SkyView® Lite

SkyView is your personal stargazing guide that helps you identify celestial objects simply and provides a lot of additional information about visible planets, stars, and constellations. Now you don’t need to be a scientist or even an astronomy enthusiast to explore the sky – install SkyView and learn about thousands of various objects while camping, hiking, or flying.

Interface 8/10

The interface of SkyView Lite is simple yet somewhat functional: the app uses your phone’s camera to identify a star or a constellation. However, unless you point it at some particular object, SkyView Lite won’t show you any unwanted information. When you want to know a little more about some planet or a satellite, there is always an option to access that data with just a few taps. The appearance of augmented reality models of all identifiable objects is great since SkyView Lite uses high-definition textures based on real photos.

Features 10/10

It’s quite unusual to see so many features in a free app. While the use of AR technologies applied to stargaze needs is the most interesting of them, there are many minor functions that make it convenient to use. SkyView Lite features colored filters to help you see better at night, allows you to see how the particular part of the sky looked in the past, supports some binoculars and telescopes, and has a variety of sharing options integrated with popular social media. And what’s especially impressive is that the app doesn’t need an Internet connection or even a GPS signal to function – you can use all of its features offline.

Usability 9/10

SkyView Lite provides you with enough tools to make stargazing fun and engaging. All you need to do is start the app, point your camera to the sky and choose one of the suggested sky objects to find out more about. And if you can’t find anything by yourself, there’s always an option to show the sky track of any planet or satellite, and that makes looking for them a much easier task. We’ve been really amazed by how it takes just a tap or two to know what constellation you’re looking at.

Compatibility 9/10

The app works perfectly well on most devices running Android 5.0 and higher, and there have been no reports on some general compatibility problems. SkyView Lite doesn’t even need a Wi-Fi connection, so there won’t be any problems with connectivity, too. The app is optimized to work even on relatively old devices – however, using them can cause specific bugs and glitches to appear from time to time.

Verdict

A great way to learn more about astronomy or just have a little bit of fun outdoors, SkyView Lite offers you a variety of convenient tools to make your next stargazing session much more thrilling and informative. And you don’t even need to waste your Internet data – the app works offline, too.