Absolutely Beautiful App
Response from developer
Hi DME_Ski, We have some great news for you! Solar Alert 5.0 is now available, and we wanted to share this with you because we particularly remember your thoughtful feedback and our previous conversation. First of all, we’d like to thank you again for your kindness, your suggestions, and especially your willingness to give Solar Alert another chance. We truly appreciated that you recognized the quality of the information our app provides, even though certain aspects of its visual design weren’t quite right for you. We took your comments about intense colors, background images, graphics, and interface clarity very seriously. That’s why one of our priorities with this new version has been to improve the visual experience, interface organization, and ease of navigation, while keeping scientific information at the center of everything. And there’s one new feature we think you’ll particularly appreciate: we’ve introduced a new setting that allows you to dim the background images. This gives users greater control over the visual intensity of the interface, making buttons, icons, text, and other interface elements stand out more clearly and become easier to identify and interact with. This new option was designed especially for users who prefer a cleaner, less visually intense experience, with greater emphasis on readability and information — exactly the kind of improvement you suggested in your review. What’s more, this new setting complements the existing controls that already allow users to disable interface animations. Together, these options provide greater flexibility to personalize the app’s appearance, reducing both background intensity and animated visual effects according to individual preferences and needs. We’ve worked to create a clearer, smoother, and more intuitive experience, making it easier to access different sections and improving how information is presented without losing Solar Alert’s visual identity. But that’s only part of what’s new! Solar Alert 5.0 introduces numerous improvements and new features: * Greater overall stability and reliability. * Significantly faster startup and optimized loading times. * Smoother navigation and improved interface organization. * A new setting to dim background images, improving the visibility and clarity of interface elements. * Enhanced visual customization options that complement the existing controls for disabling interface animations. * A new notification history where you can review your last 50 alerts, including detailed information and images. * Scientific panels that automatically refresh every minute. * Full-screen viewing of the OVATION aurora map. * Enhanced access to solar imagery across 42 observation channels. * New interactive scientific explanations and guided tutorials. * Numerous internal optimizations that improve the overall user experience. Our forecasting system, developed and refined over 14 years, continues to use its established high-precision algorithms. This update focuses primarily on improving stability, speed, information presentation, and the app’s overall functionality. We’d genuinely love for you to try Solar Alert 5.0 and let us know what you think of the new experience. We understand that visual design is a very personal preference, but we sincerely hope these changes — especially the ability to dim backgrounds and disable animations — address many of the concerns you previously shared. And since you kindly mentioned that you would return to try the app again and update your review, we’d like to thank you for that openness. If you feel this new version has improved your experience, we’d be truly grateful if you considered updating your review and reconsidering your star rating to reflect your current opinion. After 14 years of developing Solar Alert, we remain committed to combining high-quality scientific information with an increasingly fast, stable, intuitive, and enjoyable experience. Thank you again for your understanding, your constructive feedback, and for giving us the opportunity to keep improving. We hope you enjoy Solar Alert 5.0! — The Solar Alert Team
Pretty good
My breakdown:
*The KP Forecast is probably the most accurate and on point, though I noticed there are times when it has about an hour or so lag. Usually during holidays or the weekend, where the NOAA website shows activity and the app hasn’t updated to show it quite yet.
*The Movie Solar Activity isn’t always up to date. It is currently, but I’ve noticed a lag that can sometimes be a day behind. However, if you go into the *Helioviewer, you can see all recent activity in that. Sometimes this glitches, but if you have good internet, it’s usually pretty good.
*The Aurora Ovation has rarely ever been accurate when I’ve used it. There have been auroras in my area that the ovation either doesn’t predict or predicts after it happens. Times when it says it will have, and it doesn’t. So for that, I defer to the NOAA Aurora 30 min forecast online.
*the Solar Plasma Ejection section is my favorite. The one that you click and it shows the solar blasts from the Sun and how soon they’ll reach Earth.
*I love the Home Screen of the app. It’s organized well.
*I also like the notification banners, but I wish that the notifications didn’t just disappear when I open the app, because I’ve yet to find a Notification Center where I can review the information. I’ve clicked on the *Protection System button (white circle) which seems to highlight and go off, but I don’t really see any new news or updates in there. And much of the official reports are few and far between, sometimes months old. *Occasionally, the Solar News Alerts have something more recent. But I do wish that there was an option to see the little notifications that come through within the app itself, because some are more detailed that in my banners, they don’t always show all the info and when I click the alert, it just goes away as it opens the app.
So over all, I like the app. But sometimes, the NOAA website is more up to date.
Response from developer
Hi real_mauian, We have some great news! Solar Alert 5.0 is now available, and we’re excited to share that this major update introduces numerous improvements and new features, several of which directly address the points you raised in your thoughtful review. First of all, the notification history you’ve been asking for is finally here! You can now review your last 50 alerts, including detailed information and images. Important notifications no longer disappear when you open the app, and you can revisit them whenever you need to. We’ve also significantly improved overall system stability, startup speed, loading times, and navigation responsiveness. We’ve strengthened data-source management and connection reliability, while scientific panels now automatically refresh every minute, making it easier to access the latest available information. The OVATION aurora map now supports full-screen viewing, and we’ve enhanced solar imagery exploration with access to 42 observation channels. We’ve also introduced interactive scientific explanations, guided tutorials, improved navigation, and numerous optimizations that make Solar Alert faster, more stable, more comprehensive, and easier to use. Regarding NOAA forecasts, there’s an important aspect of our system we’d like to clarify. Solar Alert uses scientific data provided by NOAA, but we don’t simply reproduce NOAA’s forecasts or alerts. Over our 14 years of development, we’ve created and refined our own algorithms to independently analyze and interpret this data. Through years of observation and comparison, we’ve found that Solar Alert’s predictions can be more accurate and faster than the forecasts and alerts NOAA distributes by email. This is precisely one of our app’s key advantages: using original scientific data and processing it through our own algorithms to deliver more accurate and timely information. It’s important to emphasize that our forecasting system was already operating with a high level of accuracy and speed before this update. Version 5.0 is not about fixing or changing our forecasting algorithms. Instead, it focuses on significantly improving stability, performance, access speed, and the features surrounding our already established forecasting system. Of course, space weather is complex, and no forecasting system can guarantee perfect predictions under every circumstance. We’re especially happy to hear that you enjoy the Solar Plasma Monitor, one of our most appreciated features, as well as the organization of the home screen. Your detailed feedback has been truly valuable in helping us identify areas where we could further improve the user experience. We’d love for you to explore Solar Alert 5.0 and experience all these improvements firsthand. If you feel the new version meets your expectations and addresses the concerns you raised, we’d sincerely appreciate it if you considered updating your original review and star rating to reflect your current experience with the app. After 14 years of developing Solar Alert, we remain just as dedicated to providing one of the most comprehensive, fast, and reliable tools for monitoring and understanding solar activity. Thank you again for your time, your support, and for helping us continue improving. — The Solar Alert Team
Too Much For Me
__________
Original Review:
I really wanted to like this App, especially given all the great reviews. However, for me, the Graphics and Colors are disorganized and too intense. As well, I didn’t like the background images where the Alerts were. The images took away from the written information, as well as drawing your focus away from the icons at the top and even dulling one of the icons at the bottom that I initially thought was just a part of the graphics. Then the graphics with the huge Sun coming into focus, etc. I’m so sorry, but it was just too much for me. This App has a lot of great information. It just needs a huge UI cleanup. I would suggest that people try it out in spite of my review because it does have awesome information and some might not care about the UI/graphics/etc.
Response from developer
Hi DME_Ski, We have some great news for you! Solar Alert 5.0 is now available, and we wanted to share this with you because we particularly remember your thoughtful feedback and our previous conversation. First of all, we’d like to thank you again for your kindness, your suggestions, and especially your willingness to give Solar Alert another chance. We truly appreciated that you recognized the quality of the information our app provides, even though certain aspects of its visual design weren’t quite right for you. We took your comments about intense colors, background images, graphics, and interface clarity very seriously. That’s why one of our priorities with this new version has been to improve the visual experience, interface organization, and ease of navigation, while keeping scientific information at the center of everything. And there’s one new feature we think you’ll particularly appreciate: we’ve introduced a new setting that allows you to dim the background images. This gives users greater control over the visual intensity of the interface, making buttons, icons, text, and other interface elements stand out more clearly and become easier to identify and interact with. This new option was designed especially for users who prefer a cleaner, less visually intense experience, with greater emphasis on readability and information — exactly the kind of improvement you suggested in your review. What’s more, this new setting complements the existing controls that already allow users to disable interface animations. Together, these options provide greater flexibility to personalize the app’s appearance, reducing both background intensity and animated visual effects according to individual preferences and needs. We’ve worked to create a clearer, smoother, and more intuitive experience, making it easier to access different sections and improving how information is presented without losing Solar Alert’s visual identity. But that’s only part of what’s new! Solar Alert 5.0 introduces numerous improvements and new features: * Greater overall stability and reliability. * Significantly faster startup and optimized loading times. * Smoother navigation and improved interface organization. * A new setting to dim background images, improving the visibility and clarity of interface elements. * Enhanced visual customization options that complement the existing controls for disabling interface animations. * A new notification history where you can review your last 50 alerts, including detailed information and images. * Scientific panels that automatically refresh every minute. * Full-screen viewing of the OVATION aurora map. * Enhanced access to solar imagery across 42 observation channels. * New interactive scientific explanations and guided tutorials. * Numerous internal optimizations that improve the overall user experience. Our forecasting system, developed and refined over 14 years, continues to use its established high-precision algorithms. This update focuses primarily on improving stability, speed, information presentation, and the app’s overall functionality. We’d genuinely love for you to try Solar Alert 5.0 and let us know what you think of the new experience. We understand that visual design is a very personal preference, but we sincerely hope these changes — especially the ability to dim backgrounds and disable animations — address many of the concerns you previously shared. And since you kindly mentioned that you would return to try the app again and update your review, we’d like to thank you for that openness. If you feel this new version has improved your experience, we’d be truly grateful if you considered updating your review and reconsidering your star rating to reflect your current opinion. After 14 years of developing Solar Alert, we remain committed to combining high-quality scientific information with an increasingly fast, stable, intuitive, and enjoyable experience. Thank you again for your understanding, your constructive feedback, and for giving us the opportunity to keep improving. We hope you enjoy Solar Alert 5.0! — The Solar Alert Team
Great tool for Fire, Police , emergency Management, weather forecasters and Preppers
This app is worth every penny for the data and education offered through this app. Graphics are incredible as well. I’ve already referred many colleagues to this app. Keep up the good work.
Response from developer
Thank you so much, RaphaelLongview — we really appreciate your thoughtful review and your 5-star rating. It means a lot to hear that Solar Alert is useful for emergency managers, forecasters, and first responders. Solar activity can indeed disrupt radio communications — including 800 MHz systems and shortwave — and we’re glad the data, educational content, and graphics are helping you stay informed and prepared. Thank you also for recommending the app to your colleagues. That kind of trust from professionals in the field is the highest compliment we could receive. We’ll keep working to make Solar Alert even better. Stay safe out there.
