Sky Map

Sky Map Free App

Rated 4.48/5 (456,239) —  Free Android application by Sky Map Devs

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About Sky Map

Sky Map is a hand-held planetarium for your Android device. Use it to identify stars, planets, nebulae and more.

Originally developed as Google Sky Map, it has now been donated and open sourced.

Troubleshooting/FAQ
The Map doesn't move/points in the wrong place
Make sure you haven't switched into manual mode. Does your phone have a compass? If not, Sky Map cannot tell your orientation. Look it up here: http://www.gsmarena.com/

Try calibrating your compass by moving it in a figure of 8 motion or as described here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1EPbAapaeI.
Are there any magnets or metal nearby that might interfere with the compass? Try switching off "magnetic correction" (in settings) and see if that is more accurate.

Why is autolocation not supported for my phone?
In Android 6 the way permissions work has changed. You need to enable the location permission setting for Sky Map as described here:
https://support.google.com/googleplay/answer/6270602?p=app_permissons_m

The Map is jittery
Try adjusting the sensor speed and damping (in settings). We have a better solution coming soon!

Do I need an internet connection?
No, but some functions (like entering your location manually) won't work without one. You'll have to use the GPS or enter a latitude and longitude instead.

Can I help test the latest features?
Sure! Join our beta testing program and get the latest version.

https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.google.android.stardroid

Find us elsewhere:
* https://github.com/sky-map-team/stardroid (github - source code)
* http://goo.gl/XWjRg (Google Plus)
* http://groups.google.com/group/google-sky-map
* http://twitter.com/skymapdevs

How to Download / Install

Download and install Sky Map version Varies with device on your Android device!
Downloaded 50,000,000+ times, content rating: Everyone
Android package: com.google.android.stardroid, download Sky Map.apk

All Application Badges

Sep 10
2014
Good rating
Free
downl.
Bug
buster
For everyone
Android app

App History & Updates

What's Changed
Workaround for bugs in the Samsung S4 and Note 3 that caused crash on start up.
Workaround for a small number of gyro-less phones that misreport their sensor status causing the map not to move.
Uses gyro by default if supported
More downloads  Sky Map reached 50 000 000 - 100 000 000 downloads
More downloads  Sky Map reached 10 000 000 - 50 000 000 downloads
Name changed  Name changed! Google Sky Map now is known as Sky Map.
Version update Sky Map was updated to version 1.6.4

What are users saying about Sky Map

Y70%
by Y####:

Primitive people were more successful than this app regarding astronomy. Really inaccurate despite setting and location tweaking. Has me spinning in circles when I search something. Sometimes the screen will be stuck in the same place when moving around. It shows the Moon in the wrong direction. Overall control of the screen is none. Not steady at all. Horribly inaccurate.

I70%
by I####:

Will upgrade stars when fixed. I have an issue where it got switched to night mode and i have no controls after. Only way i have gotten out of it is by removing battery from phone. Very annoying. Beyond that its a fun app. And fairly accurate too. My son who is 5 loves looking at the stars with me.

O70%
by O####:

Completely Broken This app used to work now the calibration is way off shows the horizon from bottom left corner to top right corner. Shows the moon to the North, have calibrated, reset, uninstalled and reinstalled all with the same bad results. Basically this app is useless as it is nothing on the screen is where it is in the sky. Do not bother with this as there are many more that do work. Even after turning off the gyro things are still wrong the Map shows the moon almost straight up it is 8pm.

T70%
by T####:

It's indeed a great app. I was just thinking that why can I see just Orion from India? But now I can probably take a look at many of the constellations and stars. Thank you so much for bringing this amazing app. Just a suggestion it would be so great if you can redirect us to the Wikipedia link after double tapping a particular star or planet or constellation. Thank you.

G70%
by G####:

Overall, Sky Map is a great application. It is perfect for the beginner astronomer, as well as those looking to learn more about astronomy, and familiarize themselves with the solar system. It includes many convenient features such as the ability to enable and disable the appearance of stars, constellations, planets, and much more. The feature I enjoyed the most was the ability to “time travel.” I could easily enter a date and time, (past or future), and view the solar system at that moment. This feature also allowed me to observe the changes in space that had occurred, or that would occur between the present and the time selected. Sky Map was able to accurately determine my location, and display celestial objects in relation to my position. An element that should be incorporated into this app is the ability for users to view information about any given celestial object they select. This would provide a more educational experience for those interested in furthering their knowledge about celestial objects, rather than just where they are located. In conclusion, this is an easy to operate, yet highly capable app that many astronomers, both new and experienced will enjoy.

G70%
by G####:

The only app that could locate me and the astronomical bodies I wanted to find. Be careful with the magnetic clasp on your phone case/cover. I found that if I had the magnetic clasp folded over the back of my phone it would throw off the sensor's alignment. I experimented with this several times.

F70%
by F####:

This app is a gem. And it worth installing even if only for the sheer hilarity of the license agreement. But it is so much more than that I'm literally able to hold my phone up to a point in the sky and it shows me in real time the stars and planets and their names and the constellations as I pan across the night sky. It takes my breath away. A trillion *s!

T70%
by T####:

A big thanks to the devs of this app, you just made my life free of star charts! Seriously, this app is so good I can spend hours locating all those planets, constellations and other objects in this vast universe. Just if you update the database of gallery it will be the final good thing, making the app complete. Once again, thanks for all you thought and did.

G70%
by G####:

Used to be such a good app, however after upgrading several phones over the years the app hasn't kept up and flat out doesn't work on my Moto z force. Premium phone with outstanding performance so I know it's not my phone but the app can't seem to use gyro data correctly and just spins the image around on screen as though you were moving. Not useful in this manner

T70%
by T####:

Works on Moto G3 but not on the G4 as Moto inexplicably dropped the internal compass. On the G3 the app's sky was always off a few inches, even when the compass was calibrated to high accuracy. Once I took into account the off-kilter view, the info was clear and accurate.

U70%
by U####:

Screen overlay detected error... Avoid apps that require screen overlays to be disabled. This is one of those apps. The problem is, even if you disable all overlays, this app often still complains that an overlay is detected. This is simply nothing more than bad programming. There are other astronomy apps out there that do not suffer from this limitation. In my case, I could never get it to work on 2 out of 3 of my devices, no matter what I tried. The only reason it works on the third device is because I did a factory reset, then installed it. However, because it pops up this error, I uninstalled it from all my devices and I use another app instead.

T70%
by T####:

It's okay bothering the locations but we only have to move our phone here and there following the arrow to find a particular thing. After you find u will probably zoom to see a better vision but as soon as you get close the screen starts shaking and your arms start to ache. I tried to zoom to andromeda galaxy. My right hand that was holding the mobile was still and the left one was zooming yet the screen was shaking. That probably means that the app didn't want to let you see it. I say Do NOT download this

T70%
by T####:

after reinstall, i still had problem with motionless. i found your troubleshooting help. fixing gyro/magnetic was key. i appreciate all the work you did putting this together. star gazing is so much better now, thanks!

E70%
by E####:

Works out of the box with tremendous accuracy. The night mode is a useful feature for when you don't want to be blinded by your screen in a dark environment. It's also a lightweight app which doesn't put any drag on your device

T70%
by T####:

I reinstalled this app after over year of not using it on my 1st gen Moto G. It worked in the past, so I was surprised when it didn't work this time (sky not moving in auto mode). Turns out I needed to check the "Disable gyroscope" option in the settings. I actually thought that the compass or accelerometer was a gyroscope equivalent. A more novice user might not have bothered looking for a fix to this known issue.

T70%
by T####:

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 (4.4.4 KitKat), had a little trouble at first in the calibration of my device. Used different tools and did tests til showing accurate. SKY Maps works like a charm every time used, just as promised it would once my device was set up correctly. ; )

U70%
by U####:

It used to work great. The newer version is inop and says my phone doesn't have the right sensors. Weird that it used to work on the same phone. I'm throwing the BS flag. Looks like you broke the code and are now blaming the phone.

T70%
by T####:

I thought there was a problem w/recent update, but rebooting my phone, Sky Map app works perfectly. We like seeing the different stars' & planets' names as we look up them at night.

T70%
by T####:

Though the graphics are a bit more simplified, this app is by far the most user friendly of all the star maps. I wish that there are more updated photos of the planets. There should be multiple variations of Saturn, Jupiter, as well as Pluto, especially since there have been close ups, thanks to the many rover missions by NASA.

T70%
by T####:

A really amazing app that is completely ad free! Don't care for the search feature where you have to travel all over the heavens to find a constellation or the app's limited information on planets! But this is truly the best app of it's kind! You wouldn't be able to see the constellations without this app thanks to all the air and light pollution plus space junk in orbit.

T70%
by T####:

This app provides an excellent map of the sky. After the last update I had to disable the gyroscope in order to get it to work properly on my phone; after that, it worked great. I love being able to locate astronomical events and objects in the sky.

T70%
by T####:

Sky map used to show you what you were looking at. What was on the screen is what was behind your device. Now, you scroll to what you want to see or you go to automatic and you see the same image in the southern sky regardless of the fact you are looking up in the northern hemisphere. Uninstalling and looking for something half good.

T70%
by T####:

The first time I installed it, it was perfect and worked best (without internet). Then after some update, it required Internet connection, without internet it wouldn't work. Now, it does not work at all, I mean it never shows the correct orientation in the sky, even when internet and also GPS is enabled. I tried reinstalling, still same issues.

T70%
by T####:

You can see anything on the sky using this simple free app, but theres some minor problem on my phone, im not sure what caused it but, this app work very goodly using jellybean, but when i updated to kitkat, the compass/gyroscope or the app seems have a problem, you cant see around using the app. I've calibrated the compass again and again but its not working at all

T70%
by T####:

Google SkyMap was amazing when it first came out. Now SkyView blows it out of the water. It's less shaky and has satellites and many more features. Google is always the front runner in technology, it's time to upgrade this, don't be afraid to charge a small fee for a professional version.

E70%
by E####:

I Am In Awe Of JESUS! And ALMIGHTY GOD'S Stunning Creation! So, I So...Love This App! Seeing And Studying Further...GOD'S HANDY WORK! BLESS YOU! THANK YOU!Sincerely,Cindy

G70%
by G####:

Not sure what you guys did in the latest update, but it seems like you ruined the app! In all the 6 years I've used it, I've never had so much difficulty! It now constantly says it's out of calibration! Thinking of uninstalling for good!

T70%
by T####:

This app was very difficult to use. You couldn't zoom out well to see the whole night sky. Also the positioning was off; Cassiopeia was clearly over my head but the map showed it VERY far away. This app was no use to my project on constellations for school.

K70%
by K####:

This app is so cool! It's a great way to learn about the sky without needing to actively set out time to study -- I never need to remember to bring books when I walk at night, and it's always there in my pocket!

D70%
by D####:

Just point your phone at any feature in the cosmos to learn its name. Every one of our kids and grandkids loves Sky Map! EZ setup: To calibrate, wiggle the phone along with the simple animation.

F70%
by F####:

Great app, but I had not been able to use It in full in my last two phones. Guess they hace not being able to keep compatibility with new devices

T70%
by T####:

Works great. I had to calibrate the phone's compass (easy, just needs rotating the phone a few times in different directions as explained in the app) and where I hold the phone in the sky the stars are named. Cool!

E70%
by E####:

Its cool to look at but holding your phone up your supose to be able to see whats on the screen behind your phone.... nope. I tried everything it dont work like that. However it has lots of cool features that make it well worth having.

R70%
by R####:

It's great for basic finding of stars and galaxies but there isn't a singular satellite displayed. I would like to know if that fast moving star in my night sky is the iss or just another shooting star.

T70%
by T####:

I had this on previous android and loved it. But on a new A3 (6) it Remains static and one screen remains frozen. Quite sad about this as on my old phone i used it almost nightly sailing around the world. Hope there's a secret 'fix' en route. :--)

D70%
by D####:

I can't get it to line up with what I'm actually seeing in the sky. I've tried recalibrating it countless times, but one day it just decided to stop working. The other apps that use similar phone functions seem to be working well, so I think the problem is that I app-specific. For now I'm uninstalling it and I'm going to try a different app.

T70%
by T####:

It is an okay app to determine which direction the objects are but i would not suggest using the sensor as you could be off by as much as 15 degrees on object location. The object search feature is good. The app could be improved by including a traditonal star map mode i.e. a circle with objects located in it.

T70%
by T####:

Not even close to being accurate. Tells me that it won't work because auto-locate is off when I install it, even though it is. Same issue multiple uninstall/installs. Everything on app is left and low of reality. Worked great on previous Nexus device, sucks on current pixel.

T70%
by T####:

I love this app, is very useful until the last update. Sky map doesn't move like it used to be. Only manual which means I may be pointing at wrong star.

T70%
by T####:

When I installed Sky Map last spring, I loved it & used it often. Now, it's not working right & I can't figure out why. There isn't anyway to troubleshoot or get help. Hence, my rating. If I get help & it starts working again, it will be a 5 star!


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Rating Distribution

RATING
4.55
456,239 users

5

4

3

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1