more celestial bodies (Messier objects, Planet 9/10, black holes, etc.)
- Enable exploration of other galaxies and deep space objects
- Improve telescope/zoom functionality
- Add more moons and irregular satellites
- Implement continental drift and solar system evolution
Polar Explorer
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Solar System Scope
- HQ Textures / No Ads$5.99
Polar Explorer
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Solar System Scope free?
Is Polar Explorer free?
Which has better reviews, Solar System Scope or Polar Explorer?
Do Solar System Scope or Polar Explorer have ads?
Which is updated more often, Solar System Scope or Polar Explorer?
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