Night Sky Reviews

I love NightSky but lately it’s not picking up everything. There is a bright object to the top left of the moon right now, in close relation visually, and it’s not registering on NightSky . I gave it the benefit of the doubt that the bodies showing up a little further out were it but none of them lined up with position in the sky in relation and visual proximity to the moon. NightSky used to be spot on. Second time in 2 months I’ve been disappointed with as many times using it. Last time it wouldn’t show me where the moon was at all when I was trying to brag about NightSky to friends.

Next night:
It was Mars. Why wouldn’t it be superimposed over one another and have something that says what it is? And when you try to zoom in to a local body you get visually flooded with our local cluster of galaxies (honestly, that’s annoying. I know it’s a combination of our galaxy with other galaxies mingled in, but help me learn from local bodies! At least give a staged zoom prompt where you can zoom to the inner planets, then the outer planets, then the galaxy, followed by the super clusters if you wanna take it deep lol. Also, this used to have a super easy to use function where you type in a local body and arrows guide you to its location in the sky. Why would you get rid of that?! 🤷‍♂️

I’ve been using this app for a long little while now. I found it by going through Trial and Errors of trying to find the best app to look at the sky. I’ve sat i went though 5-6 apps before I was happy with my choice. It’s offers you so many features without even paying for it, as you would have to do for any other app. It’s crazy. Because it’s a free app that offers you AR experiences to blend with your night sky, real time constellations, stars, galaxies, Nebulas, satellites, and even major NASA things like, Hubble Telescope, International Space Station, Meteor Showers And so much more. It has tours of planets too. They also have media news updates everyday about anything going on in space like, The Mercury and Mars Conjunction and Major things that will be able to be seen with the Naked Eye.
I’ve dragged this on for too long but, over all it’s the best app to use for everyone who likes Astronomy and for Astronomers.

-Iyana

Update. I started using sky guide and it is must easier to use. If you just want an app to show you what is in the sky that is a good app. Night sky is too complicated.

I think I like NightSky but it is a little confusing to use. First it doesn't seem to reflect the actual sky. For instance, when I point it at Ursa Major it doesn’t show it exactly where it is in the sky. So, I am never sure what I am looking at when I look at the actual sky. It is like it just shows a map of the sky and isn’t really showing me the actual sky. I tried to use the sky blending but I can’t figure out how it works. The tutorial is lacking. I would like to see more explanation of each feature in the help section. Also in the preferences, there is no explanation of what each option is. For example, what does it mean if I enable the “moon” preference? I saw in one of the reviews the developers said to use the compass align to fix the view of the sky. I tried that but how does it work? What does the + or - degrees mean? More explanation is needed. I want to just point it at the sky and see exactly what I am pointing at be reflected in the view. I have had NightSky for years but just picked it up again. The older version was much simpler and more accurate.

NightSky worked great at home but when I drove a few miles away to look for Neowise and there was no WiFi, I connected my iPad to my iPhone hotspot, which worked well for everything on the internet EXCEPT Night Sky, even when I connected my iPad to the USB port in my car. NightSky didn’t respond as I moved my iPad—I could spin the display in any direction so North could be South, e.g.—so essentially it was no help at all with locating anything. Given that the user is likely to enter areas with no WiFi, there should be some way of addressing this scenario.
Which leads me to my other complaint. The tutorial is so bare boned it’s difficult to figure out how to use some features. I don’t mind exploring on my own; in fact it’s rather fun. But sometimes I’d discover how to do something and later couldn’t remember how I did it, and there’s no guide to help, so I’d have to figure it out all over again. There were a couple of features I couldn’t get at all, like the Siri voice command to find an object.
So, overall, while NightSky offers great feature, it doesn’t provide a very good means of helping you use them. Disappointing.

So, I’ve had this for a while. This is my first review however. It’s usually pretty solid. No complaints. I haven’t used it in a while and just did the update. There’s a My Views feature that I’m trying to use for an upcoming trip. NightSky crashes/shuts down every time I choose a date and time and press save. It doesn’t matter if it’s my location or a far flung one. Tonight or a month from now. Just crashes. It’s annoying.

Also the Night Sky Views and Stargazing Event tabs don’t work. Says something about internet connection. My internet is working perfectly fine everywhere else (even the rest of the apps features). All in all I like NightSky . The latest upgrade does have some bugs/glitches. Or maybe it’s me. Could be. Don’t think so though.

Just a note, I’ve used the free version until tonight. I just upgraded to the free trial. Not sure if or how that’s effecting it’s performance although I’d imagine it would normally be better.

I downloaded NightSky, and was very surprised! I had gone through trial and error, but NightSky was overall the best. Okay, now to the things that can improve: 1. When you click on the place that shows what the weather condition is, the temperature, and when the sun and moon will go up or down, NightSky automatically sets the time to when the sun goes down. I would love if NightSky automatically set to the current time. 2. When I search for a faint object (Proxima Centauri for example), NightSky shows me the location, but no pointers or anything tell me where the object is. It is impossible to find some objects 😢. 3. Please show moons of other planets in our solar system, or some planets from different stars. I would love to see solar systems of other stars. Finally, please do not send me the link to your help website, just read the review and try to improve. In no way do I think this is a bad app, quite frankly...I love it! Just please listen to me and try to make this the best stargazing app out there.

Edit: really surprised, pleasantly, by the developer response. Improvements came quickly, though more fine tuning is needed. I’m still very impressed by their passion to put out a quality product and customer service!

Original review: Received an alert on my watch that the ISS would be flying over and offered to take me to it. I thought, why not... hazy, but might get lucky. So, the display on the watch showed a pretty high path (as opposed to those low on the horizon). So, keep checking my watch face arrow pointing up/down to pinpoint location. I grab my phone and open NightSky , met with a sales pitch 8 pages long! (Longer than most ISS passes). Find the end, close it and look for the ISS icon to appear where the arrows on the watch are pointing. Nothing. Turn to go back inside, and there it is much further north gliding across the sky NOT where the arrows/flight path were pointing! I didn’t even bother to check NightSky on the phone as it couldn’t even sync with it’s counterpart on the watch. Super frustrating!

Had app for about 3 weeks and probably tried to use it twice. A little complicated to connect with what’s really going on for me personally. Tonight a random notification came through from NightSky (they haven’t been blowing me up all the time with notifications). ISS FLYOVER STARTS IN 5:00. Then the countdown began automatically on my watch to 0 and I finally am able to locate where the station should be on screen. Just click and the trajectory is there to guide you. As I see a faint glimmer of light appear from the west in a faint sundown glow sky. I had binoculars but can’t really make out any parts of object. I a sit and watch it make it’s way through the sky right at it’s highest point it came together to be able to persevere how fast we really are spinning giving me a euphoric nausea. Happy spinning. Great App! Easy to navigate with some practice and guides.

I downloaded NightSky because my three-year old son and I like going outside at night just before his bedtime to play and look at the moon and stars, and I just wanted to be able to tell him which planets and constellations we were seeing. NightSky did that and so much more. I had no idea what was orbiting our planet! I also love the widget.

My son also likes to use the AR feature in the house and sit the sun or the moon in our living room.

I haven’t used even half of what NightSky offers yet and I decided to purchase the lifetime subscription. I wanted the full experience for when I was ready to use it, but mostly I felt that even the free features were worth the price.

I did run into an issue where NightSky was not recognizing that I was Premium. Every time I opened it, it thought I was a free user and then I had to “restore purchase” to get it to work again. I emailed customer service for help and they were super responsive and worked with me to try to figure out what was wrong. The latest update fixed the issue.

Overall, we’re thrilled with what NightSky has to offer - I’m learning so much! - and recommend to anyone looking for a great star gazing app.

I really love NightSky . I use it at least once a week. My one and only complaint is that NightSky asks me every time I start it up if I want to upgrade. No. I do not want to f’ing pay for the upgrade. *edit* What kind of response is that from the developer? I am well aware the paid services offered. My issue is that NightSky offers these paid services too often. I would love to turn NightSky on without having to decline the paid services. When I’m outside using it, I usually have my telescope with me. I’ll find what I want to look at with NightSky , then put my phone on my pocket. When I want to move on to a different object, I open phone, and am asked if I want to pay for an upgrade. Every single time. I understand you have to advertise the paid services but it is a bit much. It’s as if you did not read my initial review and did the exact thing that I have a problem with... advertise the paid services.

I purchased NightSky a long time ago and haven’t been enjoying it since unfortunately after the recent updates I have not been able to log back on and when I hit the button that says restore purchases it just continues to load and does not allow me access. I sent an email to support and I am waiting to see if they can help me resolve my issue being that I have already paid for NightSky and have not been able to access it for sometime otherwise NightSky is fantastic I love it and while I was deployed in the army many of my battle buddies were fascinated with how accurate and informative it is others wound up buying NightSky themselves

Hi! So I posted a review not too long about the entire app and with the update NightSky is the number 1 night sky app!

So first off AR Sky Blending isn’t lagging anymore. It’s smooth and I can actually find the stars I want to see in the sky. Last review I said it was inaccurate, but now it’s pretty accurate.

Next, I would like to tell just how much better NightSky is than the other night sky apps. So there’s an app called sky guide and sky guide costs $2.99 and it’s “The Best” night sky app. I decided to compare NightSky to that app. Holy. Night sky was better in every single way. It was easier to use, had more features, it showed the names, and had better detail. And I haven’t made any purchases on night sky. I could go on but I still have school work.

I do have a couple of questions. How come Neptune is rotating so fast and spinning clockwise? If Neptune did actually rotate on its axis like that then NightSky should get 6 stars but it doesn’t. Second, what does the red/black button do? (The button that makes NightSky red and black) I have no clue what it’s suppose to be for.

Overall massive improvements and I hope to give an even better review some time.

NightSky is incredible and it is very fun and educational! Every morning I leave for work before the sun rises and I see the same patterns of stars and constellations that I can recognize like any normal person. But then I started noticing the changes in stars as the seasons went by, so I became curious as to what stars were which, especially since some were so much brighter than others. Turns out I’ve been looking at Venus the whole time, and I never would have known this if not for NightSky.

You can also tap on anything you see to learn more information, including satellites, Jupiter’s moons, far off nebula, etc. I even found the Hubble telescope way out there in the sky with NightSky ! You can even locate the International Space Station with NightSky. Definitely worth 5 stars.

This is seriously the most amazing app you can ever download into your iPhone. I can’t believe how amazing it is to see space live, see the satellites moving, and gives information like what date it was launched, where it launched, and show descriptions of different stars and planets. It uses all AR, and it is amazing to see planets and satellites so closely and detailed. I am in love with how NightSky is made, and for sure deserves more than 5 stars.

Developers: You have done such an outstanding amazing job with NightSky. Highly recommended for anyone who loves space and is into science; or just curious about live space. Love NightSky, and will always recommend people to have it in their iPhones.

However, I downloaded it 4 times and I it was ok when I first opened it ( after the download), but then it kept crashing and freezing up. Even when I pick “Always” on the location settings( which I never do for any app), and turn the ISS and Iridium notifications off it still crashes and freezes. Does it want me to pick the premium thing? I don’t want to though!!! I don’t want to do the FREE trial!!!! That means I don’t want to do the premium thing if I don’t want to try the FREE trial!!!! I’m supposed to have a choice in this, right?!?! Developers, if you fix this, then I WILL give this a five star review. The one thing I haven’t tried is to “Use Night Sky Recommended” notifications settings. I might try that. If you have any other suggestions please share.
Edit: I have now tried “Use Night Sky Recommended”. It froze up. I do need to update my phone, so I’ll try that.
Second edit: Same circumstances as above, except my phone was updated.

Clear, accurate, helpful!!! Good job “guys”... thanks for your efforts!!!

So as SOON as I wrote the favorable review ... still true... the jerks in the sales department began FLOODING NightSky with ad after ad totally blocking my screen with obnoxious pressure to UPGRADE!!! Totally ruined my night and repeatedly angering me at the arrogant , rude way they tried to bully me into buying up ... which I would gladly done had they not been such manipulative jerks ... now I’m going to a different site and will justifiably badmouth their sales dept should anyone ask... very low class!!
So then I got a lame, sarcastic, nerdy reply from a “site developer “ who chided me for being upset with the tricky , repeated ads , that rudely interrupted the site over and over while I tried to actually USE the site... Long story short it’s a good site but use while they hammer you with ads ... so either give the site free and allow users to CHOOSE to upgrade or stop acting like good guys and just charge folks upfront and honestly...... you lying jerks... ( sales guys ) 👍

This is a great app, do NOT get me wrong, it’ll tell me exactly the information i’m looking for, in a complex, and interesting package that i’m a huge fan of, but on the other hand i feel like it lacks a few things.
For example, it could utilize widgets better, it does have widgets that are pretty neat, but i wish they had a bit more information on them then they do, like a event calendar instead of just “sky news”
Outside of those few tiny problems, this is a great app!
i do though also feel like my compass through NightSky is off slightly? i don’t have any way to back this up of course but comparing what i see through ar bending with my sky it’s always off a little bit, devs any idea how to fix that problem?

Nice app for my iPad. Good graphics. Most of all, I like its usefulness. As an amateur astronomer, I’d like to get the most out of least effort... I want to stargaze rather than play with the electronics. Setup makes that happen. I also like the notifications given before a noteworthy event occurs. Moving the iPad over the sky like a planetarium is sweet especially with an uncomplicated horizon.

2 criticisms. 1) I’d wish NightSky could overlay the equatorial and RA/Dec across the sky. The ecliptic is helpful but just not quite enough. 2) I’d like to be able to reduce/increase the number of stars, especially in lieu of light-pollution. The more obvious the target, the easier it is to match up map to sky.

There’s a bit of a learning curve over my other device. Having said that, I really like NightSky and look forward to using it.

It seems to work alright,but I live outside of town an with the light pollution I cannot see that many stars. Well I can’t see the hundreds of stars they show.......I had written about how with the light pollution that I could not make out the stars that I could see compared with the Hundreds of stars that are shown on the screen. So I gave NightSky 3 Stars but I was contacted by email by the company. I had no idea that if you place 2 fingers on the screen an swipe down all of the stars are removed,except for the ones that I can see. WOW what a difference! Thanks again for your email and help or I would have never been able to enjoy the night sky like I can now.

I went into NightSky thinking, “Hey, this looks really cool,” and I then saw all of its features and downloaded it. At first glance, NightSky was quite the spectacle. You could zoom in and see countless stars, view satellites, and view distant constellations. But then, I saw the first problem, it very poorly lined up with the actual night sky. In other terms, it was very inaccurate. I then became very interested in the premium, so I bought a yearly subscription. I was very excited to use the new features that were unlocked such as a AR solar system and an AR planetary portal. But then, I realized both of these features were poorly implemented. The portals glitched and the solar system was very glitchy as well. At the end of the day, I think NightSky desperately needs improvement in order to match the expectations you set for me in the preview. So please, developers, please try to implement the features promised better.

The this app app is astronomy at your finger tips on your tablet or phone. It gives easy access to view the planets and a multitude of other objects in our night sky and their orbits. Just match up objects on NightSky with the actual object in the night sky and the night sky becomes perfectly clear to pinpoint other objects of interest. It’s like a road map! I found, starting with Jupiter, I can find other stars an objects much easier.
The “Glass constellations” feature, gives perspective to the stars positions and their relationships to each constellation...amazing! The effects you have at your fingertips to view deep space, the sky view in dark rural places as opposed to suburban viewing with ambient light pollution, helps a beginner to easily identify objects. I was enthralled to see the orbits of satellites, like the International Space Station and other monitoring devices and space stations orbit earth in real time! The information about stars along with being able to pull objects right out of the sky, turn those objects on their axis and read information about them, is absolutely impressive. A must for classroom teachers and a joy for amateur astronomers! this app app measures up to, and exceeds my every expectation!

I would have never known the International Space Station orbits the Earth about 15 times per day. I now watch it orbit twice just about every night. On non-cloudy nights anyway. It’s amazing. It’s like a star shooting across the night sky and Night Sky alerts us a couple minutes in advance then shows us exactly where to look. My 6 yr. old daughter has changed from wanting to be a veterinarian to wanting to be a space station driver. ;-)
Not sure if the main intention of NightSky is educational or to get kids dreaming of space travel but it does both very well. Only had it for a few days now so it will be fun to see what else it does. I imagine we have only scratched the surface. Definitely spend the $10 on the year membership. Jumping from planet to planet and seeing the sky and stars from their perspective is worth $100. We saw a planetarium show this week at the Tulsa Air and Space Museum. NightSky is like your own show. There is a ton of activity going on in the night sky. It’s so much more interesting and fun to see when you know what you’re looking at.

I was simply wasting away at home, when a bored search led me to NightSky. Intrigued, I downloaded it. It seemed rather well-made, so I continued. I fiddled around with some things after swiping through the tutorial, and I was astonished.

There are so many great features to NightSky that fascinated me, for example— the augmented reality, where NightSky mapped out the heavens across my bedroom ceiling. The stargazing aides, that help you find a nice, quiet park on the right day and with the right conditions. Or the notifications that can literally alert you when the International Space Station is flying over your head— or when a Uranian dawn breaks. There’s so much to NightSky, and if you have any interest in astronomy-or astrology- try NightSky out.

I wanted to be an astronomer when I was younger because learning about the stars and planets and other extraterrestrial bodies was always so fascinating. I have never looked up to the sky and seen something other than magnificent beauty, and with NightSky I can bring back my childish wonder and appreciation for learning. Being able to identify the seemingly insignificant dots in the dark sky brings a sense of joy I honestly can’t describe. I really love how much information you can find on each and every speck in the universe. Maybe there are flaws in NightSky just like any other creation, but I believe that I’ll be able to look past any that I come across due to the purity I’ve found in this money-making scheme. God bless

I loved NightSky but did not love the “Glass Constellations” that kept blocking my view and for me it was a distraction for me personally. I looked in app but the options and menu choices are so many (a very detailed app with lots of options) I got lost and did not know how to disable these.
This is where the great support came in. Quickly the developer replied to my question and showed me hoe to disable these in the preferences. If you have that same concern just follow their direction and go to preferences and there are 3 boxes or buttons you can tick off for glass constellations. I just ticked all 3 off so I can see the night sky clear and beautiful. NightSky is an awesome support for knowing what’s in space around us. Thank you!

It’s a great app (and this is coming from someone with the free version), and it has all the features advertised. My only concern is the fact that the camera included with it goes crazy! I try to use the features in the camera and the screen goes white and then NightSky crashes. Otherwise it’s really fun to use. And come on, the ads aren’t that bad! Good app overall.

Update: Well, it looks like all of my complaints have been fixed and NightSky deserves fives stars.
All of the detail packed into it is astonishing and I will use it outside when it’s dark in the morning. I thank the devs vey much!!

NightSky is 100% pay to enjoy. The “free” price tag on the store front I just that, a front. One you open NightSky you are forced to sign up for a monthly service of $1.99 per month before you can use it. Sure the first month is free but this is absolutely insane... Apple revolutionized the media works with the invention of the $0.99 song, the $0.99 download, and the former $0.99 movie rental. And now NightSky that hopes to secure a blind $20 per year for intermittent use!

The most infuriating part of this experience has been that it’s in fact an Editor’s Pick. Sure the content is probably amazing and the functionality highlights everything Apple does well or at least wants us to appreciate/focus on. BUT the promise of consumer experience + value + entertainment should factor into these designations as well. If you’re not going to call this a paid app, you’re failing on the first promises are broken.