# Sun Surveyor Lite — Your Personal Guide to the Sun

> Sun path, sunrise, sunset, and twilight planner for photographers and professionals. (iPhone/iPad app by Adam Ratana.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/sun-surveyor-lite/id552754407 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Adam Ratana](https://appshunter.io/developer/525176878)
- Category: Photo & Video, Utilities
- Price: Free
- Rating: 4.10/5 from 37 App Store ratings · 184 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 16 · 57 MB
- Languages: Russian, American English, Dutch, Greek, Danish, European Spanish, Italian, Catalan, Korean, German (Germany) and 11 more
- Released: 2012-09-08
- Data updated: 2026-08-16
- Monetization: free
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/sun-surveyor-lite/id552754407/reviews.md

## What is Sun Surveyor Lite?

Sun Surveyor Lite takes the mystery out of the sunrise, sunset and magic hours, helping photographers and filmmakers scout the best locations, plan effectively, and get the perfect shot. Solar Industry (PV) Professionals, architects, real estate agents, and gardeners will also find a wealth of empowering, interactive features.

The 3D Compass and detailed Ephemeris provide a wealth of information about the largest natural light source in the galaxy:

- Predict and plan for the golden hour, blue hour and every sunrise & sunset
- Visualize the sun's path throughout the day or through the year

Additional features:

- Visual time machine - take a quick glance at the light for a day, or dial in desired compositions easily
- Twilight times - civil, nautical, astronomical
- Solstice and Equinox visualization
- Sun shadow information - calculate the length of shadows cast by objects
- Magnetic declination compensation

Check out the Full Version of Sun Surveyor for more:

- Live Camera View - augmented reality projections of the sun and moon paths, pinpoint the time the sun or moon will be at a particular location in the sky
- Interactive Map View - plan a remote shot or PV array placement, interact with a top-down perspective of sun and moon paths and events
- Street View Panoramas - 360 degree spherical panoramas with selected sun, moon and milky way events overlaid, where available
- Moon Information: moon position, moonrise, moonset, moon phases, apogee, perigee, distance and a Super Moon finder
- Show clients the quality and quantity of seasonal sunlight at a remote location
- Understand potential shade of surroundings and discover any obstructions
- Create images of the summer and winter Solstice & Equinox paths for a site
- Prepare night photography shots with the Milky Way & star trail features
- Offline usage (excludes Map View, Street View) - enter coordinates, save & load locations with no data connection or GPS available
- Measure distance, and difference between elevations, and vertical angle differentials with the Map view
- Import and export Google Earth .kmz/.kml locations

## Key features

- Predict sunrise and sunset times
- Visualize sun's path
- Golden hour and blue hour planning
- Twilight time calculations
- Sun shadow information
- Visual time machine

## What do users think of Sun Surveyor Lite?

Overall sentiment: mixed

**Pros**

- 👍 Easy to use UI
- 📸 Great for photography planning
- 🌳 Useful for planting/landscaping
- ☀️ Accurate sun tracking
- 📱 Responsive 3D projection
- 💡 Handy for daylight hours
- ✨ Visually well-done app
- 🆓 Ad-free lite version
- 🚀 Fast and fluid performance
- ✅ Works as advertised
- 💯 Precise and accurate
- 🏠 Useful for house orientation
- 🏕️ Good for camping setup
- 🧑‍🏫 Helpful for physics/science projects
- 🌟 Highly recommended

**Cons**

- 💰 Expensive pro version
- 📉 Lite version is very limited
- 🧭 Compass calibration issues
- ⚠️ Sun position inaccuracies
- 📱 Incompatible with some devices
- 💸 High upgrade price
- 🚫 Lite version unusable
- 🪲 Bugs in latest update
- 🗺️ Map view locked in lite
- 🤔 Price too high for features
- ⏳ Outdated time zone data
- 🖱️ UI elements hinder view
- 📉 Lite version is a demo

**Commonly reported bugs**

- Sun no longer appears where it should
- Sun direction is wrong indoors without GPS
- Sun is off by more than 10 degrees
- Sunrise time not working
- App crashes when selecting location
- Latest update stopped working
- Compass is always off
- Compass is reversed
- Lite version has an obscuring dialog box
- Map view is not working correctly
- App crashes on iPhone 5 iOS 7

**Most requested features**

- Make the version free
- Move UI options
- Add dark mode
- Add day-length feature
- Add UV index
- Add sunrise alarm
- Fix time zone for Russia
- Allow user to move UI elements
- Offer a trial for the full version

## Recent user reviews (10 of 184)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/sun-surveyor-lite/id552754407/reviews.md

### 2/5 — Leider falsche Daten

*2026-08-14*

Ich war erfreut, dass es eine App gibt, mit der man schnell mal kostenlos was nachschauen kann. Hatte mir einen Platz zur Beobachtung der Sonnenfinsternis gesucht und mit dieser App kontrolliert, ob es passt. Leider total verschätzt. Sonne hat um einiges weiter nördlich seinen tiefsten Punkt. Selbst zu dem Zeitpunkt selber hat die Anzeige nicht gestimmt. Sonne ging dann hinter einem Berg unter, statt in der Ferne daneben. 😥

### 5/5 — Great for deciding where to plant

*2026-03-15*

Nice UI, easy to use, good for planing where to plant trees. Best feature: no matter how you orient your phone the 3D projection is easy to read

### 4/5 — Não consigo comprar a atualização

*2024-08-18*

Quando clico em comprar aparece imediatamente comprado, mas na verdade não compra, parece bugado.

**Developer response:** Thank you for purchasing the full version. I’m investigating this - Apple controls the store experience.

### 5/5 — Very good

*2024-08-07*

Sun tracking works properly, can confirm with my 2 eyes. Good for planning photography as it has a slider to show where sun will be at a certain time. Please ignore negative reviews from 10 years ago, everything works.

### 1/5 — El sol ya no aparece donde deberia estar

*2024-05-31, version 2.8.1*

No se porque hace tiempo que no uso la app y ahora cada vez que entro, me coloca el sol en cualquier sitio menos donde deberia. He calibrado la brujjula pero nada… por favor arreglen la aplicacion.

### 5/5 — A good  incentive to upgrade

*2024-03-13*

Good app with reduced function - makes one want to upgrade.

**Developer response:** When did you write and from what email? Occasionally email goes to spam. I aim to respond to all email, but occasionally some are missed. Can you try again? adam@sunsurveyor.com

### 5/5 — Handy tool for planning trips

*2024-02-06*

At a quick glance have been using this to figure out the hours of daylight. Mainly for when to take the dogs out. Would be great for photography too. Lots of other cool features available in the app but haven’t explored them too much. Happy with it so far

### 4/5 — 希望出个白天模式

*2023-11-26*

这个APP很好用，看房时用来看采光，用来校对指南针，唯一有一点不足，就是3d指南针是黑底的，白天看的时候很吃力，能不能换个白底模式的？特别是站在太阳底下，这个黑底很难辨认，要把亮度调到最亮才好看。希望尽快改进一下。

### 4/5 — What a beautiful app

*2023-09-22*

I just wanted sunset sunrise times and got a whole lot of other into as well. Visually trying to understand the suns position is really quite simple with this app. It’s well put together, visually very cleverly done.

### 2/5 — Es practica la lite, pero no me fío de la pro. Precio excesivo.

*2023-09-10, version 2.8.1*

Buena aplicación. Es útil.
Dudo de comprarme la pro o no, es cara y no me fío si una vez comprada me será más útil todavía.
Si valiese la mitad del precio, lo compraba sin duda.

## Frequently asked questions about Sun Surveyor Lite

### What does Sun Surveyor Lite do?

Sun Surveyor Lite helps users understand and plan around the sun's position and light. It predicts sunrise, sunset, and twilight times, and visualizes the sun's path throughout the day and year. This is invaluable for photographers, filmmakers, and professionals who need to optimize their use of natural light.

### What are the key features of Sun Surveyor Lite?

Key features include predicting and planning for golden hour, blue hour, and all sunrises and sunsets. It also visualizes the sun's path, offers a visual time machine to see light at different times, and provides detailed twilight times (civil, nautical, astronomical). Users can also get sun shadow information and utilize magnetic declination compensation.

### Is Sun Surveyor Lite free to use?

Yes, Sun Surveyor Lite is a free application. The provided data indicates it does not have in-app purchases or ads, suggesting a completely free experience for its core features.

### Who is Sun Surveyor Lite designed for?

This app is primarily designed for photographers and filmmakers who need to scout locations and plan shots around optimal lighting conditions. It also serves solar industry professionals, architects, real estate agents, and gardeners who benefit from understanding sunlight patterns.

### Can I use Sun Surveyor Lite offline?

The description mentions that offline usage is supported for certain features, excluding the Map View and Street View. This means you can still enter coordinates, save, and load locations without a data connection or GPS for core planning functions.

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 2.8.3 — 2025-11-08

2.8.3
- SDK updates, minor fixes and tweaks.

### 2.8.2 — 2024-10-01

- iOS 18 updates
- iOS 18: added dark mode and tint mode icon artwork
- Fixes for the Mac app experience
- Bugfixes, improvements, and SDK updates.

### 2.8.1 — 2023-01-29

(2.8.1)
- Crash fix for when trying to upgrade.
(2.8)
- Updated Map and Street View demos with newest visualization engine from full version.
- Minor bugfixes and improvements; SDK updates.

### 2.8 — 2023-01-23

- Updated Map and Street View demos with newest visualization engine from full version.
- Minor bugfixes and improvements; SDK updates.

### 2.6.1 — 2022-10-11

2.6.1
- Crash fixes

2.6
- iOS 16 updates
- World Magnetic Model update (2020-2025 version)
- Tweaks for running on Mac with Apple Silicon
- Other minor bugfixes and improvements; SDK updates

## Apps similar to Sun Surveyor Lite

| App | Rating | Price | Category |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Solar Eclipse 2026 SolarWatch](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/solar-eclipse-2026-solarwatch/id1191365122) | 4.7 (5,933) | Free | Photo & Video |
| [Lumos: Sun and Moon Tracker](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/lumos-sun-and-moon-tracker/id725106192) | 4.7 (3,646) | Free | Photo & Video |
| [HollyView](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/hollyview/id1460631425) | 2.4 (72) | Free | Photo & Video |
| [Shot Designer](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/shot-designer/id556342711) | 3.8 (10) | Free | Photo & Video |
| [Sun Tracker AR](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/sun-tracker-ar/id1460472433) | 4.8 (1,040) | Free | Photo & Video |
| [Sun Position Sunrise & Sunset](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/sun-position-sunrise-and-sunset/id1620510695) | 4.7 (367) | Free | Photo & Video |

## More apps by Adam Ratana

- [Sun Surveyor (Sun & Moon)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/sun-surveyor-sun-and-moon/id525176875)

All apps by Adam Ratana: https://appshunter.io/developer/525176878

## Related topics

[solar and sun position tracker](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/solar-and-sun-position-tracker) · [desert sun](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/desert-sun) · [sun](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/sun) · [suncalc](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/suncalc) · [sun tracker](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/sun-tracker) · [sun seeker free](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/sun-seeker-free) · [sun trajectory](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/sun-trajectory) · [sun network](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/sun-network) · [sun position viewer](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/sun-position-viewer) · [sun position heliora](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/sun-position-heliora) · [sunlitt](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/sunlitt)

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*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 2026-08-16.*