Report updated May 21, 2026
SunCalc.net
For users interested in astronomy, solar tracking, and global time zone monitoring for navigation or educational purposes.
SunCalc.net is a market-leading navigation app that is completely free. With a 4.8/5 rating from 62 reviews, it delivers strong user satisfaction. Users particularly appreciate simple and focused interface design allows quick access to solar positioning data for professional tasks, though missing numerical data for sun azimuth and elevation forces users to manually interpret graphical representations remains a common concern.
What is SunCalc.net?
SunCalc.net is a solar and lunar positioning utility for photographers and outdoor planners on iOS and Android.
Users hire the app for quick, reliable solar timing to plan outdoor site preparation without the complexity of professional-grade tools.
Current Momentum
v1.21 · 1mo ago
Maintenance- Implemented map updates in latest build
- Refreshed icon to match design standards
Active Nemesis
Sun Seeker - Sunlight Tracker
By ozPDA
Other Rivals
7-Day Rank Pulse 🇺🇸
NavigationNo ranking data
Rating Pulse 🇺🇸
Recent User Mood
What makes this app unique?
What Does It Look Like?
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What Are The Key Features?
Calculates sun, moon, and solar planet positions for any location and time
Provides weather information via external open-source web links
Displays time across different global locations combined with compass functionality
Visualizes day length, sun declination, distance, and right ascension
How much does it cost?
- Free version with ad support
Monetization relies entirely on ad-supported inventory within a free-to-use utility model.
Who Built It?
Oleg Shanyuk
View Publisher Intel →Enrichment in progress
Publisher profile available very soon
What other apps does Oleg Shanyuk make?
What do users think recently?
Low confidence · Latest 65 of 84 total reviews analyzed · Based on 84 reviews. Signal may be noisy.
How did the latest release land?
What is the recent mood?
Recent user voice shows a thrilled sentiment. Users appreciate simple and focused interface design allows quick access to solar positioning data for professional tasks and high accuracy in calculating sunrise and sunset times supports precise planning for outdoor activities, but report missing numerical data for sun azimuth and elevation forces users to manually interpret graphical representations and inability to adjust time independently of date restricts the ability to simulate specific lighting conditions.
What Users Love
What Frustrates Users
What Users Want
View the full user-sentiment analysis
Mood gauge, ratings & review-volume history, every praise / complaint / request, and sentiment over time.
What is the competitive landscape for SunCalc.net?
Where is it available?
Localized markets (1)
How's The Navigation Market?
How does it evolve in the Navigation market?
SunCalc.net maintains a niche presence in the Navigation category, but its lack of ranking stability across multiple markets signals limited discovery compared to established prosumer tools. The absence of a paid tier prevents the app from scaling revenue alongside its high user satisfaction.
Rank progression
29 active rankings tracked — 30-day window
Which niche is SunCalc.net in?
to track sunrise and sunset times globally
Explore the full Weather Trackers niche
Every app in this space — 1 tracked, the niche's live rankings, and Marlvel's editorial take on the job-to-be-done.
The rivals identified
Nemeses(1)
With over 12,000 reviews and a long-standing market presence in the Navigation category, this app is the direct functional equivalent to SunCalc.net.
Differentiators
- Provides an augmented reality camera view to visualize solar paths over the physical landscape
- Offers a comprehensive 3D view of the sun's path throughout the entire calendar year
- Includes detailed hourly solar position data specifically optimized for navigation and outdoor planning
Head to head
The target app must decide between maintaining its minimalist utility or adding visual AR features to compete with the depth of Sun Seeker.
Contenders(3)
A dominant force for prosumer photographers that captures the same audience interested in precise sun and moon positioning.
Differentiators
- Integrates complex planning tools for Milky Way and celestial alignment alongside standard solar tracking
- Maintains a high-velocity update cadence with two releases in the last six months
A specialized tool that serves the exact same 'sun and moon' planning use case for professional photographers.
Differentiators
- Focuses exclusively on map-based visualization of light for specific geographic locations and times
- Provides a specialized desktop-to-mobile workflow that caters to professional planning requirements
A direct competitor in the photo-utility space that focuses on 3D compass and map views for solar tracking.
Differentiators
- Features a 3D compass and map view that provides more spatial context than a simple list
- Targets the specific pain point of finding the exact golden hour for photography sessions
Same space(2)
An adjacent utility that focuses on the specific timing of daylight quality rather than general solar navigation.
Differentiators
- Simplifies the user experience by focusing solely on the timing of the golden hour
- Provides push notifications for specific light conditions, a feature missing from the target app
While primarily for astronomy, it overlaps with the target app's audience interested in celestial positioning.
Differentiators
- Offers a high-fidelity, real-time map of the entire night sky and celestial objects
- Provides a significantly deeper educational database of stars and constellations than solar-only tools
New entrants(2)
High-velocity development with 13 releases in six months indicates a very active, responsive product team.
Differentiators
- Aggressive release cadence ensures constant adaptation to new iOS platform capabilities and user feedback
- Focuses on hyper-local environmental data, demonstrating a successful model for niche navigation utilities
Rapidly expanding its feature set to include solar and environmental data, threatening single-purpose apps.
Differentiators
- Integrates complex weather visualization layers that make simple solar trackers feel like legacy tools
- Provides a massive, data-rich ecosystem that keeps users within the app for all outdoor planning
Compare SunCalc.net against every rival
All rivals in one side-by-side table — identity, store metrics, ratings & sentiment, and strategic intel — plus a head-to-head page for each.
The outtake for SunCalc.net
Strengths to defend, gaps to attack
Core Strengths
- Minimalist interface design sustains high user satisfaction
- Focused utility avoids feature bloat of legacy trackers
Critical Frictions
- Missing numerical azimuth and elevation data limits utility
- Ad-supported model lacks premium tier for power users
Growth Levers
- Integration of moon position and sun altitude metrics
- Untapped potential for wearable device integration
Market Threats
- Augmented reality tools in rival apps siphon users
- High-velocity competitors outpace current update cadence
What are the next best moves?
Ship numerical azimuth and elevation readouts because users cite this as the top missing technical feature → increase professional utility
Sentiment analysis identifies this as the #1 complaint theme among professional users.
Trade-off: Pause the UI icon refresh cycle — technical data has higher impact on user retention.
Pivot to a freemium model because the current ad-only model fails to capture power-user value → increase ARPU
Competitors like Sun Seeker successfully monetize professional-grade features that this app currently lacks.
Trade-off: Deprioritize new map-layer integrations — revenue diversification is critical for long-term viability.
A counter-intuitive read
The app's minimalist design is a liability rather than a strength, as it prevents the product from capturing the high-value professional segment that currently subsidizes the development of rival solar trackers.
Feature Gaps vs Competitors
- Augmented reality solar path visualization (available in Sun Seeker)
- Numerical azimuth and elevation readouts (available in Sun Surveyor)
- 3D compass and map views (available in Sun Surveyor)
Key Takeaways
SunCalc.net wins on simplicity but loses on technical depth, because the lack of numerical data forces professional users to switch to rivals like Sun Seeker, so the PM must prioritize adding technical readouts to retain the prosumer base.
Where Is It Heading?
Stable
The solar tracking market is consolidating around prosumer-grade tools that offer augmented reality and precise numerical data. SunCalc.net remains exposed to these high-velocity rivals, as its current maintenance-mode posture fails to address the technical requirements of its most valuable user segment.
The lack of numerical data readouts forces professional users to migrate to competitors, which erodes the app's long-term retention potential.
Recent updates focused on minor visual refreshes and map stability, indicating the product remains in maintenance mode rather than active feature expansion.