EarthDesk
The facts below are what the maker publishes about EarthDesk, checked and dated. Our editors have not written about it yet.
Plans and prices
From EarthDesk's own pricing page, checked 15 Oct 2026.
| Plan | Price | What it gives you |
|---|---|---|
| EarthDesk 7 upgrade | $12.99, paid once | Requires previous license key · one-time |
| EarthDesk data subscription | $14.99 a year | Precision Clouds · Earthquakes · Tropical Storms · International Space Station display · 1 year |
| Single-user data subscription | $14.99 a year | Mac or Windows · 2 computers · precision clouds · earthquakes · tropical storms · ISS display · 1 year |
| EarthDesk 7 with 1-year subscription upgrade | $20.99, paid once | Mac or Windows · 2 computers · includes 1-year data subscription · one-time |
| EarthDesk 7 single-user license | $24.99, paid once | Mac or Windows · licensed for 2 computers · one-time |
| Five-user data subscription | $24.99 a year | Mac or Windows · 5 computers · precision clouds · earthquakes · tropical storms · ISS display · 1 year |
| Small-business data subscription | $39.99 a year | Mac or Windows · 12 computers · precision clouds · earthquakes · tropical storms · ISS display · 1 year |
The facts
Each one read from EarthDesk's own pages, with the date it was checked.
The company
- Company size
- The maker describes a two-person operation: founder-developer Trygve Inda and Karen Inda handling sales and support.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Founded
- 2004checked 28 Sep 2026
- Headquarters
- Xeric Design is based in Incline Village, Nevada, on Lake Tahoe's north shore.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Maker history
- Xeric says EarthDesk began in 2002 and the company incorporated in 2004.checked 15 Oct 2026
What it does
- Compatibility
- The stated minimums are macOS 10.14, Windows 7, or tvOS 13.2.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Data providers
- Storm information is powered by Aeris and cloud imagery comes from SSEC RealEarth at UW-Madison.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Documentation and support
- Xeric provides a support page, downloadable user guide, troubleshooting answers, uninstall procedures and a contact form.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Earthquake tracking
- Users can set a minimum earthquake magnitude, retention period and fade-out behavior for older events.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Extensibility
- Xeric documents authenticated HTTP cloud-map downloads with wget and curl for its related Xplanet service, but the opened pages provide no EarthDesk SDK or public API.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Intended use
- The maker describes EarthDesk as a desktop Earth visualization that also provides information through live data such as clouds, earthquakes, named storms, and the ISS.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Known limitation
- The support page says EarthDesk does not currently work with Path Finder on macOS.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Licence
- The licence agreement says the software is copyrighted and use requires accepting Xeric Design's terms.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Limit: ATPM review
- ATPM's reviewer said EarthDesk lacked calendar and time-zone markings found on a Geochron display.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Limit: Softpedia unregistered mode
- Softpedia states that the unregistered version places a watermark on the map.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Live view
- The product features near real-time clouds, accurate sun and moon depictions, and city lighting.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Map centering
- Maps can be centered by latitude and longitude, relative to the sun or moon, or on any of 10,000 locations.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Map labels
- Users can create multicolor city labels grouped by category, with labels configured independently for each screen.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Map projections
- It offers 12 projections, including Mercator, Azimuthal, Equirectangular and a globe mode with optional stars.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Multiple displays
- EarthDesk can show a different map on each of multiple screens or span one map across them.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Multiple monitors
- EarthDesk supports separate maps on multiple displays or one map spanning all connected screens.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Notable update
- Apple's version history records native M1 Mac support in version 7.5 released February 17, 2021.checked 15 Oct 2026
Where it runs
- Limit: Apple reviewers
- One Apple reviewer reported that the App Store version could not operate as a screen saver and had unreliable menu-bar controls.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Limit: MacUpdate licensing
- MacUpdate comments include reports of license keys not registering and broken links to older installers.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Limit: MacUpdate resource use
- A MacUpdate user complained that EarthDesk consumed a lot of system resources despite praising its appearance.checked 15 Oct 2026
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