Solar System Scope vs Armillary Sphere
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.
Armillary Sphere
Explore the cosmos with this 3D astronomical tool. Measure and record the positions and movements of celestial bodies, and determine sunrise/sunset times and day length. Reconstructs an ancient scientific instrument using modern technology.
- 3D astronomical model
- Measure celestial positions
- Record Sun and star movements
- Determine sunrise/sunset times
- Calculate day length
- Adjustable Meridian, Equator, Horizon, Ecliptic, Altitude
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Armillary is a handy astronomical application for measurement and recording specific times, locations and movement of the Sun and the stars, based on a Ptolemaic model. With this app, we can easily determine the time and position of sunrise and sunset, the length of a day, the altitude of the sun at different times of the year and the position of celestial objects. This 3-dimensional Armillary app reconstructs the ancient armillary sphere with the help of modern technology. The ancient device, believed to be first invented around 200 B.C., had been in use for over 2,000 years in history. FEATURES • This modern-day counterpart can be displayed in any scale and rotated by any angle. • You can make desired measurements by making relevant adjustment of the “Meridian”, “Equator”, “Horizon”, “Ecliptic” and “Altitude” on the app. USER CONTROLS • Touch-screen rotation – Gently swipe or slide fingers for desired rotation of armillary sphere rings • Swipe-touch panel – Swipe fingers on the display panel for desired movement of armillary sphere rings • Pinch-to-zoom – Use index finger and the thumb in a pinch motion to enlarge or shrink the screen as desired.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Armillary Sphere at none against Solar System Scope's 1. Armillary Sphere also leads on review sentiment (86% vs 76%) and iOS requirement (9.0 vs 13.0). Solar System Scope's advantage is rating (4.4 vs 4.0) and ratings volume (882 vs 6). On price, 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
Both are free to download. Solar System Scope sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Armillary Sphere asks for nothing beyond the download.
Solar System Scope holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Solar System Scope has 882 ratings behind it against 6, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 76% of Solar System Scope's written reviews are positive against 86% of Armillary Sphere's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Solar System Scope ships an update every 4 months, Armillary Sphere every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on September 28, 2026 and September 18, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Solar System Scope | Armillary Sphere |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.4 (882 ratings) — better | 4.0 (6 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 76.5% of reviews | 85.7% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 882 — better | 6 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months — better | Every 5 months |
| 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 | 9.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 154 MB | 275 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | INOVE, s.r.o. | HKU TELI |
Customer experience
Solar System Scope
Armillary Sphere
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
Armillary Sphere
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Solar System Scope
- HQ Textures / No Ads$5.99
Armillary Sphere
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Solar System Scope free?
Is Armillary Sphere free?
Which has better reviews, Solar System Scope or Armillary Sphere?
Do Solar System Scope or Armillary Sphere have ads?
Which is updated more often, Solar System Scope or Armillary Sphere?
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