FlareFinder
Update
1. Irritatingly, the app still asks you for your location every time you launch it! A nuisance. See note #10 below.
2. There's no way of updating the flare passes when it's opened, save by exiting and re-entering the app! Should be a pull down or, better, a circular arrow icon.
3. An update on one of the earlier suggestions. It would be much clearer and more useful for observers if the altitude and azimuth info were presented separately-- i.e.,
Alt 34 Az 110 E
Running the degrees together is harder to process!
In any event, here's the original review, which still holds!
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This is a great app. It more than holds its own against the higher-end, $$ apps for finding out when Iridium flares will occur.
It lists all the key information on one screen. That includes altitude, direction, and brightness. That is something that many other apps still lack. With those, you end up having to hunt through multiple screens.
The FF app has a great tutorial, although at this stage, most people will know how use an app!
It comes with an astronomical, night-friendly, red display mode built in, something many apps lack. (Of course, flare finding as opposed to faint fuzzy searching doesn't really need it, but it's still nice to have, especially if you're out doing telescopic observing, too. Flare viewing is done naked eye.)
While FF doesn't have some of the features of the high-end apps (e.g., compass orientation, star charts, etc.), it nevertheless is quite good.
Plus, once one knows the cardinal directions (0 = North; 90 = East; and 180 = South), you don't need the compass and you're all set.
It may well replace the Iridium Flares app that I've been using for years, even though that one has more features! With Iridium Flares, you don't get all the key information on one screen (bad), and it makes you recalibrate the compass whenever you open it-- and even, repeatedly, after that! A major nuisance!
Some unsolicited advice for the developer! :-)
1. Get Iridium into your app's name somehow. I know the your title is different, but it doesn't get found in the App Store. Searching for "Iridium" does not turn it up. Why not "Iridium Flare Finder" -- with spaces in the name?
2. Skip the opening tutorial; just leave it under the Info-Help button. Also, provide a cancel or exit button during the tutorial, so one can escape it if needed. I got caught again just now.
3. Separate the altitude and azimuth numbers. Running them together can be hard to process, especially if the flare is in the Northeast! I.e., 50o/34o.
4. Add some info about the flares themselves.
5. Use "Tonight" & "Tomorrow" labels rather than dates for flares soon to happen.
6. Make the app universal. It runs fine on the iPad in the 2x mode, but would be better in HD mode-- it would also show up in the default App Store searching on the iPad, which only looks at iPad apps!
7. Reminders up to one hour in advance, not just 5 minutes.
8. App icon on home screen is too spartan. Needs improved, jazzier, space-related design!
9. It'd be great if if could run under iOS 6, too. We have iPhones and iPads on which we'd like to use it, but can't.
10. There is another major usability problem. Your app prompts the user each time it is opened for one's location. I would definitely drop that. Many of us observe from one location only and this repeated prompting is a nuisance. You have nicely put a "last location" button there, but one wants the flare information quickly, not having to set location each time. Virtually none of the astro apps out there, including those for flares, require you to enter or set your location each time. From a users perspective, that's really a nuisance!
In any event, it's a great app.
Best wishes for successful future development!
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