How to set the time precisely

Updated 2026-11-04

Goal: put your plan on the exact day and minute you want, on the 2D map or in the 3D world.

Steps

  1. Look at the time sheet at the bottom of the map. Drag it up for more (the sun and moon readings, then the full sheet), or down for less.
  2. Drag the hour scrubber to move through the day. The arrows at each end move one day.
  3. Tap previous or next beside the clock to jump between the day’s events: sunrise, sunset, the golden and blue hour edges, moonrise and moonset, the Milky Way core.
  4. For an exact minute, tap the hours or the minutes in the clock. A wheel opens for that unit; drag it, then tap Done.
  5. To change the date, tap the date under the clock, or the calendar button. Pick what the month shows: Moon, Milky Way, Meteors or Golden and blue hour, or switch to Events for each night’s sky events.
  6. Tap a day. Explore moves to that day at the same time of day, and the calendar closes on its own. The X closes it without changing the day.
  7. Tap back to now at the start of the clock row to return to the current time.

In the 3D world, tap the time on the right half of the pill at the bottom. The same sheet opens over the world; swipe it down, tap outside it or tap its checkmark to close it.

What you will see

  • As you scrub, the sun, moon and core move on the map, or in the sky over the 3D world, at every move of your finger.
  • With your phone’s haptics on, you feel a light tick for each minute and a firmer one on each hour and at sunrise, sunset and the day’s other events.
  • On the full sheet, tap the words before the date (“Today”, “In 4 days”) to show the days around it, and tap one to jump straight there.

Tip

Let the calendar do the looking: the Milky Way view shows each night’s dark hours for the core, and Meteors marks each shower’s peak night. Pick the night there, then set the minute with the wheel.

If something looks off

  • Tapping a day didn’t ask me to confirm. One tap picks the day and closes the calendar. Tap the X if you only wanted to look.
  • I don’t feel any ticks. The ticks follow your phone’s system haptics setting; turn it on to feel them.
  • The time looks an hour off. Times are in the camera’s time zone, shown in the chip beside the date, not your phone’s.

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Set your lens · Find when it lines up · All guides