# kairos outdoor — A good time to go outside

> Outdoor activity planner based on weather, air quality, tides, and daylight. (iPhone/iPad app by Douglas Overholser.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/kairos-outdoor/id6754797580 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Douglas Overholser](https://appshunter.io/developer/1850145262)
- Category: Weather
- Price: Free
- Rating: 5.00/5 from 3 App Store ratings
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 17.6 · 9 MB
- Languages: American English
- Released: 2026-07-14
- Data updated: 2026-08-24
- Monetization: free
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/kairos-outdoor/id6754797580/reviews.md

## What is kairos outdoor?

Kairos looks at the conditions that affect time outside — weather, air quality, tides, river flow, daylight, and the moon — and points out when they line up for the things you do outdoors.

You pick your activities and what matters for each: a temperature range, wind, clean air, a tide, a flow, morning light, golden hour. Kairos scores the hours ahead and shows the best windows today and in the days to come, with the conditions behind each one plotted so you can see why — not take it on faith.

Keep as many spots as you like for any activity — several fishing holes, ski mountains, surf breaks, or favorite walks — each scored on its own conditions and preferences. Rate how an outing went and Kairos quietly tunes future suggestions to what you actually head out in, per spot and entirely on your device.

When a window is genuinely unusual, Kairos can send a rare, specific notification — colder weather arriving after, an unusually calm day. Commit to a window, add it to your calendar, and invite a friend.

Activities include running, cycling, walking, beachcombing, tidepooling, surfing, fishing, skiing, rafting and kayaking, and stargazing — or create your own, pinned to a place. Any spot can also keep a USGS topographic map saved on your phone, so the terrain and your location on it work with no signal. A home and lock screen widget shows your current best window, and Kairos gives a heads-up before a full moon or a locally visible eclipse.

No accounts, no ads. Your location is used only to fetch local conditions; your preferences and history stay on your device. Conditions come from Apple Weather, NOAA tide predictions and river forecasts, and Open-Meteo air quality and marine data (licensed CC BY 4.0).

## Key features

- Activity-specific condition scoring
- Customizable location preferences
- Real-time condition plotting
- Personalized notifications
- Offline topographic maps
- Home and lock screen widgets
- User feedback for tuning suggestions


## Frequently asked questions about kairos outdoor

### What outdoor activities can kairos outdoor help plan?

kairos outdoor supports a wide range of activities including running, cycling, walking, beachcombing, tidepooling, surfing, fishing, skiing, rafting, kayaking, and stargazing. You can also create custom activities pinned to specific locations.

### Does kairos outdoor require an internet connection to use?

While kairos outdoor fetches real-time conditions and forecasts using an internet connection, it offers offline USGS topographic maps for saved spots. This allows you to see terrain and your location on it even without a signal.

### How does kairos outdoor personalize suggestions?

You can rate how your outings went, and kairos outdoor quietly tunes future suggestions based on your actual experiences. This tuning is done per spot and entirely on your device, ensuring privacy.

### What kind of notifications does kairos outdoor send?

kairos outdoor can send rare, specific notifications for genuinely unusual windows of opportunity, such as colder weather arriving after a warm spell or an unusually calm day for water activities.

### Is kairos outdoor available on multiple devices?

Yes, kairos outdoor is available for iPhone and iPad, indicated by its supported devices list.

### How often is kairos outdoor updated?

The app was last updated on August 10, 2026, with version 1.1. This suggests a recent update, indicating ongoing development and support.

### What is the age rating for kairos outdoor?

kairos outdoor has an age rating of 4+, making it suitable for a wide audience of young users and above.

### Does kairos outdoor have ads?

No, kairos outdoor explicitly states 'No accounts, no ads' in its description. This means you can use the app without encountering any advertisements.

## Version history (last 3 releases)

### 1.2 — 2026-08-21

Notifications now arrive. Windows are scheduled ahead as well as checked in the
background, so an alert no longer depends on iOS granting the app a moment to run.
If 1.1 went quiet for you, this is the fix.

Share an activity or a spot. Send your setup for an activity — the conditions, and
any spots you choose — as a link. A shared spot carries its own settings and river
gauge, so it works the same on the other phone. Accepting a link never overwrites
settings you've already made: shared spots are added alongside your own, and you
see everything in the link before anything is added.

One permission at a time. Location, notifications, and calendar are now asked for
separately, each explained first, along with what still works if you decline.
Calendar offers a read-only choice.

A short introduction on first launch, before anything is asked of you.

What kairos is doing — a new screen showing whether background checks are running,
when the last one was, when the last alert was sent, and what's queued next.

Surf — both swell trains are now charted as Open-Meteo defines them, primary and
secondary, for height, period, and direction. Scoring reads both rather than
picking one: their heights combine the way their energy does, so two swells
running together make the bigger sea they actually make, while period and
direction are weighted by how much of the swell each one carries. A cleanliness
figure is charted alongside the match — chop's share of the energy, and a penalty
when the two swells run at each other instead of together.

Air quality is charted for activities it counts toward.

River flow — a level outside the range you set now counts against a window more
strictly, and a range set to a single figure no longer scores as a match.

Fixes — the widget no longer suggests activities you can't reach in time.
Stargazing after midnight is filed under the night it belongs to. Committing to an
hour moves other activities to their next best time instead of dropping them.
Beachcombing and tidepooling show their match chart and time picker. Past events no
longer read as "peak in -3 days". Ski conditions report snow at the spot's own
elevation. A pinned spot can also keep scoring where you are.

### 1.1 — 2026-08-10

Multiple spots per activity — every activity can now hold several pinned spots,
not just surfing: multiple fishing spots, ski mountains, or walks. Each is scored
on its own conditions, and each can carry its own temperature, wind, tide, or
river-flow preferences, or follow your defaults.

Per-spot learning — rating a session now adjusts suggestions for that spot rather
than for the activity as a whole. Learning stays on your device.

Rafting and kayaking — a new activity scored on river flow, including a preference
for rising, dropping, or steady water. It's a planning aid, not an assessment of
what's safe or runnable.

River setup — for a river spot, search by river name or take the nearest gauge,
and the matching NOAA flow forecast is suggested rather than typed in by hand.
Forecast flow is plotted on the detail chart against the range you set.

Offline topo maps — the USGS topographic map around a spot can be downloaded for
up to a five-mile radius and kept on the phone. It opens from the home screen and
shows your location without a signal.

Time to move — a walking window is shown on its own card, with the weather behind
it and a note when your calendar is free.

Tides — the conditions strip shows the current tide height and whether it's rising
or falling, plus the day's two highs and two lows in the order they occur. Coastal
activities without a pinned spot are scored at the shoreline rather than at your
location.

Notifications — a setting in the activities screen controls how readily
notifications fire, from never to freely; the app still chooses the moment. A
rarity bug that let ordinary windows register as unusual is fixed. A window that
comes up while the app is open highlights the card instead of sending a banner.

Full moons and eclipses — the full moon card appears from the day before through
the day after, and both it and the eclipse card include the expected sky
conditions. Each event gets a reminder 30 minutes ahead.

Activity setup — a searchable library of 231 activity icons that matches related
terms (search "kayak", get paddle and row). Custom activities can prefer a wind
direction, with a chart to match, and set minimum or maximum tide limits. Surf and
wind directions accept any degree rather than snapping to the compass.

Also — activities pinned far from where you are no longer fill the screen or send
notifications. Cards note which location a forecast is for when it isn't yours.
Conditions refresh sooner when you return to the app. Clearer message when location
services are off. Per-activity lead time, so activities that need preparation
aren't suggested for ten minutes from now.

### 1.0 — 2026-07-14

No release notes.

---

*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 2026-08-24.*