Android apps for viewing, and polar alignment?

[Alasdair]

Hello,

Interests: visual observing, solar system, and as much deep sky as I can get.


Equipment:
Skywatcher Evostar 120ED,
NEQ6 Pro mount
Skywatcher tripod
(all bought second hand quite some time ago, but for various reasons little used.)


I've just acquired a new phone (Samsung Galaxy S25) , and this seems like an excellent time to upgrade my apps. For years I've been using a paid version of Mobile Observatory Pro, but I'm aware that there are other excellent apps: Stellarium and Sky Safari seem to be often mentioned in "best of" lists.


So I'm just wondering if there's any reason for choosing one over the other? And which of them can be used to help polar alignment? I have a slight difficulty in that I live in a north facing apartment, and have no view south. So I can't align using nice obvious stars such as in Crux or Centaurus.



I don't mind paying for an app if it's good: although Sky Safari 7 Pro, at $86.99, seems expensive. (But it might be overkill for my simple amateur needs.)


Anyway, happy for any advice!


Thanks,
Alasdair

[skysurfer]

Simple solution: look up in the app any object (star, planet) is right now in the meridian (true north). Point the scope there and the azimuth of your EQ mount should be opposite of it (true south). Use an inclinometer (maybe your smartphone's one works well for altitude / tilt) to get the correct tilt of the polar axis which should match your latitude.
You can also download Skeye (free app) which uses alignment, but the horizontal accuracy is not very good, which is a limitation of a smartphone.

[gaseous]

I use Sky Safari 6 pro to steer my goto scopes around- I believe there's not much to be gained from the 7 Pro version, although I'm happy to be told otherwise. SynscanInit is a helpful little app for setting up your skywatcher rig, giving you all the required input in one screen.

[gaseous]

I just had a look in the play store and skysafari 7 pro is $35.

[Leo.G]

With these phone apps how do you keep the compass calibration during sessions?
It may be that my Samsung is a much older S8 model or it may just be I'm a total idiot but I wave my arms around like a maniac to align the compass app but it tends to go off with use.
I guess it doesn't matter, I don't see much on anything below a 65 inch screen anyway. Thankfully I don't have to pick my laptop up and wave it around......

[gaseous]

I connect my Samsung phone to my telescope to align it using Synscan, then connect my Samsung tablet to the telescope to drive it around using Skysafari. I do wave my arms about like an idiot for that first compass calibration exercise, but after the initial setup and alignment, the phone just gets left on a table nearby and I've never had to think about the compass calibration for the rest of the night.

[Leo.G]

I got a new base model Samsung S24 heavily discounted and I don't have to wave it around everywhere, it knows where I am better than I do.
My other phone was an 8 year old Samsung S8, 16 models earlier I guess.