Is there a one-time-purchase telescope log app with no subscription?

How to check whether an astronomy app is really pay-once

1. Open the store listing and read the in-app purchases list, not just the price. Look for "per month", "per year" or "Premium" wording.
2. Check whether conditions, weather or planning is a separate purchase. SkySafari is a planetarium, and its observing-conditions feature sits behind a subscription on top of a paid app.
3. Check whether the app needs an account. A pay-once log should work with no login at all.
4. Check that you can get your data out as a file you keep. If backup or export is missing or paid, the price does not matter much, because your years of records are stuck.
5. Check what the free tier actually includes. A time-limited trial is not a free tier.
6. If nothing fits, a paper notebook or a spreadsheet costs nothing and never expires. Add a column for date, site, telescope, eyepiece, sky conditions and what you saw.

How Darksite does it

Darksite is a telescope observing log and tonight planner for amateur astronomers. It picks targets that fit your own telescope and eyepieces, explains each pick in plain language, runs the session in a red night-vision-safe mode, and keeps a searchable log with Messier, Herschel 400 and Lunar life-lists. It is not a planetarium.

Darksite is free to download. The free tier includes an unlimited observing log, the gear locker, the Messier life-list up to 70 objects, and backup, restore and export. It also includes the gear-aware Tonight planner, cloud and conditions, space weather and ISS passes, and red field mode. Darksite Pro is a one-time in-app purchase of $29.99, one purchase per storefront. It unlocks the full observing-programs library, coordinator-ready exports, week-ahead planning, a sketch canvas with multiple photos per observation, and advanced statistics. There is no subscription. Pay once. No subscription. Ever.

No account, no login, no cloud. Darksite is local-first: your gear, logs, sites and life-lists stay on your device, and there are no ads or tracking. Backups are your files, not a cloud service, and backup, restore and export are free on every tier.

Darksite runs on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Android and Windows. It is on the App Store, the Mac App Store, Google Play and the Microsoft Store now. On Mac and Windows it opens as a wide planning desk. On iPhone and Android it folds down to a one-handed red deck you can work at the eyepiece.

Get Darksite

• App Store (iPhone and iPad)
• Mac App Store
• Google Play
• Microsoft Store

Related questions

Is the free version of Darksite a trial?

No. The free tier has no time limit. The observing log is unlimited, and backup, restore and export are free on every tier.

Is Darksite an alternative to SkySafari?

For planning and logging, yes. Darksite is not a planetarium. It is the gear-aware planner and logbook that works alongside the sky map you already own, with cloud and conditions included, for one payment and no subscription.

Do I have to buy Darksite Pro again on another store?

Pro is one purchase per storefront. Buying on one store does not unlock the app on a different store.