Aurora app help: how every feature works

This page explains every part of Aurora: Forecast & Alerts for iPhone, version 1.0.2. The app has three tabs, Tonight, Forecast and Alerts, and a Settings button in the top-right corner of each tab.

One thing first: Aurora gives you a forecast, not a guarantee. Aurora comes and goes in minutes, and no forecast can promise it. What we can do is tell you which nights are worth staying up for.

Getting started

The first time you open Aurora, a few short screens take you through the setup. You answer one question, choose a place and pick how often you want alerts. You can go back by swiping right.

On a trip, or do you live up north?

You pick I'm on a trip now, Planning a trip or I live up north. Your answer changes the wording on a few screens and decides which plans you're offered (see Subscription). Your forecast is the same either way.

Choosing your place

Tap Check my location to use where you are now, or Search destination to pick a city or place. During setup, search is open to everyone, so you can choose your trip destination before you buy anything.

Aurora only asks for approximate location and only uses it while the app is open. It never tracks you in the background.

Choosing your alerts

Setup asks how good a night should be before we tell you: Quiet, Balanced (recommended) or Max chances. Then iOS asks whether Aurora may send you notifications. If you tap Not now, alerts stay off. You can turn them on later in the Alerts tab. The levels are explained under Alerts.

The subscription screen

Aurora has no free version. After setup you see the plans, and the app opens once you start a plan or a free trial. If you already have a subscription, tap Restore at the bottom of that screen.

Tonight

The Tonight tab answers one question: is tonight worth watching? The place you're forecasting for is in the top-left corner. Tap it to change place (see Locations).

The percentage

The big number is our estimate of the chance that clearly visible aurora appears at some point during tonight's dark hours at your place, if the sky allows and you're watching. It isn't the chance of seeing it if you step out at one particular time.

The number is rounded to the nearest 5%. It goes from 5% up to 85%, because we never claim more certainty than our tests support. Outside the area where the forecast is tested, it's capped lower (see Confidence).

The labels

Under the number is one word that sums up the night:

The short line under the label tells you what's holding the night back, for example clouds or a bright moon.

Confidence

The chip under the label says High confidence, Medium confidence or Low confidence. It tells you how much weight to give the number:

• High: clear signals, in the region where our forecast is tested (northern Norway and Sweden).
• Medium: mixed signals, or a place where the forecast is less tested. Inland Finnish Lapland, for example, is Medium because low cloud and ice fog there are hard to forecast. A Medium number never goes above 70%.
• Low: treat the number as a rough guide. This happens, for example, far south of the aurora zone, very far north, in the southern hemisphere, or when part of the space-weather data is missing. A Low number never goes above 45%.

Tap the chip to open About tonight. It explains what the percentage means and why your confidence is what it is, and it links to Data sources.

Conditions are strong right now

When the space weather turns strong during a dark night, a line saying Conditions are strong right now appears under the chip, and the aurora in the sky picture starts to pulse. It's a heads-up, not a promise that you'll see aurora. You can get the same thing as a notification with Live conditions alerts (see Alerts).

Best viewing hours

The Best viewing hours card shows the clearest dark hours tonight, for example 22:00 – 03:00. It shows when the sky is most likely to be dark and clear, not when the aurora will appear. Aurora comes in bursts that can't be timed hours ahead.

If a bright moon rises or sets during the dark hours, the card adds a line such as Moon sets 01:00 · darker after. If clouds cover the whole night, it says No clear hours expected.

Why

The Why card shows the two or three things that matter most for tonight's number:

• Clear sky or Cloudy
• Strong activity or Quiet activity (space weather)
• Dark, no moon or Bright moon

The sky picture

The pixel sky at the top isn't decoration. It draws tonight's forecast:

• Aurora: none on a Low night, a faint green glow or a thin, low band on a Possible night, a clear band on a Good night and a tall band with violet tops on an Excellent night. It pulses when conditions are strong right now.
• Clouds: drawn from the cloud forecast.
• Moon: the real moon, with its phase and height in the sky.

When it's dark, the picture shows the sky now. Before dark, it shows the middle of the best viewing hours.

Issued time

At the bottom of the screen you see either Issued with a time, or Updating.

Tonight's forecast is issued once each afternoon, around 16:00 local time. Until then it shows Updating and can still change. Once issued, Tonight stays fixed until dawn, so the number you plan around doesn't jump around during the evening. At dawn, the next night takes over. Strong activity during the night shows up as Conditions are strong right now rather than as a new number.

If tonight looks weak and tomorrow looks better, the footer says Tomorrow looks better. Tap it to open Forecast.

Not dark enough

Aurora needs a dark sky, with the sun at least 12° below the horizon. Far north in summer, the nights never get that dark. Tonight then says Not dark enough for aurora tonight and tells you roughly when dark nights return. Late September to March is aurora season in the north.

Forecast temporarily unavailable

If Aurora can't reach the forecast, it shows Forecast temporarily unavailable. If it has a recent forecast from the last 24 hours, it shows that one greyed out, with the time it's from. Pull down on the screen to try again.

Forecast

The Forecast tab helps you choose which nights to prioritise. Pull down to refresh.

Tonight, Tomorrow and the day after

The first three cards are full forecasts: Tonight, Tomorrow and the day after (shown by its weekday). Each card shows the percentage, the label, the confidence, and the average cloud over the dark hours. The Tonight card also shows the best viewing hours. Nights that are Good or Excellent get a thin green edge.

Forecasts further ahead are a little less sure than Tonight's. That's built into the numbers.

Cloud tonight

The Cloud tonight card shows tonight's cloud hour by hour. Taller columns mean more cloud. A green mark under an hour means it's forecast mostly clear (30% cloud or less).

Outlook

Under Outlook you see four more nights, so you can look a week ahead. These nights have no percentage, because aurora activity can't be forecast this far ahead. Instead, each night shows the sky:

• Dark · Moon down: dark, with no moon in the way.
• Dark · Faint moon: dark, with only a faint moon.
• Dark · Bright moon: dark, but a bright moon will hide fainter aurora.
• No darkness: not enough dark hours.

You also see the forecast cloud for dark nights.

Next chance

Most nights are weak. When Tonight is under 30%, a Next chance card on the Tonight tab shows what's coming:

• If tomorrow or the day after looks better than tonight, the card shows that night, its percentage and its two main reasons. Tap it to open Forecast.
• If neither of those is Good or better, the card also shows Best sky this week: the night in the coming week with the darkest, clearest sky. Aurora itself can't be forecast that far ahead, and the card says so.
• If nothing stands out, it says so honestly: a quiet stretch ahead.

Alerts

Alerts are how Aurora tells you about a good night without you having to check. They come from our servers, so they reach you even when the app is closed. Every alert opens the Tonight tab.

Alerts need notification permission. Everything else in the app works without it.

Tonight alert

The Tonight alert is checked once each afternoon, when tonight's forecast is issued (around 16:00 local time). If tonight's number reaches your level, you get one alert that names your place. You get at most one Tonight alert per night, so you have the evening to plan.

Alert levels

In the Alerts tab, under Tonight alert, pick one level:

Balanced is the default. In northern Norway and Sweden last winter, that came to roughly 5–6 alerts a month on Quiet, 6–8 on Balanced and 8–9 on Max chances. Expect fewer further south, and fewer in a quiet winter.

No alert level catches every aurora night. Aurora sometimes shows up on nights that looked weak at 16:00.

Live conditions alerts

Live conditions alerts is a separate switch, off by default. When it's on, you get a heads-up if conditions turn strong during a dark night: Conditions are strong right now. We check through the night, at least every 15 minutes. Conditions have to stay strong on two checks in a row before we send one.

You get at most two live alerts a night, at least 90 minutes apart. A second one only comes after conditions have dropped and then picked up again. A live alert isn't a promise that you'll see aurora. Clouds can still be in the way.

Quiet hours

Turn on Quiet hours to silence all alerts at night, for example while you sleep. It starts at 23:00 to 07:00. Change it with From and To. Quiet hours follow the local time at your alert location.

An alert that would fall inside your quiet hours isn't sent later. It's skipped.

Alert location

Alert location is the place your alerts are for. It's always the same place as your forecast. Tap it to change place. See Locations for how this works when you travel.

Turning alerts on and off

• To change the level or turn alerts off, open Alerts and pick a level, or Off.
• If you skipped notifications during setup, picking a level makes iOS ask for permission.
• If you said no to notifications before, the Alerts tab says Notifications are off. Tap Open Settings and allow notifications for Aurora in iOS Settings.
• When alerts are off, the Tonight tab shows a small reminder with Turn on alerts. Tap the cross to hide it for a week.

Why you might not get an alert

You won't get a Tonight alert if:

• tonight didn't reach your level. This is the usual reason. Check the number on Tonight.
• iOS notifications for Aurora are off, or your level is set to Off.
• the forecast for tonight is Low confidence, or some of the data behind it was missing or out of date. We'd rather stay quiet than send a shaky alert.
• it's not dark enough for aurora where you are.
• the alert time fell inside your Quiet hours.
• you haven't opened Aurora for 14 days. Alerts pause until you open the app again.
• your subscription has ended.
• you changed to a new place after that day's forecast was issued. Alerts for that place start from the next afternoon.

Focus modes and Do Not Disturb on your iPhone can also hold back alerts. See Troubleshooting.

Did you see it?

After a night that we showed at 70% or more, Aurora may ask the next time you open the app: Did you see the aurora last night? You can answer Yes, I saw it, No or I didn't look. It takes one tap.

Your answers are the only check we get of what people actually see in the sky, and they help us improve the forecast. We ask at most once every few days, and you can swipe the question away. If you answer yes, iOS may then ask you to rate the app.

Locations

Aurora forecasts for one place at a time. That place is used for Tonight, Forecast and your alerts.

Changing place

Tap the place name in the top-left corner of Tonight. You can pick:

• My location: where you are now (approximate).
• Recent: your last five places.
• Search destination: search for a city or place.

You can also change place in Settings under Location, or in the Alerts tab under Alert location.

When you travel

If you use My location, Aurora checks your approximate position each time you open the app. When you've moved, the forecast and your alerts move with you. Aurora doesn't follow you in the background, so alerts stay on the last place where you opened the app. On a road trip, open Aurora once you've arrived for the evening.

A searched destination stays fixed until you change it. That's handy for planning a trip from home: search Tromsø, Abisko or Rovaniemi and watch the nights before you go.

How exact is the place?

Your position is rounded to an area of about 5 km before it leaves your iPhone. That's plenty for cloud and aurora forecasts, and it keeps your exact location private.

Moon, darkness and clouds

Aurora's number isn't just space weather. Four things decide whether you'll see aurora: how active the aurora is, whether the sky is clear, whether it's dark, and how bright the moon is. That's why the number can be low on a night with strong activity.

• Clouds matter most. Low cloud hides everything. Aurora uses the cloud forecast for your spot in layers (low, mid and high) for every dark hour. See it in Cloud tonight on the Forecast tab.
• Darkness: we count hours with the sun at least 12° below the horizon. Long winter nights give more chances for a clear spell.
• The moon: a bright moon hides faint aurora, while strong displays still show through. When the moon rises or sets during the night, Best viewing hours tells you when the sky gets darker.
• Space weather: solar wind, the Sun's magnetic field and the Kp index from NOAA and GFZ Potsdam. Kp alone isn't a good guide at high latitudes, which is why we don't show it on its own.

Settings

Open Settings with the button in the top-right corner of any tab.

• Location: your current place, and whether it's My location or a Destination.
• Subscription: your plan and when it renews or ends, Restore Purchases, and Manage subscription.
• Night vision: Automatic, On or Off. Night vision dims the screen and warms its colours, so your eyes stay used to the dark outside. On Automatic, it switches on during tonight's dark hours at your place, and a small Night vision tag shows on Tonight.
• Language: Aurora starts in your iPhone's language. You can pick another one here.
• About the forecast: what the percentage means, how the labels were tested and where (see Accuracy).
• Data sources: MET Norway (weather), NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center (space weather) and GFZ Potsdam (Kp index).
• Privacy Policy, Terms of Use and Support.
• Support ID: tap to copy it. Aurora has no accounts, so this is how we find your alert settings if you write to us.
• Version: the app version, useful when you contact support.

Subscription

Aurora is a paid app with no free version and no ads. A subscription unlocks everything: the full Tonight forecast, the three-night forecast, the outlook, alerts, and searching any destination.

Plans

The plans you see depend on your answer during setup:

• On a trip or planning one: Weekly or 1 Year.
• Living up north: 1 Year, with a free trial, or Monthly.

Prices are shown in your currency, straight from the App Store, before you buy. Weekly, Monthly and 1 Year all renew automatically until you cancel, including Weekly. If you only want Aurora for one trip, cancel the renewal after you buy. You keep access until the end of the period you paid for.

Free trial

When a plan has a free trial, the button says how long it is, and the price after the trial is shown underneath. Apple only gives one free trial per Apple Account. If you cancel at least 24 hours before the trial ends, you won't be charged. If the subscription screen says so, Aurora also sends you a reminder two days before your trial ends, as long as notifications are on.

Offers

Sometimes there's a special price. If you saw the plans without buying, a long press on the Aurora icon on your Home Screen may show an offer for your first year of 1 Year at a lower price. The exact price is shown before you buy, and after the first year it renews at the normal 1 Year price.

Restore purchases

If you reinstall Aurora or get a new iPhone, open Settings and tap Restore Purchases. If you're still on the subscription screen, tap Restore at the bottom. Restoring works with the same Apple Account you bought with. There's no Aurora account to log in to.

Cancel or manage

Subscriptions are handled by Apple. To cancel or change plan:

1. Open Settings in Aurora and tap Manage subscription, or open the iPhone Settings app, tap your name, then Subscriptions.
2. Choose Aurora and cancel or change your plan.

Cancel at least 24 hours before the end of the current period to stop the next payment. Deleting the app doesn't cancel the subscription. For refunds, go to Apple at reportaproblem.apple.com. We can't issue refunds ourselves.

When a subscription ends, Aurora shows the plans again with the date it ended. Your settings are kept, so everything is back the moment you start a plan again.

"You turned off renewal"

If you turn off renewal, the next time you open Aurora it may ask You turned off renewal. What's the main reason? One tap helps us make Aurora better. Answering, or tapping Not now, doesn't change your subscription. Aurora and your alerts keep working until the date it ends.

Privacy

Aurora has no accounts and doesn't ask for your name or email address. Your location is approximate (rounded to about 5 km on your iPhone) and only used while the app is open. To send alerts, our server stores a random ID, your push token, the rounded location and place name, your alert settings, and whether your subscription is active. We don't sell data or use it for advertising.

Read the full privacy policy.

Troubleshooting

I don't get any alerts

1. In the Alerts tab, check that a level other than Off is ticked.
2. If the tab says Notifications are off, tap Open Settings and allow notifications for Aurora.
3. In iOS Settings, check that Focus or Do Not Disturb isn't silencing Aurora.
4. Check Quiet hours in the Alerts tab. The Tonight alert comes around 16:00 local time.
5. Open Aurora now and then. Alerts pause after 14 days without opening the app.
6. Remember that most nights don't reach the alert level. Quiet can go weeks without an alert, especially around full moon or in cloudy spells. Try Balanced or Max chances if you want more alerts.

My location is wrong

Tap the place name on Tonight and choose My location again. If Aurora says Location is off, allow approximate location for Aurora in iOS Settings, under Privacy & Security, Location Services. You can always use Search destination instead. The place is approximate by design, so the name may be a nearby town.

The forecast seems off

• The percentage is a chance, not a promise. On an Excellent night aurora still stays away about one time in five. On a Low night you can still get lucky.
• Check the Why card and Cloud tonight. Local cloud, such as fog in a valley or cloud along the coast, can differ from the forecast. Moving a few kilometres can help.
• Look at the confidence. A Medium or Low confidence forecast is less sure.
• Tonight is fixed once issued. If activity picks up during the night, look for Conditions are strong right now, or turn on Live conditions alerts.
• Pull down on Tonight to load the latest forecast.

If something still looks wrong, tell us the place, date and time, and include your Support ID (see Contact).

Notifications don't work after a reinstall

Open Aurora once, then check the Alerts tab. If iOS doesn't ask about notifications, turn them on for Aurora in iOS Settings. If your subscription isn't showing, tap Restore Purchases in Settings.

My purchase didn't unlock the app

Wait a moment, then tap Restore on the subscription screen. If the app says Your purchase is waiting for approval, for example with Ask to Buy in Family Sharing, Aurora unlocks as soon as the purchase is approved.

Accuracy

We tested the forecast against automated all-sky cameras in Tromsø, Skibotn, Abisko and Kiruna in northern Norway and Sweden over three winters (2023–2026). This is how often clearly visible aurora appeared on nights with each label:

These rates vary from winter to winter. In a quiet winter, the numbers read a bit too high; in an active one, a bit too low. Under a bright moon, cameras record aurora a person may barely see, so we judged those frames by eye and counted such nights as half.

In the same tests, for the same number of aurora nights caught, our forecast gave 61% fewer false-alarm nights than a forecast built on Kp plus cloud, and 80% fewer than Kp alone.

Where it's tested: northern Scandinavia. The app works everywhere, but outside that area it shows Medium or Low confidence. Further south, aurora also needs stronger activity to reach you. We don't make accuracy claims for other regions yet.

Why there are no exact times: aurora comes in bursts that can't be timed hours ahead, and cloud forecasts are never perfect. Best viewing hours shows the clearest dark hours, not when aurora will appear.

A forecast, not a guarantee. A good forecast is a reason to look up.

Contact

Questions, problems or ideas? Email support@sterkvekst.no. We read every message.

To help us help you, please include:

• your Support ID (in Settings, tap to copy),
• the app Version (at the bottom of Settings),
• the place and date, if it's about a forecast or an alert.

To delete the data our server holds for your device, email us your Support ID.

Aurora is made by Sterk Vekst AS in Hammerfest, Norway.