Gosatwatch Satellite Tracking App Reviews

I’ve been an amateur tracker for a couple of decades now and have used some great applications over the years, including Traksat and WinTrak. GoSatWatch ranks right at the top of my list. Always accurate, great GUI options and have never had any bug issues. I like that I can point to the TLEs that I’m interested in. Well done and “professional grade.”

I absolutely love this app. I use this often to explain the way satellites orbit the Earth and how crowded space is actually getting. Even though the icons aren’t to scale when zooming, the point gets across. I look forward to continuing to use this app into the future and any possible improvements that may come. The ability to add you own element sets was the key feature for me. Connecting with celesteack or space-track.org for up to date sets is a great feature.

This app is good, but too expensive. It's lacking some basic features. Look at Vito Technologies apps, they look feel and behave better and the price point is better.

Update: Maybe it was iOS7 or 7.1, because I haven't been using the program much because of the orientation problems, but the good ol' program IS BACK! It's great again. The program just makes too much sense for its own good. Yay! :) The latest version broke a lot of things mostly associated with iPad orientation. I wouldn't buy this version. Wait for an update. The program was really good before this one. Version 3.2 still has the same orientation problems.

It's hard to spend $10 on an app that's really unnecessary, but this one's worth it if you can get out of town once in a while. With GoSatWatch and a dark sky, you will be amazed. Civilization's not all bad!

Awesome App!! Works perfect on Ipad mini.

This is by far the best satellite tracking app I have ever used.

This app is basically good but it needs a lot of fine tuning. It does a great job of calculating passes accurately and showing only what you want to see. But has enough flaws that it's more frustrating to use than it should be. First it uses excessive CPU. The phone gets really hot while it's in use and the battery drain is immense. Second alerts don't really work. They will be haphazard sometimes but many times they are simply missed. It downloads keplerian data each time the app is opened. That's not necessary at all. It recalculates all passes for the day each time the passes screen is opened. It asks for compass calibration every time the app is launched even if the feature is not used. The tap targets for many buttons are very small and they do not register well. You can't reliably move from one day to the next in the passes view.

This is a very well-crafted and highly functional app! Really needs the freqs for working the birds, though. Would make it stellar.

I really like the application. I really wish it had an altitude imput though. I'm a pilot and sometimes the viewing angles are a little bit off. I think that's due to my height above the surface. Also, I can't get the X-37 to show a customized icon. I thought it used to have one but not I just see a generic satellite.

I have downloaded a lot of apps. It is nice when you find one that works. This app is easy to use and is accurate. I just spotted the space station thru a break in the clouds, right where this app said it would be. Love it!!

I love this app but lately I have seen satellites go by and they are not on my screen. Can anyone tell me what's going on?

Works great at letting you know when where the satellites are passing, but wish it told me more about the satellites.

Since installing iOS 11, the app doesn’t fully load and it appears that the Keps aren’t updating 😕 Help!!!

Folks better look at the notifications part. I looked at the app, looked at some passes and closed the app. Next day starting at about 4am I began to not get one but many alarms. I had to bring up the app, turn off all notifications, shut down the phone. Then went back to sleep. Please fix this.

Decided to get back into working the amateur radio satellites and needed a portable satellite tracking app. Although it seems designed for watching satellites, it looks like it will work very well for radio coms through the amateur sats with accurate pass predictions. The "Sky" view tab is a compass with a projection of the sky where you are pointing the phone. An icon of the satellite shows where in the sky you should be looking. Pretty impressive. I used it to find the ISS on my first try. Haven't configured my radios for satellites yet, but I think it will work well.

Thank you so much for making the app a universal app and for making the app so much better and easier to use! :) this is the best satellite app!!

This app is awesome and worth every penny! It does everything I need in a tracking program, from tracking amsats to visible objects. The interfaces are exceptionally good. I really like the 3D globe feature and it handles beautifully. One is able to center on their location by tapping twice on the screen. One can also magnify the view easily.

The app is awsome! Buy it!

How could it be any better? Perfect for finding iridium flares, perfect for timing NOAA weather satellite passes, every option you can think of for ease and expertise, even a night vision mode! I want to personally meet the developer(s) of this app and it's brethren (goskywatch) and shake their hand in congratulations. They have done a perfect thing in a world where perfection is exceedingly scarce.

The app is good and has a great interface. It would be five stars if it could predict Iridium flares and show the predicted flare location on the sky map.

THIS IS SOOO NEAT !!!!! ANOTHER GREAT APP. I ENJOY !! WELL WORTH THE MONEY!!!

Good app. Notifications seem a bit inconsistent on latest version. Any way to clear the Cache? Some of the Iridium Next satellites got loaded with temp names because I checked the app right after launch. Can’t seem to get it to update with the final vehicle numbers.

Great app but stopped working on my iPhone for space station tracking while it works on iPad. Any ideas

It's been a long wait, but this updated version has eliminated old issues and added a number of new, informative features and improvements. To my knowledge, this is the most capable and well-designed satellite tracking app available. Over the past few years, this app has helped me view and photograph hundreds of satellite passes (ISS, Chinese space station, manned & unmanned spacecraft, Hubble telescope, etc.) and Iridium flares from a multitude of geographical locations. It's also a fantastic tool for visualizing and understanding all types of satellite orbits. This is an unbelievably handy app. [It sounds like the user who claimed to have an issue with notifications may have just needed to change their settings within the app :) I've experienced no problems thus far. I'm using an iPhone 5S]

Needs a field for freqs on the Amaeture radio darts

Wanted an app that would predict visible passes from both the ISS and Iridium Flares... Paid money for an app that NASA produces for free (for my purposes)... Won't be happy until the update with Iridium Flares comes out.

This app does not show the satellites on a 2g touch but works great with iPhone. I guess u have to have the gps sensor in your device for this to work.

Works great, get it!

This app is AWESOME! Hands down, it's the best satellite tracking app. It's full of all the features you need. I use this to see the ISS passes over my city. I even post the ISS passes on my FB & Twitter feeds so my friends can go outside and see the ISS for themselves! This app is well worth the cost.

(1) Notifications had more control, for example the ability to add to calendar / reminders with entry automatically grabbing time of pass. (2) notification had the ability to send SMS or other notification that doesn't disappear (3) notification could send multiple reminders such as at T minus 10 mins. Then 5 minutes, then at time of pass. (4) the program doesn't continuously require the compass to calibrate.

I absolutely love this app. I use this often to explain the way satellites orbit the Earth and how crowded space is actually getting. Even though the icons aren’t to scale when zooming, the point gets across. I look forward to continuing to use this app into the future and any possible improvements that may come. The ability to add you own element sets was the key feature for me. Connecting with celesteack or space-track.org for up to date sets is a great feature.

App requires ALWAYS setting on when your location is tracked. Eats up battery by constantly tracking you even when you aren't using it. Privacy concerns for that reason as well. Can't give highest rating to app until they only get location in the "while using" setting.

This works well to predict satellite passes. Other apps have some good functionality, but I like the list of passes and the alerts from this app. The default list of satellites is a little longer than in other apps. I had some minor bugs; the developer was responsive and helpful

I've been using an app like this since the Palm Pilot days, and grabbed this app years ago when it first hit the App Store. The dev has been great in keeping it updated and adding features. It's super easy to use and contains a lot of detailed information. No one looks up anymore :( We're all staring down at our devices, but missing a great show up above. I'm lucky enough to still have a dark sky, and whenever I show off this app to people they totally love it! Seeing a long bright pass of the ISS is a real treat and many people had no idea you see this on a routine basis.

One thing that would make this a five star rating for me is if there was info on the satellites to help me know a little more about that bright light going across the sky. Don't get me wrong, I love this app. Satellites are right where this app says they will be. I've spotted a couple iridium flares with these predictions and have spotted many other satellites too.

I have tried them all. This one is frigin' awesome. Now that I have used it for several months I couldn't imagine using anything else. It's my best friend. It's funny to read a negative comment here. Any of the negative comments are from users that have no clue. Ha. Try it, you won't be disappointed.

If you want to know where a sat is you can't go wrong with this app. Easy to use, plenty of options without being bloated and extremely nice looking. As an amateur radio operator it is missing one MAJOR thing. Up and downlink frequencies for the amateur radio satellites. Would be much more convenient and useful for radio communication use with those added. Even if there were an option to add your own frequency or note to a sat would be helpful. Can't give it a 5 due to that omission.

Great app!

I was hoping to use this app to track amateur and weather satellites. Matching the data from the app and verifying with my radio receiver I am yet to find accurate telemetry data. In addition the satellite database is lacking.

The update on my up-to-date iPhone 5 crashes immediately upon opening. Will restore good rating when fixed. My rating of previous version... As an astronomy teacher who also gives public programs, I find this to be a wonderful app and worth the money. But I would like to see two features added. It really needs Iridium flare predictions, not just passes. And I would like it to be able to list the next several visible passes of a single chosen satellite. Will then add that fifth star.

GoSatWatch is easy to use. If you need a way to track any man made object in space GoSatWatch is hands down the only app you'll need. The only down side to this app is finding enough time to watch the sky to see all the objects it will steer you to. You will be amazed at the amount of man made objects overhead . It's a blast to look at what's visible to see using the app and looking up and see it go by, it never gets old. Now, what's a good reason to purchase this app? There are a couple of them. First, the Space Shuttle isn't going to be flying for very much longer, so it can be fun and instructive to yourself and your family to see it fly overhead as a bright dot in the night sky. You'll have your chance to see it and the Hubble Space Telescope during the upcoming Hubble Servicing Mission. Second, it's the International Year of Astronomy. Watching the night skies in all of their glory is fun to do whether you're using GoSatWatch to check out man-made objects or another app like SkyWalk to see the natural objects. As the nights get warmer (for those of us in the northern hemisphere), be sure to get out your iPhone and see what's above you. You might be surprised! Take a look at the gallery to see screenshots of some of the GoSatWatch features.

One word- horrible!

The latest update stays stuck on "CALCULATING" and won't give me any passes. I laid my phone down and walked away for 10 minutes and still no data. The sister app GoISSWatch is similarly setup and I love it.

Seeing the ISS is extremely exciting.

I absolutely love this app. I use this often to explain the way satellites orbit the Earth and how crowded space is actually getting. Even though the icons aren’t to scale when zooming, the point gets across. I look forward to continuing to use this app into the future and any possible improvements that may come. The ability to add you own element sets was the key feature for me. Connecting with celesteack or space-track.org for up to date sets is a great feature.

This is a good app as far as it goes, but I don't see geo-stationary satellites, which is what I'm looking for.

I love this app, however it needs an update for iPhone 5 😥other than that I'm completely satisfied 😃😃😃

This app by far is my most used satellite locator app that I have! I have other popular apps like this and it is true that each have different features that make each one unique but this one is easy to use and most all my information I want is right there but one update that for me would make this app the only satellite locator app I need is to have a way to see information about the object I'm looking at like what it is used for and launch date and all that. The recent irridium flare update is just awesome!!! The satellite brightens just when it says it does! This company has another app that I love and both are on my home screen on my iphone because I use them all the time! Thanks for giving us this tool that has given us so much enjoyment!!

Great app, I absolutely love the ability to setup notifications based on a minimum magnitude and azimuth, that way I don't get alerted for potential sightings I'm uninterested in. It would be quite helpful, however, if I could see the predicted path of the satellite or ISS in an augmented reality view using the camera. That way I could visualize exactly where it will appear, helping me to easily find a good spot amongst all the trees and buildings nearby. Another great addition would be to include the star charts from Heavens Above.

The first day after I bought this app, I could see the ISS right where and when the app had calculated. It was beautiful, following it with binoculars, to see it turn red and then fade away as it entered the earth shadow. A few days later, I could see 2 iridium satellite 'flares': close to each other, they appeared and then quickly faded away near the moon. The app calculated very precisely where and when they would be visible. Though there are several satellites visible every evening and morning, they appear very briefly and can be faint. You may see one if you are lucky, but this app will help you see them all and will even warn you of their upcoming passage. It would be great if the app showed actual stars and constellations in sky view, to help spot faint satellites better, or aim a camera. In the next upgrade?