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Golden Hour Weather
An app for iPhone and iPad that tells you when the golden hour and the blue hour are, and how good the light will be.
What it does
Made for people who film and photograph outdoors and want to know whether tonight is worth the trip before they pack the bag.
- Golden hour and blue hour times Start and end of both, for every sunrise and sunset of the next seven days. The times are worked out on your device from the position of the sun and shown in the time zone of the place.
- A Sky score and a Light score, 0 to 10 Two numbers for each sunrise and sunset, with the reasons written underneath, for example "Clear sky: clean glow, little drama" or "Horizon towards the sun: open".
- Horizon check The app also reads the forecast 25, 50 and 80 km in the direction of the sun and tells you whether the horizon there is open or clouded.
- The week ahead Seven days at a glance, with the Sky score for each sunrise and sunset. Tap a day to see its details.
- Spots Save the places you film at. The Spots screen ranks them for the next sunset, best first.
- Where will the sun be? Hold up the camera and see the sun's path for the chosen day drawn over your view, with hour marks, sunrise, sunset and the golden and blue hours on the path. A slider moves the sun through the day.
- Alerts and calendar Optional reminders ahead of a golden hour, only from a score you choose. An optional alert when tonight's sunset score moves by two points or more. And an export of the week's golden hours to your calendar.
No account, no ads, no analytics. The details are in the privacy policy.
How the scores work
The same explanation is in the app, behind the question mark on the Today screen.
The windows
Golden hour
The sun is low, between 6° above the horizon and 4° below it: long shadows, warm soft light. About an hour, morning and evening.
Blue hour
Just after sunset or before sunrise, sun 4° to 6° below the horizon: the sky glows deep blue while lights come on. About a quarter of an hour.
The two scores
Sky
How much colour the sky will show. High and mid cloud catch the light like a canvas; low cloud and fog block it; humid air softens it; rain spoils it.
Light
Whether the warm sun actually reaches what you film. High when the sky towards the sun is open, low when cloud sits in the way.
Go, Good, Maybe, Skip
8 and up is worth the trip, 6 to 7 usually pays off, 4 to 5 is a gamble, below that stay in.
- Go8 to 10
- Good6 to 7
- Maybe4 to 5
- Skip0 to 3
The horizon check
Towards the sun
A sunset burns when the sky above you has cloud to paint and the sky where the sun goes down is open. The app reads the forecast 25, 50 and 80 km in that direction and says so.
The forecast
MET Norway
Free, worldwide weather data from the Norwegian Meteorological Institute (CC BY 4.0). Hourly for two to three days, six-hourly beyond. Scores firm up the closer the evening comes.
A score is an estimate based on a weather forecast, not a promise. It tells you where the odds are.
Support
Answers to the questions that come up most. If yours is not here, the contact address is further down.
Why does the app ask for my location, and what if I say no?
The sun's times and direction depend on where you are, and so does the forecast. The app uses your location only while you are using it: when you open it and no spot is saved yet, to set up your first one; whenever you tap Use my location; and while Where will the sun be? is open, where iOS needs it to find true north. It does not follow your location in the background.
If you say no, the first screen offers Add a spot by name next to Use my location: type a town, an address or a landmark instead. Times, scores, alerts and the calendar export work without location access. One view is affected: Where will the sun be? needs location access to line the sun's path up with north.
If location access is off and you tap Use my location later, the app says so: "Location access is off. Allow it in Settings, or add a spot by name."
Why does it ask for the camera?
Only for Where will the sun be?, and only the first time you open that view. The camera picture is used live on the device to draw the sun's path over what you see. Nothing is recorded, saved or sent anywhere.
Right after the camera, the same view asks for location access if you have not decided yet. iOS needs it to line the path up with true north.
If you say no, that one view tells you camera access is off and shows no picture. Everything else works as before.
Why does it ask to send notifications?
Only when you switch on a golden hour reminder or the forecast change alert on the Alerts screen. Both are off until you turn them on. The notifications are created on your device; no server sends them.
If you say no, you get no reminders and the rest of the app is unchanged. The Alerts screen tells you when notifications are switched off, and you can allow them later in the Settings app.
Why does it ask for my calendar?
Only when you tap Add this week's golden hours to Calendar. The app asks for permission to add events, nothing more: it cannot read your calendar. Each sunrise and sunset golden hour of the next seven days that is still ahead becomes one event in your default calendar, with the scores in the title and an alarm ahead of it.
The app remembers what it added, so a second tap does not add the same golden hours again. If you say no, no events are added.
Where does the weather come from, and how far ahead can I trust it?
From MET Norway, the Norwegian Meteorological Institute. Its forecast is free and covers the whole world. It is the app's only weather source.
The forecast is hourly for the next two to three days and comes in six-hour steps after that. So the next two or three days are the ones to plan with. Further out, take a score as a first hint: it firms up as the day comes closer. Where the forecast does not reach yet, the app says so instead of showing a score.
If the weather service cannot be reached, the app shows the last forecast it stored, which it keeps for about a day, and tells you when it is from. The sun times are worked out on your device and need no network.
Why did a score change during the day?
Because the forecast changed. MET Norway keeps updating its forecast, the app picks up the newer one when you open it or pull down to refresh, and the scores are worked out again from it.
If you want to hear about it, turn on When tonight changes its mind on the Alerts screen. The app then checks in the background, at most about every three hours and not after today's sunset, and tells you when tonight's sunset score has moved by two points or more. iOS decides when those background checks run, so treat the alert as a helper, not a guarantee.
What do "horizon open" and "horizon clouded" mean?
Next to the direction of the sunrise or sunset, the app shows the result of the horizon check. It looks at the forecast at three points 25, 50 and 80 km from your spot, in the direction of the sun.
Horizon open means that on average those points have less than 35 percent low cloud and less than 60 percent mid-level cloud, so the low sun has a way through. Horizon clouded means there is more cloud than that in the sun's way. The more cloud in that direction, the lower both scores, and low cloud counts most.
With an open horizon the reasons can still read "Horizon towards the sun: some cloud 30 %". That is open enough for colour, but the cloud already costs some Light.
The sun's path in the camera view is off, or takes a while to appear
The camera view needs a moment to settle. Move the device slowly at first; a short hint at the top of the screen, such as "Move the device slowly to start", disappears once tracking is steady. It needs something to look at: a view with too little detail gives it nothing to hold on to.
The path is lined up with true north using the device's compass and location, so the view needs location access and works best outdoors, away from large metal objects and magnets. If the sun is not in view, turn or tilt until it is: an arrow shows the way and how many degrees are left.
On iPad the camera view needs the full screen: close Split View or Slide Over.
How do I add a spot?
Open the Spots screen and tap the plus. Type a town, an address or a landmark and tap Add this place, or tap Use my location. Before your first spot, the first screen offers the same two ways in. If nothing is found under the name you typed, the app says so.
Tap a spot in the list to make it the one the Today and Week screens show. Swipe a spot to remove it.
Contact
Something is not working, or you have a question the answers above do not cover? Write to us. It helps if you mention your device, your iOS version and the spot you were looking at.
gillian@videowien.atBased on data from MET Norway (The Norwegian Meteorological Institute), licensed under NLOD 2.0 and CC BY 4.0. Sky and Light scores are calculated by this app.