# Helios Sun, Moon, Star Pre-Viz — user reviews > 25 indexed App Store user reviews of Helios Sun, Moon, Star Pre by Chemical Wedding, rated 3.50/5 from 20 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/helios-sun-moon-star-pre-viz/id1187474993/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/helios-sun-moon-star-pre-viz/id1187474993.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 9 · 4★ 4 · 3★ 0 · 2★ 1 · 1★ 6 ## Newest reviews (5 of 25) ### 4/5 — If you app is not working try this: *2021-04-20* I just paid for the app and is not working, I want my money back. **Update** I restart my phone and didn’t work, but I erased the app and re-installed and is working perfect. **Developer response:** Vladimir Could you email toby@chemicalwedding.tv and we'll find the problem. (At present, there are no crash logs matching an app not opening so I'd love to get to the bottom of this.) Kind regards ### 4/5 — Great App - Poor compass accuracy *2020-04-03* *update* Spoke with developers and understand the hardware limitations associated with this issue. I appreciate they seem to be doing all they can with every hardware release. Hopefully they keep pushing it forward. I’ve also done further comparisons and have realized sunseeker uses a few tricks to disguise their inaccuracies as well so the difference isn’t quite as severely as originally suspected. However I still continue to find sunseeker to be more accurate without user calibration. Big fan of the app and UI, but my main use for this app is live view and the app falls down there compared to its main rival “Sun seeker.” If I line up the sun and calibrate that way, I tend to get solid results but if I select use the compass I find the results to be significantly off. I’ve tested this in many environments over two phones (currently 11 Pro) and come away with consistently poor results. I find Sun seekers results to be much more reliable. I’m not sure how they calibrate vs the compass calibration Helios uses, but whatever they are doing I wish Helios would adapt. I’d much prefer to use this app only. Will keep testing, would love to hear the developers thoughts- no way they haven’t tested vs sun seeker internally... **Developer response:** Mtfield Sorry to read of your Helios headache. Please send an email to toby@chemicalwedding.tv and we will try to address your problem. Kind regards ### 4/5 — Please Fix This Bug *2019-09-23* There should be an blank between “Helios” and “Pro” when it is shown under the icon. Please fix this bug. ### 3/5 — Useful, complex, more work needed *2018-10-22* The app is extremely useful, especially as I found myself without enough time to prep for a job 20,000 km away. The possibility to immediately calculate shadows from natural elevation has helped me calculate shooting time on the cliffs of south Oman with extreme precision. I’ve tested light projections between buildings in Paris and it seems impeccable. However it’s a complex tool and takes some time to get confident with it. Crashes are common, specifically with Artemis pro integration. But if most of the documentation work is done at home this is not a major issue. **Developer response:** Gcl01 Many thanks for your assessment. Have the crash incidents eased and, indeed, are you now able to more naturally navigate the app? Could you reach out to Nic at nic@chemicalwedding.tv, to discuss? Kind regards from Chemical Wedding. ### 4/5 — Excellent except for the clunky saving of pictures. *2018-08-22* I’ve just started using this and after two days of experimenting I find that the saving the photos option is too slow. It’s a three step process for some reason and when you’re out in the bright light it’s not easy to see all the buttons. That aside the 3 D model in Live view is excellent. If you’re shooting a car commercial this is a must. It’s as accurate as sun seeker which is pretty accurate when using the compass, but not perfect. If you have the sun already out you can calibrate from that and then it is an excellent tool. I just hope they figure out the saving of the photos part, it’s the only thing I’m not crazy about with Artemis view finder too. It’s the only reason I didn’t give it five stars. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Why is this app so annoying *2024-04-12* The rotation feature is not working ever since I bought this app. Why are you taking so much money and not even providing basic features ### 1/5 — Waste of time *2023-10-17* I’ve tried using this app on several occasions and it’s always a struggle to get it to recognize where I am and what time it is. Painfully frustrating. **Developer response:** Could you send an email to me--I'd like to discuss. Many thanks in hope nic@chemicalwedding.tv ### 1/5 — App crashes immediately *2023-10-01* iPhone 15 Pro - was only able to open it once, and it crashed as soon as I tried to set the timezone. Now it won’t even make it past the splash screen. **Developer response:** jFalztar Could I ask what phone and operating system you have? Please send a note to Nic@chemicalwedding.tv Many thanks, in hope ### 1/5 — Awful *2021-11-01, version 1.7.2* It impossible to use this app… totally disappointed ### 1/5 — App doesn’t load, crashes instead *2021-08-18* I get the startup screen 30 seconds later it crashes. Restarted my phone…. Same thing **Developer response:** cbarrett83 Could you send a note to toby@chemicalwedding.tv and we'll solve your problem. Many thanks ### 1/5 — Bad review *2020-12-10, version 1.1.6* It is unusefull app! I need to recalibrate three four times before sun path will right. It can not help me in my job because sometimes I scouting at night or in cloudy weather. In this case recognize the app’s mistakes is not clear. I use it in iPhone 11 three months. ### 1/5 — Live view is and has been broken. *2020-06-19* Ever since I wasted my money on this app, it’s been broken. The live view has never been accurate, even with trying to calibrate. And sometimes you are trying to see where the sun will be in a few weeks, so calibrating to the sun is worse than useless. I’ve just gone back to using my free app that works much better. Dumb that you can’t get refunds on apps. **Developer response:** Sorry to read of your Helios headache--the most common problems are operating software updates or compass settings so I'd like to find out how to solve your specific problem. Please send an email to toby@chemicalwedding.tv and I'll address your specific problem. Kind regards ### 1/5 — Unreliable *2020-04-21* The app never ever showed the correct Sun path. **Developer response:** Sorry to read of your Helios headache--the most common problems are operating software updates or compass settings so I'd like to find out how to solve your specific problem. Please send an email to toby@chemicalwedding.tv and I will try to address your problem. Kind regards ### 1/5 — Not using this app ever again. *2019-09-09* I bought this app to get accurate calculations of sun for my video shoots. I get false reading every time. Not going to use this app ever again. Can’t believe i paid $30 dollars for such a complicated app. The compass is never calibrated and I’ve tried all possible ways to fix it. A free sun seeker app is WAY better than this. **Developer response:** Could you send an email to nic@chemicalwedding.tv and we'll try to solve your headache. Kind regards ### 2/5 — Where’s the sun? *2021-05-20* On every location scout the sun is always in some random place. Calibration hardly if ever seems reliable. If this takes a lot of effort to troubleshoot I think it’s simply not worth it. Concept and design are all good and helpful, but in reality it’s not useable **Developer response:** Christian I suspect that your device compass is mis-set. Could you send an email to toby@chemicalwedding.tv and we'll try to get your settings corrected. Kind regards ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Helios *2024-02-03* Helios is the best and more accurate app for sun position. The developer respond very fast to any questions suggestions. In the movie industry it is the reference. ### 5/5 — Excellent App *2021-05-22* Sun tracking allows you to calibrate by sun position (which other programs lock) and 3D buildings view is unique and immensely useful. Developers really care - wrote them requesting the use of the phone’s wide angle camera and within two days they had created the feature. Very impressive. ### 5/5 — Unreal *2020-02-07* Needs no more description. Pre scouting locations on otherside of the world with it. Absurd. ### 5/5 — Near perfect *2019-04-30* It works as best as anything on the current phone platforms. A little adjustment time is recommended before it becomes second nature, but once done then you’ll start seeing the subtle nuance in there:-) Also the App support team is fabulous... ### 5/5 — Outstanding ability to set up aerial shots *2019-03-01* The ability to fly a virtual drone with full controls over rendered topography, or 3D building mode during all points of the sun’s path, anytime of the year is indispensable for saving time setting up shots. The light pollution map is also very handy. However, the app is buggy and as of 3/1/19, the “virtual stars” mode is broken and will cause the app to crash on my iPhone X. The app can also crash if I take the virtual drone over mountainous ranges, and then over an urban environment very quickly while planning the camera up or down as the app seems to many times ‘struggle’ to keep loading the GPS tiles. Definitely hope the devs update these frustrating bugs and make it more capable as soon as possible, but if you’re in the market for a power photography app, don’t let these drawbacks dissuade you. Helios Pro has become one of my main go-to apps, even if I’m just shooting off my iPhone. **Developer response:** Clint Many thanks for your note. We think we have IDed the virtual drone/ mountainous ranges ranges bug but would like to chat about about the virtual stars mode, etc. Might you have time to talk? Please email me at simon.reeves@me.com at your convenience. Kind regards Simon ### 5/5 — Great enhancements! *2018-08-02* Very attentive developer and is always willing to discuss enhancements with pros. My cinematography duties just got all that easier! ### 5/5 — An awesome tool for photographers, too! *2018-07-03* I used the app to plan a natural light shoot for one of our agency’s largest clients, knowing I’d have little access to the location beforehand, and only a small window to capture content the day of, as we were paying by the hour for the space. With Helios Pro, I was able to time our shoot down to the minute, and plan for the positioning of all our subjects, bounces, and cameras with a scientific degree of accuracy. Needless to say, the lighting in every shot came out perfect, just as planned. Though it’s mainly marketed to cinematographers, I’d recommend this app to anyone hoping to capture consistently beautiful, natural light photography. 5/5 stars would buy again. Side note: the customer service is amazing. ### 5/5 — Spooky Good! *2018-02-22* “Amazing. I’ve used pretty much every photography app out there and this is the first one that really shows how the light is going to fall on the landscape. Spooky.” ### 5/5 — Gets better and better *2017-12-06* I direct feature films for a living. I have done so for forty five years. Like the camera technicians I work with we all care deeply about how our movies look, and Helios has been helping us make them look their best for years. It just got even better! What a great update and well worth the money. Richard Loncraine ### 4/5 — Great app *2022-10-06* Hey guys great app, works great! Been using it for years. Would love to see a widget developed for my phone to be able to track the sun without needing to open the app or even to just have quick access to it. Anyway! Great app, would buy it again :) Thanks J --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-09-10.*