Comparison

iCSC vs Light Pollution Map

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

iCSC

This app provides detailed 48-hour sky forecasts for astronomical observation. It helps users find optimal locations and times for clear, dark skies by displaying data on cloud cover, transparency, and more. Save your favorite charts for quick access.

Highlights
  • 48-hour sky forecasts
  • Cloud cover, transparency, seeing data
  • Search by location or map
  • Save favorite charts
  • Legend for chart interpretation
  • North American chart coverage
Features
Read full description

Choosing when and where to observe is hard. It's a pain to take out your telescope and then having to put it away when clouds quickly roll in. Well, now you don't have to. With iCSC on your iPhone, you can easily search around for the best location, using Clear Sky Charts published by Attilla Danko. The Clear Sky Chart, invented and maintained by Attilla Danko, shows at a glance when, in the next 48 hours, one might expect clear and dark skies for a specific observing site. There are over 4600 charts available for North America, with data provided by Allan Rahill of the Canadian Meteorological Center. These charts provide Cloud Cover, Transparency, Seeing, Darkness, Wind, Humidity, and Temperature. Users can also enable a legend to help read the charts. iCSC allows users to find charts by title, location, or with a map. Users can then save the charts that they use often. While Clear Sky Charts are targeted at astronomers, anyone who wishes to look into the heavens, or needs a highly accurate sky forecast can benefit from iCSC: Clear Sky Chart Viewer.

About

Light Pollution Map

Discover optimal locations for stargazing and astrophotography with a detailed light pollution map. Get real-time alerts for celestial events like meteor showers and auroras, track the ISS, and access daily astronomy photos. Enhance your night sky observations with comprehensive tools and information.

Highlights
  • Interactive light pollution map
  • Aurora borealis live map and alerts
  • Meteor shower and super moon alerts
  • ISS tracker with live updates
  • Moon phases and information
  • Astronomy photo of the day
Features
Read full description

Light Pollution Map allows you to easily locate dark sky locations where the sky will not be affected by light pollution, allowing the best observance, star gazing, and photography of the night sky! But it's not just a light pollution map. There's so much more, such as aurora borealis live viewing map, meteor shower alerts, super moon alerts, lunar eclipse alerts, moon phases and info, aurora and magnetic field information, international space station tracker, and a lot more! Light Pollution Map will help you master the night sky.. List of all features: • Highly accurate, customizable and interactive light pollution map to find dark sky viewing locations near you. • See live aurora borealis information such as KP value, magnetic field information, and more for the hardcore aurora chaser. • Live aurora borealis visibility map for northern and southern hemisphere, with additional timelapse options. • Aurora information widgets (today widget). • ISS Tracker with live updates about the international space station including the location, visibility, velocity, altitude, and more. • Night sky event calendar allows you to find dates for lunar eclipses, super moons, and meteor showers. • Live images of the Sun via NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory. • Darkness countdown timer until the darkest period of night so you know when the night sky will be the darkest. Also let you know when it starts getting light outside. • Astronomy photo of the day directly from NASA! A new one every day to look at! • Local temperature indicator to know if you need to bring a sweater before you even step outside. • Local cloud coverage indicator to know if you will be able to see anything before you step outside. • Cloud cover overlay on the main map to find clear sky locations at night. • Settings to customize the app. • Moon information such as moon phase, moon rise, and moon set times, days of next full moon and new moon, etc. • Moon direction tool which allows you to find where the moon will be, at any time, any date, for any location. • Enable a horizon safe radius circle to avoid light pollution from nearby cities on the map. • Local Aurora Borealis (Northern/Southern Lights) alerts and push notifications. • Global Aurora Borealis Activity alerts and push notifications. • Meteor shower alerts and push notifications. • Super moon alerts and push notifications. • Lunar eclipse alerts and push notifications. • Save and load your favorite dark sky locations. • Navigate to your saved locations using the Apple Maps app. Some features above require an optional in-app purchase to upgrade to the pro version. Every purchase helps us to continue running and developing the app and is much appreciated. Note: Light Pollution Map loads data online. Internet connection or wifi is required, and we are not responsible for any data usage chargers from your provider. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

iCSC4 screens
Light Pollution Map4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: iCSC at 84% against Light Pollution Map's 14%. iCSC also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 6) and rating (4.8 vs 4.5). Light Pollution Map's advantage is update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 2 months) and chart position (#165 vs unranked). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Light Pollution Map sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per year. iCSC asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

iCSC holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: iCSC has 1.6K ratings behind it against 251, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 84% of iCSC's written reviews are positive against 14% of Light Pollution Map's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

iCSC ships an update every 2 months, Light Pollution Map every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 26, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 3 level
iCSC versus Light Pollution Map: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameteriCSCLight Pollution Map
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (1.6K ratings) — better4.5 (251 ratings)
Positive reviews84.2% of reviews — better14.1% of reviews
Number of ratings1.6K — better251
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank—#165 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS11.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size19 MB93 MB
Age rating+44+
DeveloperRandom Widgets LLCDunbar Technology, LLC

Customer experience

iCSC

All ratings1,561 ratings
Positive97.6%
Neutral1.5%
Negative0.9%
Written reviews95 reviews
Positive84.2%
Neutral3.2%
Negative12.6%

Light Pollution Map

All ratings239 ratings
Positive88.3%
Neutral1.7%
Negative10.0%
Written reviews425 reviews
Positive14.1%
Neutral7.5%
Negative78.4%

User reviews

iCSC

From 1.6K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Awesome
  • 🚀 Great
  • 🚀 The Best
  • 🚀 Great Tool
  • 🚀 Works Great !

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Not supported
  • 🐛 Accuracy
  • 🐛 no key to charts
  • 🐛 NO TOO IMPRESSED
  • 🐛 Terrible.

Light Pollution Map

From 251 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Clear detailed satellite views
  • 🚀 Works with barely any signal
  • 📊 Useful map with latest data
  • 🌌 Helps with astrophotography

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Crashes on opening the map
  • 🐛 Crashes after locating user's position
  • 🔍 No legend for map colors
  • 💰 Tries to get users to upgrade to premium

Bugs and requests

iCSC

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Crashed on opening a favorite, even after your message says bug is fixed.
  • Latest update crashes on Iphone X
  • Crashes as soon as I select an observatory/location ever since the update.
  • Wish they explained what each category meant in terms of overall ability to see the stars.
  • The data isn't bad, but it is all but unusable on my 5th gen iPad Pro 12.9. Tiny text you can't zoom in on.

Requested features

4 requests
  • Please add widgets and iPad support
  • Can update the forecast more frequent, at least once in the afrernoon
  • Search function
  • Good app, would love widget

Light Pollution Map

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • App crashes when opening light pollution map
  • App crashes after locating user's position
  • Cloud coverage feature not working as expected

Requested features

3 requests
  • Add Bortle rating information
  • Improve cloud coverage feature
  • Fix crashing issues

In-app purchases

None

iCSC

No in-app purchases

6 purchases

Light Pollution Map

Subscriptions4
  • Pro Version$9.991 Year
  • Pro Version$14.991 Year
  • Pro Version$19.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Pro Version$29.991 Year
One-time2
  • Pro Version Upgrade Discounted$8.99
  • Pro Version Upgrade$9.99

Questions

Is iCSC free?
iCSC is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Light Pollution Map free?
Light Pollution Map is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, iCSC or Light Pollution Map?
iCSC is rated higher. iCSC averages 4.8 out of 5 from 1.6K ratings, while Light Pollution Map averages 4.5 from 251 ratings.
Do iCSC or Light Pollution Map have ads?
Neither iCSC nor Light Pollution Map shows ads.
Which is updated more often, iCSC or Light Pollution Map?
iCSC ships an update every 2 months, and Light Pollution Map every 3 weeks. Most recently, iCSC was updated on October 29, 2026 and Light Pollution Map on October 26, 2026.

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