Stargazing and space apps for Apple TV (2026): what's actually on it
Sky Guide, Star Walk 2, SkySafari and Stellarium aren't on Apple TV. Here's what is, from a star map with guided tours to NASA's free video service, the Webb telescope's images, Earth from the Space Station, and a live view of the real sky over your city that you can fly into. Each app described from its own App Store listing, with prices, by the maker of one of them.
The best-known star maps, Sky Guide, Star Walk 2, SkySafari and Stellarium, aren't on Apple TV at all. What is there: Night Sky by iCandi Apps is a star map made for Apple TV, with guided tours of the night for any place. NASA's free app streams NASA+ and its images. Solar Beam shows the Webb telescope's pictures in 4K, and Earthlapse 4K plays Earth as astronauts filmed it from the Space Station. Everdust, which I make, shows the real sky over your city tonight and lets you fly into the nebulae and galaxies in it.
I make Everdust, so read this with that in mind. I've described every other app from its own US App Store listing for Apple TV, checked on November 8, 2026, and said where another app is the better pick. Prices change, so check before you buy.
The short answer
- A star map for the living room, with guided tours: Night Sky.
- Real missions and NASA's own video, free: NASA.
- The Webb telescope's photographs, big: Solar Beam.
- Earth from orbit, running in the background: Earthlapse 4K, or TrueEarth for the whole Earth from a million miles out.
- The real sky over your city tonight, and flying into the wonders in it: Everdust.
Are Sky Guide, Star Walk, SkySafari or Stellarium on Apple TV?
No. As of November 8, 2026, none of Sky Guide, Star Walk 2 (Plus or Pro), SkySafari, Stellarium Mobile, Sky Tonight or SkyView has an Apple TV version on the US App Store. They're made for iPhone and iPad, some also for Mac, Apple Watch or Apple Vision Pro, so the App Store on your Apple TV won't find them. You can still put one on the TV: open Control Center on your iPhone, choose Screen Mirroring and pick your Apple TV. You steer it with the phone, not the remote.
Vito Technology, which makes Star Walk 2, does have two older Apple TV apps, Solar Walk 2 and Star Walk Kids. Their Apple TV versions were last updated in 2016 and 2021.
Night Sky
Night Sky by iCandi Apps is the one big-name star map with a real Apple TV version, and its listing calls it "completely reimagined for Apple TV". Sky View Live shows the sky above you right now: swipe on the remote to look around. Night Sky Tours take you through a night for any place you drop a pin on the map, from sunset to sunrise, commenting on light pollution, stargazing conditions, constellations, planets, the Moon and when the Space Station flies over. There are tours by its editors, Moon tours to the Apollo 11 and Apollo 15 landing sites and the Copernicus crater, and a horizon that changes with the place, including the skylines of San Francisco, New York, London and other cities. Object Search has details on thousands of objects, from constellations to planets and satellites.
It's free and needs tvOS 16 or later. Night Sky+ and Night Sky+ Aura are optional subscriptions, listed at $5.99 to $69.99. Its listing says a Plus subscription bought on Apple TV also unlocks Night Sky+ on iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch, and one bought on iPhone works on Apple TV.
Pick it if you want a guide that talks you through tonight's sky, place by place.
NASA
NASA, from NASA, isn't a star map. It streams NASA+, all of NASA's official live coverage and its original series, with no subscription. It also shows the latest NASA images one at a time or as a slideshow, plays NASA's podcasts, and follows Artemis, the James Webb Space Telescope and other missions. It's free, with nothing to buy, and needs tvOS 17.6 or later.
Pick it if you want real missions on the big screen, at no cost at all.
Solar Beam
Solar Beam: James Webb Images by Midgar Oy is a gallery of the Webb telescope's images in 4K, each with its real caption, credit, distance and place in the sky, from the ESA/Webb archive. It also has NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day, with facts its listing says are AI-generated, and a tracker for asteroids passing Earth.
Free: the asteroid tracker, today's picture and the past week's, and 24 images from the Webb gallery. Premium, $4.99 a month, $19.99 a year or $39.99 once, adds the whole gallery, the picture archive back to 1995 and an Ambient Mode. It needs tvOS 18 or later.
Pick it if you want Webb's photographs as photographs: large, still and captioned.
Earthlapse 4K
Earthlapse 4K by Jetson Creative turns the TV into a window on the Space Station: 20 views of Earth captured by astronauts on the ISS, in 4K with 10-bit color on an Apple TV 4K. It has nine soundtracks or your own music, a live ISS tracker, a clock, color filters and five playback speeds. It's $1.99 and needs tvOS 27 or later. Its listing is clear that it doesn't work as the Apple TV screen saver: you open it like any other app.
Pick it if you want Earth from orbit running quietly in the background.
TrueEarth
TrueEarth by Michael Murrey shows images of the whole sunlit Earth from NASA's DSCOVR spacecraft and its EPIC camera on a globe you turn with the Siri Remote, plus weather satellite loops, views in other wavelengths and the full EPIC archive, with an ambient rotating globe to come back to. Its latest release notes say it's now completely free, with no subscriptions or ads, though its listing still shows a TrueEarth Pro subscription. It isn't affiliated with NASA, it says, and it needs tvOS 17 or later.
Pick it if you'd rather see the whole planet at once than a view from low orbit.
Everdust
Everdust is the one I make. Since version 1.1, on November 7, 2026, it has Night Sky on Apple TV: the real sky over your city tonight, with the stars, planets, the Moon and the Milky Way where they really are.
- Look around with the remote. Swipe to look, press up or down on the clickpad to zoom, and press Play/Pause to run time forward. Click and hold for the options: the sky's clock, constellation lines and names, star trails, the aurora and meteors.
- Fly into the wonders. Aim at the Orion Nebula, the Pillars of Creation, Andromeda, the Crab Nebula, the Magellanic Clouds or another wonder, click, and fly into real photographs from Hubble, Webb and other observatories, given depth. Or fly to the planets, the Moon and the Sun. The Wonders list in the options reaches every one, even those below your horizon. Each one downloads the first time you visit it.
- Not only the sky. Everdust's other worlds are live simulations, not videos: colliding galaxies, black holes bending light, and a Play all mode that runs through them hands off. There are narrated science stories and space games for the Siri Remote too.
It isn't a star atlas. There's no search for faint objects and no guided tours, and for those, Night Sky by iCandi Apps is the better pick. It's free, with no ads and no account, and Night Sky and every wonder are free. Everdust Plus, optional, unlocks every Story chapter and game level. Version 1.1 needs tvOS 27, which runs on the Apple TV 4K (2nd generation, from 2021) and newer. How to use it, and what to look for in the coming evenings: Night Sky on Apple TV.
Pick it if you want to fly into the wonders in tonight's sky, not just name them.
Also on Apple TV
- Planetarium 3D - Solar System by Solueman Hussain ($1.99, tvOS 26): fly from planet to planet, to their moons and out to dwarf planets such as Eris and Sedna.
- ISS Live Tracker by Mark Bush ($0.99, tvOS 26): where the Space Station is now, its orbit, and the part of Earth it can be seen from.
- Aurora - Solar Observatory by Real Creations AB ($6.99, tvOS 16): the Sun from NASA's SDO spacecraft, with NOAA's space weather and aurora forecasts.
- GalacticAR: Space Sim & Quiz by Vielfalt Software (free, Full Version $4.99, tvOS 26): an encyclopedia of comets, planets, stars and galaxies with videos and images, and a 300-question astronomy quiz.
Side by side
| App | Price | What it's for | Needs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Night Sky | Free; Night Sky+ from $5.99 | A star map with guided tours of the night | tvOS 16 |
| NASA | Free, nothing to buy | NASA+ live coverage and series, images, podcasts | tvOS 17.6 |
| Solar Beam | Free; Premium $4.99 a month, $19.99 a year or $39.99 once | Webb's images in 4K, the Astronomy Picture of the Day | tvOS 18 |
| Earthlapse 4K | $1.99 | Earth filmed from the Space Station | tvOS 27 |
| TrueEarth | Free | The whole Earth from DSCOVR | tvOS 17 |
| Everdust | Free; Everdust Plus optional | The real sky over your city, flying into its wonders; live simulations | tvOS 27 |
How to choose
- To learn what's up tonight and find it outside, use Night Sky's tours, then step out with a star map on your phone. What's in my sky tonight works out the planets in your browser too.
- To watch something real happen, use NASA+.
- To have space on the screen while you do something else, use Earthlapse 4K, Solar Beam's Ambient Mode or Everdust's Play all. Apps can't become the Apple TV screen saver, though: here's what you can do instead.
- To go inside the Orion Nebula or the Pillars of Creation, use Everdust. Many of its wonders have a page in the Everdust Atlas.
The Geminid meteor shower peaks on the night of December 13 to 14 with almost no Moon this year: when and where to look. On an iPhone instead? There's a version of this guide for iPhone.
Questions people ask
Is there a stargazing app for Apple TV? Yes. Night Sky by iCandi Apps is a star map made for Apple TV, with a live view of the sky above you and guided tours of the night for any place. Everdust shows the real sky over your city, since version 1.1, and flies you into the nebulae and galaxies in it. Both are free to download.
Is Sky Guide on Apple TV? No. Sky Guide has no Apple TV version on the App Store, and neither do Star Walk 2, SkySafari, Stellarium Mobile, Sky Tonight or SkyView (checked November 8, 2026). You can mirror one from your iPhone with Screen Mirroring.
Is the NASA app on Apple TV? Yes. The NASA app is free on Apple TV with nothing to buy. It streams NASA+, NASA's live coverage and original series, with no subscription, and shows NASA's latest images.
Can I see tonight's sky on my TV? Yes. Night Sky's Sky View Live shows the sky above you in real time, and Everdust's Night Sky shows the sky over your city tonight, from your approximate location or a city you choose. Swipe on the remote to look around.
Can a space app be my Apple TV screen saver? No. Apple TV's screen saver comes only from Apple's own types, such as Aerials, which include Earth filmed from the Space Station. Space apps run when you open them. More in space screen savers on Apple TV.
Which Apple TV do I need? Each app's listing gives its minimum tvOS. Earthlapse 4K and Everdust 1.1 need tvOS 27, which runs on the Apple TV 4K (2nd generation, from 2021) and newer. The Apple TV HD and the first Apple TV 4K stay on tvOS 26.
Sources
- Each app's US App Store listing for Apple TV, linked in its section, and its App Store record for Apple TV, checked November 8, 2026: price, in-app purchases, seller, minimum tvOS and the features its description names. Sky Guide, Star Walk 2, SkySafari, Stellarium Mobile, Sky Tonight and SkyView have no Apple TV record.
- MacRumors, tvOS 27 drops support for two Apple TV models, citing Apple's documentation.
- Everdust: Space Science Games on the App Store, and its Apple TV 1.1 release notes (November 7, 2026).