Trust & data
Frequently asked questions
Quick answers to the questions we hear most often.
Frequently asked questions
The sun / moon overlay in the AR scout looks slightly off — how do I fix it?
Almost always it’s the compass. The AR scout points the sun, moon and Milky Way using your phone’s magnetometer, which is accurate only when it’s calibrated.
- Let your phone calibrate. If iOS shows the figure-8 prompt (a red arc asking you to roll the phone in a figure-8), do it. That’s what gets the bodies onto the real sky.
- Move away from magnets and metal. Cars, speakers, magnetic mounts and magnetic phone cases pull the compass off true north. Step away and let it recalibrate.
- Micro-adjust if a small offset remains. In the scout, tap the scope button, drag the sky until a body sits on the real one, and tap Done — the scout remembers that nudge on this device.
It’s a planning guide, not survey-grade: even calibrated, expect alignment within a few degrees. See AR Celestial Scout → Accuracy & compass calibration.
Why does the AR scout ask me to wave my phone in a figure-8?
That’s iOS calibrating the magnetometer. The compass drifts over time and near magnetic interference; the figure-8 motion re-references it to true north. Doing it whenever prompted keeps the overlay accurate.
Why does the terrain horizon in the AR scout need a connection?
The scout can hide the sun and moon behind ridgelines so the overlay matches the real skyline. That terrain shape is computed from elevation data on our servers, so it needs an internet connection — the app tells you clearly when it isn’t available rather than drawing a wrong horizon. The rest of the scout (arcs, time-scrubbing, planning) works offline. See Offline behavior.
Does the app work without a connection?
Partly. Capturing Locations (with Pro or Max), your library, notes, the calculators and the almanac all work offline. Maps do not: there are no offline maps yet, and the map imagery for an area you haven’t viewed needs a connection. A few extras use the internet without needing an account: the AR terrain horizon and a Location’s time zone send the coordinates of the place you’re looking at, and sky events and satellite orbits download shared reference data that the app then caches. The rest of what needs a connection is the Max layer: live weather and conditions, alerts, and syncing your Locations and compressed photo copies to your other devices. See Offline behavior.
Can I use Viewpoint on a computer or in a browser?
Yes. Viewpoint runs in any web browser at web.getviewpoint.app — your library, lists, Location detail, the map, shoot planning, your plans and watches, the Studio tools and the calculators, all on the big screen, synced with your phone.
It isn’t quite everything the phone does, though. Capturing a Location through the camera, the AR Celestial Scout, the live light meter, Home- and Lock-Screen widgets, Location & map sharing, and Look Around opened straight from a Location all stay on the phone. The sun · moon · Milky Way almanac has no screen of its own on the web yet — the sun and moon figures you plan against are built into shoot planning. And the web app needs a connection, where the phone’s on-device tools work with no signal. You do still reach street level from the map on the web, and a Location you haven’t photographed yet shows a still view from near its pin.
The web app is part of the Max plan and signs you in with Apple or Google. See Viewpoint on the web for the full breakdown.
Is there an Android version?
Yes — Viewpoint is on iPhone, Android and the web. The Android app is on Google Play. It’s built on the same core as the iPhone app, so the heart of it is there: capturing a Location in a tap, your Locations library, Look Around street-level scouting, place search, composition guides, live weather and conditions and calendar export, with your library and the on-device tools working without a signal.
It isn’t a like-for-like copy yet, though, and we’d rather say so than let you find out afterwards. Several tools have fewer options than their iPhone versions — among them the sun & twilight almanac, shoot planning, Explore, satellite transits, Find Your Viewpoint, the AR Celestial Scout, the light meter, the calculators, condition alerts (three conditions to watch for), and the Studio tools; Lists can be created and their Locations added or removed, but not yet renamed or deleted; the preview imagery that fills in a Location you haven’t shot is there, but where no openly-licensed photograph of a place exists, iPhone offers a street-level look at it and Android doesn’t yet; and Compress isn’t there at all. The Home-screen widget is there for Conditions only; the other widgets are iPhone-only for now. Studio on Android sets the publishing tools out one by one, and we’re working through the rest.
This is an early version and it will keep growing — the gaps above are the ones we know about, and we’ll update this page as they close.
How do I rate Viewpoint?
In the iPhone app, open Settings → Help → Rate & Review Viewpoint and it takes you straight to the App Store’s review screen. You can also just say “Rate Viewpoint” to Siri, or run the Rate Viewpoint shortcut. On Android, you can review it from its Google Play listing. Reviews genuinely help other photographers find the app — and they’re the fastest way to tell us what’s working and what isn’t.
How do I redeem a code?
If you subscribed through Apple, tap Redeem a Code in the iPhone app — it’s on the subscription screen and in Settings → Plan and purchases. That opens Apple’s own redemption sheet; enter the code there and your access updates automatically, no restart needed. Codes are redeemed through your Apple Account, so it works the same whether you’re already subscribed or just getting started. Apple’s own guide: Redeem a gift card or code.
If you subscribed through Google Play, there is no redemption screen inside the app — a Play code is redeemed in the Play Store itself. Google’s own guide: Redeem your Google Play gift card or gift code. Once Play has applied it, tap Restore purchases in the app to pick the change up.
Codes are tied to the store that issued them: an App Store code can’t be redeemed on Google Play, and the other way round.
What are Free, Pro, Max and Ultra?
Viewpoint has four levels. Free costs nothing, needs no account, and is the toolbox that runs on your device: every calculator, the sun, moon and Milky Way almanac, the light meter and the Explore map. Pro is a one-time purchase — no subscription, no account — that adds saving Explore plans, AR Scout, the details of tonight’s sky events, capture and your library (adding and editing Locations, lists and shoot plans), Studio and widgets. Max is a subscription that includes everything in Pro while you subscribe, plus the Alignment Planner (“When does it line up?”), satellite transits and the connected layer — Conditions for the places you follow, alerts, cross-device sync, compressed photo sync (see Photo storage; not a backup of your originals), sharing, and the web app — and needs an account. Ultra is a subscription that includes everything in Max and adds the photorealistic 3D world, in beta; see Ultra and the 3D world. Signed out, a quarterly or yearly Max plan, or a yearly Ultra plan, keeps Pro on your phone and a monthly plan returns you to Free; you are never forced to sign in to open the app. See Plans for the full breakdown. Your store shows the price before you buy.
If you bought Pro before this change, you keep the Alignment Planner and satellite transits.
I already pay for the Offline or Online subscription — what happens now?
You keep everything you had, and you don’t need to do anything about your library.
- If you were on the Offline subscription, you now own Pro permanently, at no extra charge, for as long as you paid for at least one billed period (a free trial that never converted doesn’t count). Your Offline subscription keeps billing until you cancel it yourself, because neither store lets us do it for you — the app shows you a one-time reminder with a direct link to your store’s “Manage subscription” screen.
- If you were on the Online subscription, it is now called Max: you keep everything it always included, and a paid Max period also makes Pro yours to keep (see Plans).
Do widgets need a purchase now?
Yes. Every Home- and Lock-Screen widget needs Pro, and the Conditions widget needs Max because it reads live weather data. Without Pro, a widget shows an unlock tile instead of data; tap it to open the paywall. See Widgets.