Frequently asked questions

No. Every tool works without an account, including Location Planner and Community Spots. You only need one to keep things on our servers: saving a pin or creating a list in Location Planner, saving a Community spot, and the Daily Astro Summary on the web. In Location Planner and Community Spots, trying one of those signed out asks you to sign in or create a free account.

On the Free plan, Location Planner saves up to 15 pins. Location Planner shows how many you have used, and at the limit it offers an upgrade instead of saving. Pins you already have are kept and can still be edited or deleted. Pro has no pin limit.

• Unlimited saved pins in Location Planner (Free saves up to 15).
• Every Community spot: the full Community Spots feed with search and place filters, the Community layer in Location Planner, and saving spots to your own pins. Free shows the first 10 spots of each sort.
• The Daily Astro Summary notification, and Light Reminders before golden hour, blue hour, and sunset.
• On iPhone, Live Activity countdowns on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island.
• The Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets.
• API and MCP access, so your own scripts and AI assistants can read and manage your saved locations (set it up in Settings, Account, API & Connected Apps).

Every tool and settings sync are free. Open Settings and tap Upgrade to Pro to see plans, or Manage Subscription if you already have Pro. framer.art Pro and Premium members get Pro included.

Use the Location picker at the top of a tool. Choose Current Location (the app will ask for location permission), pick a saved location, or use Add Location. Until a location is set, results that depend on it show a dash or a prompt to set one.

Sun, moon, sky, and weather results depend on where you are. Set a location and the values fill in. Moon Phase, Star Trails, and the Comets view of Meteors & Comets are exceptions: the moon phase itself, the star trail calculator, and the comet list do not need a location.

On iPhone and iPad, if you left the app while on Location Planner and open it again within 30 minutes, it goes back to Location Planner with the same pin, list, filters, view, and date. After that it opens on Community Spots as usual.

That is the Sky Status Card, in the Dashboard section. It shows the sun and moon right now for your location. Tap its X to hide it. For a few seconds you can tap Undo to bring it back. After that, turn it back on in Settings, Dashboard.

The sun, moon, eclipse, meteor shower, comet, star trails, and Milky Way calculations run on your device, so they work offline. Aurora Visibility's threshold estimate and dark window also work offline. Lightbox needs no connection at all.

Weather, Tides, and Lens Fog Risk load live data, so they need a connection. In Aurora Visibility, the live Kp reading and the forecast map need one, and if they cannot load, the rest of the screen keeps working. Location Planner needs a connection for the map, place search, and saving pins. Community Spots needs one to load the feed.

Open Settings, then Notifications. In the iPhone and iPad app you will find the Daily Astro Summary and Light Reminders there, plus the Live Activities status page on iPhone. On the web it has the Daily Astro Summary. All of them are part of Pro. On the Free plan each is marked (Pro). Tapping the Daily Astro Summary or Light Reminders switch opens the upgrade screen, and Live Activities shows a See Shutter Speed Pro button.

A notification once a day, at a time you pick, with sunrise and sunset, the moon phase, and any astro highlights for your location. In the app, choose which topics to include: Sun, Moon, Eclipses, Meteor Showers, and Aurora. It needs a location. On the web it is called Daily Astro Summary (Web Push), needs you to be signed in, and arrives as a browser notification even when the tab is closed. If you turned off notification permission, the setting tells you to turn it back on in your device or browser settings.

Yes, with Light Reminders in the iPhone and iPad app. Turn it on, then choose how early to be notified: 15 min, 30 min, 1 hour, or Custom (1 to 240 minutes, set under Minutes before). Pick the events: Morning blue hour, Morning golden hour, Evening golden hour, and Sunset. Reminders use your active location, cover the next 7 days, and refresh each time you open the app.

On iPhone, open a tool with a Live Activity card, choose what to count down to, and tap Start countdown. It shows on your Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island. These tools have one: Light Conditions (golden hour, blue hour, twilight), Milky Way, Moon (moonrise and moonset), Meteor Showers, Tides (high and low tide), and Lunar and Solar Eclipses. Only one countdown runs at a time, and iOS ends it after about 8 hours. Settings, Notifications, Live Activities shows what is running and has a Stop button. It is part of Pro.

Yes, on iPhone. Add them from the widget gallery like any other app's widgets:

• Light Conditions: sunrise, sunset, golden hour, and blue hour. Home Screen (small, medium, large) and Lock Screen.
• Golden Hour Countdown: a live countdown to the next golden hour, with today's windows. Home Screen (small, medium) and Lock Screen.
• Moon Phase: today's moon phase, illumination, and age, plus the week ahead. Home Screen (small, medium, large) and Lock Screen.
• Tonight: how long it is dark, the moon, and the Milky Way's clear window. Home Screen (small, medium).

Widgets use the app's active location and show times in that location's time zone. They are part of Pro. On the Free plan a widget shows a lock, and tapping it opens the upgrade screen. If a widget still looks locked after you upgrade, open the app once so it picks up your Pro status.

Open Settings then Units. This changes distances, temperatures, wind, and similar values in the tools that show them. Focal length always stays in millimeters.

In Settings then Units, under Pressure Unit, choose hPa, inHg, or mmHg. Barometer and Weather use it.

If a NOAA tide station is within 50 miles of your location, the tide screen shows that station's published predictions and names the station. Farther away, it shows a rough Moon-based estimate and labels it Estimated. Do not use the estimate for navigation or safety.

It compares the air temperature with the dew point. Risk is High when they are within 4°F of each other, Moderate up to 10°F, and Low beyond that. It is a practical rule of thumb for when gear is likely to fog, not a guarantee.

No. The Comets view lists upcoming comets with their expected peak brightness and viewing notes. It does not calculate visibility for your location, and the predicted brightness values are estimates. The Meteor Showers view does check whether each shower's radiant is visible from your location.

No. It is an approximation of how strong geomagnetic activity has to be for aurora to be visible at your latitude. Use it together with the live Kp reading and the forecast map.

Not officially. Shutter Speed is built for iPhone, iPad, and the web. On a Mac with Apple silicon, you can install the iPad version from the Mac App Store, but it is not a native Mac app and isn't officially supported on Mac, so some things may not work as expected. The web app works in any browser on a Mac.

Not yet, but one is on the way. In the meantime, the web app works in any browser on an Android phone or tablet.

Yes. The web app works in any modern browser on a phone, tablet, or computer.

Compass and Barometer are for iPhone and iPad only. Neither appears in the web version.

Open Settings, then Your Data, then Backup & Restore.

Open Settings then Account, or use Delete Account under Danger Zone. This permanently deletes your account and its synced data.

Under Danger Zone, Reset All erases your settings, saved locations, favorites, and tool inputs on this device, plus the synced copy if you are signed in, and starts fresh. It cannot be undone, so use Backup & Restore first if you want to keep anything.