which phone app

[popeye85]

Hi there.

 

I have just got a new phone and i'm trying to decide which app to get to help with my new nocturnal lifestyle!

 

Now the obvious one is stellarium, I have that on my laptop and is nothing short of a holy software as far as I am concerned! I have been told however that the mobile app version is alot more bare bones than the laptop version, what are peoples views?

The other one tht caught my eye was skywalker 3 which at 30 quid must be prtty outstanding, the fact that you can control the scope with it is apealing but giving the fact that I have a goto scope i dont know if there is any any real point in getting it for this function? thoughts?

 

whould love to know what the general view is about 'the app to beat'!!!

[Aaron F Johnson]

Night Sky tools on Google play works ok and free...but alot of the apps are bare compared to stellarium on a nice laptop. The best camera app for android is Open Camera a free open source app in case you also want some quick pics thrue the eyepiece. I like to take advantage of phone tech because nothing is more portable for grab and go...there are even all phone nightmode apps to help keep your dark adaptation while hunting dso...

[Knighty2112]

Skysafari is the Goto app for me on my Iphone and IPad. Three versions available, but well worth the money even the Pro version, however the plus version is just as good. Available for Apple and Android I believe.  

[ronin]

Skysafari seems to get to top rating, at present it is Ver 5 for iOS but only 4.0 for Android. Although the mumblings are that they will be bringing out Ver 5.0 for Android soon - keep hearing end of this month but ....

If the phone is Android it is worth waiting as if you have Ver 4.0 you still have to pay the full cost for Ver 5.0. It is not an auto upgrade or a half price upgrade.

Seems strange for a long time between the iOS and Android version, sure it has been 6 months or more now, sure they must lose out as people get hacked off waiting. I know I am.

[Owmuchonomy]

SkySafari beats the rest hands down in my view.  It's the only one I use now.  Its worth it just for the 'Galaxy View' alone!

[Alien 13]

A lot depends on what type of astro you are interested in but for me I couldn't live without polarfinder and the Canon eos utils remote app, another not strictly astro one is electrodroid a wealth of info and connector pinouts.

Alan 

[Sirius Starwatcher]

I'm with Skysafari having tried a number of others. I can't fault it.

[Ricochet]

It's probably worth going for at least the plus version I think (or waiting until version 5 is available on android and then getting it). The cheapest one doesn't really have enough stars if you're trying to compare to what you can see through the eyepiece or finder scope. 

[MarkVIIIMarc]

Put Stellarium on one of them Windows 10 tablets/laptop hybrids when money allows. It works just like on a pc.

[spillage]

I could not do without synscanlnit for my android phone and google sky just for a rough guide if I get a bit lost.

[breezy]

Plus one for synscaninit,  makes it easy entering data into a goto,  I have stellarium on my s5 and Google sky maps as well

[Size9Hex]

Hi Popeye,

I use three different apps which complement each other.

Sky Safari Pro for general all-purpose more or less everything. The Pro version is well worth it for me with a 10" manual scope even though I am by no means a pro. Other than my scope, this is my single best piece of kit...

Moon Globe is a bargain and great for learning your way round the moon.

And a bit of a curve ball, but Sky Guide is sooooooooo pretty. It's aimed more at naked eye or binocular users (or arm chair stargazing), and I used it a lot when I first started. But, I continue to find it really useful for making sense of naked eye observations of the Milky Way and some of the big faint nebulae. It unexpectedly beats the brilliant Sky Safari for this my opinion.

Hope this helps.

[bendiddley]

I use sky safari, works well for me.