Support

Lightphase names the phase of natural light you are standing in and counts down to the next one. It computes the sun on your device from your coordinates and the time, with no account, no server and no solar API.

The sunrise time differs from another app

This is almost always the definition rather than a fault. Lightphase puts sunrise at the instant the sun’s upper edge meets the horizon, which places its center 0.833° below: 16 arcminutes for the sun’s own radius and 34 for atmospheric refraction. That is the definition every almanac uses, so the times agree with a weather app to the minute.

Golden Hour then runs from that crossing to +6°, which is narrower than some planning tools draw it. Methodology shows where each threshold comes from.

Location is blocked

A browser only asks once. If you dismissed or denied the prompt, Lightphase cannot ask again from the page, and you have to allow it in the browser instead. In Safari that is Settings, Apps, Safari, Location. In Chrome and Firefox it is the icon at the left of the address bar. Reload afterwards.

In the iOS app it is Settings, Privacy & Security, Location Services, Lightphase. The app asks for location only when you tap, and it keeps nothing but the latest position, on the device, so the widgets and complications have something to draw from.

A widget or complication is not updating

iOS decides how often an extension on the Lock Screen, the Home Screen or a watch face is allowed to refresh, and it spends that budget across every app on the device. Lightphase hands the system a timeline of entries ahead of time, so the reading advances on its own, but a long idle stretch can leave one behind. Opening the app refreshes it immediately.

Getting in touch

Write to onyx@onyxmueller.net. Tell me your coordinates to a tenth of a degree, the date, and what you expected to read instead, and I can check it against the engine.