Amazing app but currently crashing
Hoping issues can be fixed as invaluable in the field. Pleased not to have an active subscription for skyfire currently
Response from developer
Hi - slightly confused by this: Skyfire is not included in TPE 3D. Are you talking about issues with another app?
Glitchy since latest update
Sept 2025 Update:
Since the latest update, I’ve found navigation to be even more glitchy than before. Scrolling around the map in a given area, with a single finger, causes unexpected movements. This makes it difficult to use, teach, or recommend to students and colleagues.
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I’ve used this app for planning and teaching night photography since it came out. It helps visualize the scene in terms of alignment of stars and large landscape features, but there are major drawbacks which make this app frustrating to use:
1. No satellite imagery. Regardless of the ‘complexity settings,’ there is no access satellite imagery. This is not only a disappointment, but unrealistic for a navigational/planning app. You can access satellite imagery with TPE, but not TPE-3D. This is a dealbreaker.
2. Navigating is impossible. The app is limited to a ‘zoom-out level’ that does not allow you to scroll to areas far apart. For example, in the original TPE, you can zoom out as far as you want to scroll to different states if need be for quick and easy browsing. This app won’t allow that. The only saving grace, which is by no means a real solution, is to go back to the regular TPE, pin the location, then export to TPE-3D.
3. Your ‘current location’ is not clear. Select ‘my location’ and the app flys to a general vicinity, but there is nothing to represent where you are located. When you pair this with the illegible background map, it’s impossible to know where you are located.
4. Moonlight across the landscape is too dark to notice a difference. Sunrise or sunset light within the app is legible, but I would like to see moonlight represented much brighter. If you’re planning a shot with moonlight and you look at this app outside during the day, it’s impossible to see the change in moonlight across the landscape.
With these current design issues, most of my clients try the app once, then never open it again. This app has a lot of potential, but I still prefer using Google Earth’s landscape desktop feature.
Since the latest update, I’ve found navigation to be even more glitchy than before. Scrolling around the map in a given area, with a single finger, causes unexpected movements. This makes it difficult to use, teach, or recommend to students and colleagues.
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I’ve used this app for planning and teaching night photography since it came out. It helps visualize the scene in terms of alignment of stars and large landscape features, but there are major drawbacks which make this app frustrating to use:
1. No satellite imagery. Regardless of the ‘complexity settings,’ there is no access satellite imagery. This is not only a disappointment, but unrealistic for a navigational/planning app. You can access satellite imagery with TPE, but not TPE-3D. This is a dealbreaker.
2. Navigating is impossible. The app is limited to a ‘zoom-out level’ that does not allow you to scroll to areas far apart. For example, in the original TPE, you can zoom out as far as you want to scroll to different states if need be for quick and easy browsing. This app won’t allow that. The only saving grace, which is by no means a real solution, is to go back to the regular TPE, pin the location, then export to TPE-3D.
3. Your ‘current location’ is not clear. Select ‘my location’ and the app flys to a general vicinity, but there is nothing to represent where you are located. When you pair this with the illegible background map, it’s impossible to know where you are located.
4. Moonlight across the landscape is too dark to notice a difference. Sunrise or sunset light within the app is legible, but I would like to see moonlight represented much brighter. If you’re planning a shot with moonlight and you look at this app outside during the day, it’s impossible to see the change in moonlight across the landscape.
With these current design issues, most of my clients try the app once, then never open it again. This app has a lot of potential, but I still prefer using Google Earth’s landscape desktop feature.
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Response from developer
I suspect you're encountering the new minimum height above ground level setting coming into play. This is intended to avoid inadvertently flying so close to the terrain that the map tiles become difficult to read. If you want the previous behavior, go to settings and reduce "Minimum flying height" to its lowest setting. If you believe there are actual glitches in the movement when using a single finger gesture, please write to support@photoephemeris.com with details so I can investigate and try to address them. I've had no other reports of glitches as you describe.
Kein Support mehr
Seit Jahren keine weiterentwickelte Version und die Server für die Kartenständer sind offline :(
Response from developer
Bitte sehen Sie sich die Versionshinweise zu Version 1.5 an, um technische Details zu erfahren, warum wir die App über einen längeren Zeitraum nicht aktualisieren konnten. Die Server waren jedoch nie offline.
This app does not work any more
Hey I bought the app in 2025 and it shows a low resolution map with no shadows. I am disappointed as I was late to the party as it seems. So don’t waste your money because the app is not serviced any more !
Looks Abandoned
This is a good and useful app, but unfortunately it look’s abandoned: It was last updated years ago. When I reported an annoying bug that should be easy to fix, I first got the usual denial, but was then accepted, but I was told they had other more pressing problems. Shame, as I said: a useful app for specialist landscape photography (where exactly will the moon rise over these mountains.), but I fear it will soon be incompatible with new iOS versions. The developer should open source it for glory.
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Scheint auf dem Grafikstand von 2018 zu sein
Für iOS17.5.1 jedenfalls ungeeignet und nicht mehr bedienbar
Best
Complex but exact need for professional. Good worth money .
Stadt architektur nicht betrachtet
Nutzlos in Städten . Benutzerfreundlichkeit ist dürftig . Schade da TPE eigentlich recht gut ist. Ohne das Städtenproblem wäre auch nicht mehr als 3 Sterne.
Response from developer
Wie in der App-Beschreibung erwähnt, richtet sich diese App ausdrücklich an Landschaftsfotografen, die in bergigem Gelände arbeiten.
Miserable Karte
Ich komme mit der Anwendung nicht zurecht. Wenn man in die Karte hineinzoomt, wird sie so unscharf, dass man nichts mehr erkennen kann und man deshalb Nadeln nur sehr ungenau setzen kann. Die Beschriftung ist auch so rudimentär, dass man oft gar nicht weiß, ob man richtig ist (zum Beispiel fehlen Ruinen oder Aussichtspunkte). Innerhalb der Nadeln, also in der 3D-Ansicht, führen Unschärfe und mangelnde Beschriftung dazu, dass man sich eigentlich nur an den Himmelsrichtungen orientieren kann.
Fazit: tolle Idee, aber in der Umsetzung wenig brauchbar. Aber vielleicht checke ich die App auch einfach nicht.
Fazit: tolle Idee, aber in der Umsetzung wenig brauchbar. Aber vielleicht checke ich die App auch einfach nicht.
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Unter iOS 16 tot!
Unter iOS 16 tot! Seit 3 Jahren kein Update mehr! Nicht kaufen!
Issues when connecting to TPE
When TPE hands off a location and time to TPE 3D, 3D either opens then crashes, or opens but keeps spinning, never completing the location determination. You have to force quit 3D, relaunch it, then do the handoff from TPE again. Then it works.
Difficult to understand
Poor instructions
TPE
Used this program a lot of years ago so decided to get the new edition. Absolute rubish and have deleted from my computer. The original version was much easier to use. This so called 3d version is rubbish I will be applying for a refund
Best planning app if imperfect
Would give it 5 stars if I didn’t need a workaround to access it from the TPE app. That being said it is one of the things that put TPE above the alternatives to me.
Am I thick?
Can’t figure this out. Place names are all wrong. Nothing makes sense. Doesn’t work. Cost me pension money!
“ locating”………
This app used to be 5 stars. Now I can’t get it to work. So frustrating. The 3D map loads and then nothing just says locating with the spinning icon and NEVER LOADS. I have a brand new iPad Pro with latest updates and still won’t work. Grrrrrrrrrrr
Response from developer
This issue only occurs when using "Open in TPE 3D" from within TPE, and only if TPE 3D is not running in the background already. The workaround is to ensure you have TPE 3D running before using "Open in TPE 3D".
Mushy light, doesn’t work as advertised
My results look nothing like the images in the App Store. Moving from sunrise to noon in the location I selected, an oceanfront bluff, you get a slight sense of shadow on the sand and then the light overall just comes up. In real light, there is absolute shadow on the sand until the sun gets up high enough to light it. Can I get a refund? Thank you
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Response from developer
It sounds like you're trying to use the app in an area that doesn't have enough elevation difference to show up. The available elevation data is of limited resolution, so it works best in mountainous areas, as mentioned in the app description. If you were to use the app in a mountainous area, your results would be exactly as shown in the images in the App Store.
Für mich völlig unbrauchbar
Vielleicht hatte ich ja nur falsche Erwartungen. Ich wollte die App für Locations in einer Stadt verwenden, aber die Auflösung ist so bescheiden, dass nicht daran zu denken ist. Sie funktioniert sicher mit dem Fuji, wie in einem Video zu sehen ist, aber den fotografiere ich zu selten. Ich habe die App wieder gelöscht. 12 € für die Tonne. Ein Stern, statt keinem Stern, weil die Idee für die App eigentlich gut ist.
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Not as useful as I had hoped.
I was hoping this app would help me predict light and shadows on a given day and at a given time. To some extent, it does. But not the level of details that I need.
A bit disappointed.
A bit disappointed.
Totally Unusable
I must be missing something here. Can’t even zoom out enough so you can search a map easily.
