3D Solar System vs AstroShort
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
3D Solar System
Explore the solar system in 3D and augmented reality. Learn about planets, moons, stars, and constellations through interactive models, scientific facts, and engaging quizzes. Create your own planets with AI.
- 3D & AR Solar System models
- Scientific facts about celestial bodies
- Interactive star map
- Engaging educational tasks and quizzes
- AI-powered planet creation
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Have you ever wanted to hold the Solar System in your hands? Now you can. 3D Solar System turns your device into a window to the planets, constellations, and stars beyond. Solar System in 3D and AR Travel from the Sun to the icy edge of deep space — a planetary journey of nearly 15 billion kilometers through our cosmic backyard. Study planets, moons, dwarf planets, and two major asteroid fields: the Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter, and the Kuiper Belt beyond Neptune. See how tiny Earth looks next to Jupiter. Zoom in on planets' craters, spin Saturn's rings, and realize just how vast the universe really is. Interactive star map for passionate stargazers A complete map of the night sky with gyroscope support. Tilt your device toward the ceiling and explore constellations like a true space explorer — as if you were standing under a real night sky. Learn each constellation's name, its ancient stories, and the astronomy behind them. Learn to identify Orion, Ursa Major, Cassiopeia and discover dozens more. What you can do: ► Study planets — from scorched Mercury to icy Neptune — along with moons, dwarf planets, and bright constellations like a real astronomer. ► Test your knowledge with quizzes, planet order challenges, "True or False", and mythology questions. Learn who the planets are named after, how long a day lasts on Pluto, and what makes a star shine. ► Create your own planet using AI — design it, name it, and explore it. 714,000+ people have downloaded our app. To put that in perspective: that's 79 times more than all the stars you can see in the night sky with your own eyes. Some features may require a subscription. Free version includes: basic planet info, part of the constellation catalog, some quizzes and tests, star map, and AI planet generation (up to 2 planets). Subscription unlocks: full content about the Solar System, full constellation catalog, all quizzes and tests, planet cross-sections, unlimited AI planet generation. Every planet is different. Each constellation has a story. The universe is waiting — and it's bigger than you ever imagined. Explore all planets, learn every constellation, and become the space explorer you've always wanted to be. Start your journey through space today. Privacy Policy: http://educationterra.com/privacy Terms Of Use: https://educationterra.com/tos
AstroShort
Explore the entire universe from your fingertips, flying between planets, moons, and even black holes. Dive deep into factual information sourced from NASA, with interactive real-world locations and animated scenes. Offers both an explorer and a kid-friendly mode for all ages.
- Interactive solar system exploration
- Detailed planet and moon information
- Real-world location exploration
- Animated scenes and landmarks
- Explorer and Kid modes
- Offline functionality
- User-submitted feature ideas
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Astro Explorer was built together — with curiosity, a sense of social connection, learning and education at its heart. It began as a gift from a dad to his kid, and grew into a hand-built universe for curious minds of every age. THE WHOLE UNIVERSE, BY TOUCH Fly between the Sun, all eight planets and the Moon. Zoom from a planet up close all the way out to the Milky Way — and the real black hole at its heart, Sagittarius A*, shown as the 2022 Event Horizon Telescope image. Nothing here needs reading to explore — a child who can't read yet can pilot the entire universe with a fingertip. DEEP FACTS ON EVERY PLANET Tap any planet — all eight, plus Pluto — to open its observation plate: its moons, its weather, the missions we've sent, and how it truly sizes up. The facts go deep, in plain language, and every one is sourced straight from NASA fact sheets and JPL. GO INSIDE REAL WORLDS Earth, Mars and the Moon aren't just spheres. Drill down to real places — the Grand Canyon, Olympus Mons, the Sea of Tranquility — meet animals, visit landmarks, and watch each place come alive with its own animated scene. Every fact carries its source, straight from NASA planetary fact sheets and the International Astronomical Union. TWO WAYS TO EXPLORE - Explorer mode (the default): a clean, premium look where grown-up facts, side-by-side planet comparisons and a daily discovery feed are one tap away. - Kid mode: a playful skin made for little hands — bigger buttons, a gentler pace, and deeper content tucked safely behind a parent hold-gesture. BUILT BY ITS EXPLORERS Here's the part we love most. Have an idea for the app? A child can simply say it out loud. Their words are turned into text right on your device, a grown-up reads it and decides whether to send it — anonymously, never any audio, never any account. On the Builders Board inside the app you can watch ideas from explorers around the world come together: what's being considered, what's being built, and what just shipped. Great ideas can become real features in days. This app is built by its explorers. HONEST BY DESIGN - Works fully offline — every planet, place and fact, with zero connection. - No accounts. No ads. No analytics. No tracking. Ever. - The only thing that ever touches the internet is the daily discovery feed: a single anonymous download of the same public file everyone gets, with no identifiers and no cookies. Offline, it shows the last feed with a visible date. - Facts are sourced and scale is honest: planets are stylized so small worlds stay visible, but the truths always hold — Jupiter is always the biggest, Mercury always closest to the Sun. Made for families. A friendly narrator reads names and facts aloud, so a pre-reader can explore and learn by ear. Safe for the youngest explorer to use alone, deep enough for the most curious adult.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: AstroShort at 5.0 against 3D Solar System's 4.4. AstroShort also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 12) and ads (none vs shown). 3D Solar System's advantage is ratings volume (1.7K vs 1). On price, update cadence, 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. 3D Solar System sells 12 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per 7 days. AstroShort asks for nothing beyond the download.
AstroShort holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: 3D Solar System has 1.7K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
3D Solar System ships an update fortnightly, AstroShort every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 16, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | 3D Solar System | AstroShort |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.4 (1.7K ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 28.8% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 1.7K — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly — better | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 351 MB | 117 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Education Terra | Edon Zogaj |
Customer experience
3D Solar System
AstroShort
Bugs and requests
3D Solar System
Reported bugs
3 issues- Planets displayed incorrectly
- Subscription charges without consent
- Inability to cancel subscription
Requested features
4 requests- More free content and features
- Realistic planet models and animations
- Expanded content beyond the solar system
- Improved accessibility and usability
AstroShort
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
3D Solar System
- 1 Week Subscription$7.997 Days
- 1 Month PRO3 Days trial$9.991 Month
- 1 month Sale2 Months trial$10.991 Month
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- 12 months sale3 Days trial$14.991 Year
- 6 months$19.996 Months
- Astronomy guide - Sky atlas$19.991 Month
- 12 months3 Days trial$29.991 Year
- Astronomy guide - Sky atlas3 Days trial$29.993 Months
- 2 Month Subscription3 Days trial$39.992 Months
- 2 Months Subscription3 Days trial$39.992 Months
- Disable Ads Sale$9.99
- Disable Ads$19.99
AstroShort
No in-app purchases









