Cosmic Watch vs Heavens-Above

Cosmic Watch combines a 3D planetarium, sky guide and clock, rendering Earth and the sky in real time. Point a phone or tablet toward the sky to identify constellations, stars and planets through augmented reality. Views cover the observer’s location, Earth and the solar system; the app also includes geocentric and heliocentric solar-system views, a 360-degree celestial sphere, astrology mode, retrograde motion, a world clock and astronomical-event notifications. A free plan includes the sky guide, views, layers, star names, world clock and notifications. Paid tools add options such as Moon Calendar, meteor showers, saved date, time and location, and Time Control. Cosmic Astro offers Western or Vedic natal charts with interactive 3D horoscopes and PDF export to subscribers and Cosmic Pro members. Cosmic Watch is available for Android, iOS and macOS. Optional self-hosted Matomo analytics can be disabled in settings; the maker says it does not store or share location or network information. The maker presents the app as an educational tool for astronomy concepts and Earth cycles.

Heavens-Above provides satellite predictions and sky information through Android, iOS and web access. The website lists 10-day predictions for selected satellites, daily predictions for brighter satellites and Starlink passes from a launch. It also offers a live sky view, interactive sky chart, dynamic 3D Starlink orbit display and interactive 3D ISS visualization. Charts and information cover the Sun, Moon, planets, comets, asteroids and constellations. The Android app includes predictions for the ISS, visible satellites and radio satellites, plus orbit and ground-track views, night mode and an orientation-based tracker. Selected passes can be added to a device calendar. Predictions run locally, with a data connection needed every few days. The free plan costs nothing; Heavens-Above Pro costs $4.99, paid once and removes Android adverts. Predictions become less accurate farther from the current date.