Star Hoppers vs Starry Map
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Star Hoppers
Explore the cosmos with interactive star charts, blending ancient Chinese and Western astronomy. Discover constellations through engaging audio stories and augmented reality.
- Interactive digital star chart
- Ancient Chinese and Western star charts
- Augmented Reality (AR) mode
- Bilingual audio recordings of constellation stories
- Astronomical event calendar
- Stargazing basics
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Star Hoppers won the “Smart Mobility (Smart Tourism) Certificate of Merit” in the “Hong Kong ICT Awards 2019”. Star Hoppers integrates the Chinese and Western star charts with information of astronomical events and related activities while telling the stories of constellations to you with its audio recordings. With its digital star chart, you will find that people from the ancient Chinese and Western cultures created different constellation and asterism system due to their different associations with the stars. The star chart has three different operation modes: the Virtual Reality (VR) mode simulates the star field according to the location and orientation data obtained from the device to help you identify celestial objects and constellations; the Augmented Reality (AR) mode marks the celestial objects, constellations and asterisms on your camera image in real-time by employing the augmented reality technology; the Manual (M) mode allows you to navigate the star chart at will. Tapping on any constellations, planets, the Sun, Moon or Three Enclosures and Twenty-eight Mansions, you can listen to the recorded stories of the constellations or celestial objects. Star Hoppers also introduces the basics of stargazing to promote the proper manner of stargazing as well as to help the novice to identify the constellations. You may also select the Calendar function to receive the latest information of various astronomical events and activities provided by the Hong Kong Space Museum. You may use the Share function with third party apps to invite your friends to join the activities and share the fun of stargazing with you! Features of the app: * Help users to learn and identify celestial objects and constellations with the realtime generated digital star chart at any locations in the world. * Display unique ancient Chinese star chart with the complete ancient Chinese asterism system including the Three Enclosures, twenty-eight lunar mansions and more. * Playback more than 200 bilingual audio recordings of basic information of celestial objects and asterisms in the Western and ancient Chinese cultures. * Employ augmented reality technology to label celestial objects and constellations on your screen instantaneously when you point the camera of your mobile device to the sky. * Provide the latest news on the coming Hong Kong Space Museum events such as astronomical films, lectures, stargazing activities etc. * Share astronomical events and activities information to your friends easily and invite them to join with you.
Starry Map
Identify stars, constellations, and satellites by pointing your phone at the night sky. Augmented reality overlays display celestial names in real-time. Receive notifications for upcoming satellite passes and meteor showers.
- AR celestial identification
- Constellation and star catalog
- Satellite tracking and alerts
- Meteor shower notifications
- Offline functionality
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Point your smartphone at the night sky to instantly identify constellations, stars, and satellites. AR overlays show celestial names on the live camera view, and you can swipe to explore any direction. Get alerts for visible ISS passes and meteor showers. Includes: ・88 constellations (with Hevelius illustrations) ・Solar system planets, dwarf planets, asteroids ・Stars up to magnitude 12 ・About 100 Messier objects (nebulae and clusters) ・Over 10,000 satellites ・More than 300 comets ・Meteor showers and asterisms (Summer/Winter Triangle, Big Dipper, etc.) ・Satellite pass alerts (ISS, Hubble) ・Meteor shower peak notifications Works offline (satellite data won't update). Terms of Service https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Star Hoppers at none against Starry Map's 7. Star Hoppers also leads on ads (none vs shown). Starry Map's advantage is update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 25 months) and ratings volume (248 vs 4). On price, rating, device support and iOS requirement 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. Starry Map sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Star Hoppers asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.5 for Star Hoppers against 4.5 for Starry Map. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Starry Map has 248 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 50% of Star Hoppers's written reviews are positive against 62% of Starry Map's.
Star Hoppers ships an update every 25 months, Starry Map every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 6, 2026 and October 26, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Star Hoppers | Starry Map |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (4 ratings) | 4.5 (248 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 50.0% of reviews | 62.4% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 4 | 248 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 25 months | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 16.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 59 MB | 104 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | HKSPM | にゃんこソフトウェア |
Customer experience
Star Hoppers
Starry Map
Bugs and requests
Star Hoppers
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Starry Map
Reported bugs
13 issues- App crashes on launch after updates
- Date/time setting resets to 1970
- Black screen upon opening the app
- Ads not disappearing even after purchase
- App closes when selecting specific objects (e.g., Comet Neowise)
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- Location accuracy issues
- App closes after update
- App not working on older iOS versions
- Data connection not allowed error
- AR view constantly spinning
- ISS and Starlink not displaying after update
- App crashes when switching night mode
- App crashes when selecting NEOWISE comet
Requested features
8 requests- Reflect weather and light pollution in star visibility
- Include stories/episodes related to constellations
- Separate 1st to 3rd magnitude stars in display options
- Simplify solar system display for beginners
- Option to hide background stars or make them less prominent
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- Add comet Atlas to the catalog
- More user-friendly tutorials on usage
- Search functionality for star names
In-app purchases
Star Hoppers
No in-app purchases
Starry Map
- Unlock Features2 variants$0.991 Month
- Unlock Features7 Days trial2 variants$0.991 Month
- Unlock Features$3.991 Year
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- Unlock Features7 Days trial$3.991 Year
- Unlock Features (Lifetime)$9.99
Questions
Is Star Hoppers free?
Is Starry Map free?
Which has better reviews, Star Hoppers or Starry Map?
Do Star Hoppers or Starry Map have ads?
Which is updated more often, Star Hoppers or Starry Map?
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