A note from Planetaro's founder, developer, designer and customer support, who are all the same person
Planetaro started in September 2020 as a small tool for a simple question: which planetary hour is it right now? Six years later it has grown into planetary hours, moon phases, void of course windows, a planner, widgets, an Android version, a podcast and a monthly newsletter, in seven languages. It is still built the same way it started: I design and develop it myself, bringing in specialists from time to time when a job needs one, with a tiny team around the community and the podcast. And it is shaped by the requests of the people who use it: almost every feature in the app today exists because a user wrote and asked for it, and every mail and every review has always received a personal answer from me. That does not change.
What free means in Planetaro
The core of Planetaro is free, and it stays free. The planetary hours themselves, the current ruler, the current moon phase and, on iOS, the original home screen widget that shows the current hour cost nothing. This year Planetaro went further in the free direction, not less: I launched a completely free planetary hours tool on the web that works in any browser with no account and no install, and together with the small team around Planetaro we started a free podcast and a free monthly newsletter.
Planetaro also shows no ads. I could have gone that way years ago and chose not to, because ads at this scale mean tracking, and I respect your data too much for that. I do not sell data. The only thing that funds the servers, the astronomical calculations, the translations and the years of development is Planetaro Pro.
About the widgets, honestly
I shipped the first home screen widget in October 2020, within weeks of Apple introducing widgets to iOS, and Planetaro was among the first astrology apps to have one. That widget was free on day one and it is free today. When Apple introduced lock screen widgets with iOS 16 in September 2022, Planetaro again shipped among the first, and those widgets were part of Planetaro Pro from their very first day. They were never free for anyone. Shortly after, I introduced Pro styles of the home screen widget as well, with more detail and more looks, without touching the original free widgets. That split, free widgets free and Pro widgets in Pro, has not changed since 2022. Planetaro for Android arrived this year, and its widgets have been part of Pro from the very start, so nothing ever changed there either.
What happened in August 2026
Some longtime users recently saw Pro widgets lock after an update and understandably concluded that free features had been moved behind the paywall. They were not, and I owe everyone a clear explanation.
For over a year, a bug in the subscription check meant that an expired subscription or free trial could silently keep Pro features unlocked. If you started a trial long ago and cancelled it, the Pro widgets may have kept working for you as if they were free. The recent update fixed that bug, which is why those widgets suddenly locked. Nothing was repriced and nothing was moved. I did not mention it in the release notes for a simple reason: I did not know. I found the bug because of your reviews, and I am grateful for them, even the angry ones.
If you have questions about any of this, open Planetaro, go to Settings and tap "Help Us Improve the App". Every message is still read and answered by me personally, the way it has been for six years.
Thank you for six years. The stars are free for everyone, and the heart of Planetaro always will be.
Muhammed Tanriverdi, indie developer of Planetaro