MoonCatcher vs moontake
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
MoonCatcher
Capture stunning images of the moon with advanced focus and zoom capabilities. Offers both automatic and manual modes for precise control over exposure, ISO, and white balance. Ideal for aspiring astrophotographers.
- Easy moon photography
- Advanced zoom (40x)
- Automatic focus adjustment
- Manual focus control
- Adjustable ISO/shutter speed
- Multiple exposure modes
- Night scene enhancements
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This is an app that allows you to easily photograph the moon at night, including its pattern. You can also zoom easily. Usage is simple. (A) Tap the moon from the menu and tap the closest moon shape among the three. (B) Point the camera at the moon and zoom. (C) Release the shutter without moving the smartphone (tripod recommended). The shutter will fire several times, so don't let it slide until the end. If you cannot take any of the photos with the moon in focus, you can try "changing the center of focus" as many times as you like below. Tap the manual mode button (second button from the bottom right) to enter manual mode, where you can manually set focus, ISO/shutter speed, white balance, and multiple exposure parameters. ------------------------- The features of this app are (1) Fully automatic function - If you select "Moon", the exposure will be automatically darkened in response to the bright moon in the night sky, and the focus will be adjusted to the distance. Since it fires continuously while changing the focus multiple times, you can choose the best result among them. (The number of consecutive shots and the center of focus can be changed with the slider) *"Change the focus center": Tap "Moon" on the shooting screen to display the moon shape selection segment, the number of consecutive shots slider, and the focus center slider. Now you can change each value. Because the moon is far away, it is difficult to focus when zoomed in. Therefore, if you take pictures while changing the focus little by little, you can expect the moon to be in focus at some point. The focus range is from 0 (nearby) to 1 (far), but in reality, the focus is shifted by 1/5 when shooting. For example, 0.7 to 0.9 (0.8 in the center). By changing the center of focus, you can shift the focus within any range and fire continuously. - There are two types of night views. ・"Night Scene 1" brightens a dark night scene by one level. ・“Night Scene 2” brightens the image one step brighter than “Night Scene 1”. It fires continuously while changing the brightness 4 times. - If you select "HDR", multiple consecutive images with different exposures will be combined to create a pseudo-large dynamic range. Multiple exposure 3 times. (2) Full manual function You can take photos by manually setting the focal length, exposure, white balance, photo composition method, and number of photos. ・Tap "Focus", "ISO/SS", and "WB" to select auto or manual. ・Tap "Multiple Exposure" to select the multiple exposure composition method and set the number of composite images (up to 100). The synthesis methods are as following. Bright: Screen composit (Screen Blend) Normal: Comparison(light) composition (Lighten Blend) Dark: Comparison (dark) composition (Darken Blend) HDR: Special composition (Special Blend) (3) Other camera functions ・Zoom function: Achieving a zoom ratio of 40 time ・A camera position: The LCD screen side or the back camera is selectable. ・Focus position specification ・Mesh display ・Aspect selection ・Deviation correction selection (4) Filter function just after the photography To display the photograph just after photography and the following filtering are possible by slider operation. ・Purity (sharpness) ・Comparison degree (contrast) ・Luminosity (exposure) ・Display list function The photos taken in this app is stored in the camera roll and in app itself too and you can see the list of them with the shooting date and time information. ・Image processing function When you tap the image on the list, it displays the list of filters for image processing. It has about 70 filters such as 'Brightness','Contrast','Blur','Sharpening','Sepia','Monochrome','Edge detection','Sketch' and so on. *** This app include the following open sources. - GPUImage (Copyright (c) 2012, Brad Larson, Ben Cochran, Hugues Lismonde, Keitaroh Kobayashi, Alaric Cole, Matthew Clark, Jacob Gundersen, Chris Williams. All rights reserved.)
moontake
Capture stunning images of the moon with this specialized camera app. It offers manual controls for focus and brightness, along with a unique watermark displaying current moon phase information. The app faithfully reflects your camera's capabilities without using artificial models.
- Moon alignment guidance
- Two-finger zoom adjustment
- Tap-to-focus and manual focus slider
- Brightness adjustment
- Moon phase watermark
- High-resolution capture
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Tutorials 1. Please align the camera with the moon 2. Use two fingers to adjust the size of the moon (Note: Bigger is not always better, excessive zoom may result in decreased image quality) 3. You can tap on the position of the moon for autofocus. If autofocus is not clear enough, you can drag the focus slider for manual focusing 4. Tap the \"-\" and \"+\" buttons to adjust the brightness. Lowering the brightness ensures more details of the moon 5. Tap the circular capture button to take a photo ---------------------- moontake taking great photos of the moon on your iPhone. moontake provide a special watermark with current moon phase information. moontake's technology implementation does not involve any 2D/3D moon model matching or other cheating methods, faithfully reflecting the resolving power of the camera lens. It is particularly suitable for devices equipped with telephoto lenses. EULA: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: moontake at 90% against MoonCatcher's 29%. moontake also leads on price (Free vs $0.99) and update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 4 months). MoonCatcher's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.0). On 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
moontake is free to download; MoonCatcher costs $0.99 up front. moontake sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. MoonCatcher asks for nothing beyond the download.
MoonCatcher ships an update every 4 months, moontake every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 10, 2026 and September 25, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | MoonCatcher | moontake |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | — | 4.5 (41 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 28.6% of reviews | 90.4% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | — | 41 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid | Free with in-app purchases — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 23 MB | 39 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | HIROFUMI MARUO | ZIZICICI LIMITED |
Customer experience
MoonCatcher
moontake
In-app purchases
MoonCatcher
No in-app purchases
moontake
- Lifetime Pro Membership$1.99







