SunSketcher User Reviews

Name: SunSketcher
Rating: 2.60869 (23 reviews)

SunSketcher

Western Kentucky University

📚 Education

📷 Photo & Video

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Horrible

I was in Metropolis, IL for the eclipse and followed the directions as indicated on the site. My pictures all turned out black! I would have much rather had my phone to take pictures of the shadows, colors, sky, people etc… instead I have nothing.

Sharon.Graham

2 years ago

Didn’t work

Idk if it collected the data or not, but I found no pictures nor was I even able to tell whether the phone was pointed correctly or not.

Jay1928474

2 years ago

Oops I guess I’m not smart enough to follow instructions

I think I should have had the camera faced like I was taking a selfie. I interpreted the directions as the other way. Missed giving my data from out at sea from Mazatlan this total eclipse because of it. SO if I ever get to see another one that is what I will do! Amazing solar flares visible at totality in the 3:00 position moving to the 4:00 position during totality

CapnRex❤️

2 years ago

Response from developer

The back camera should have faced the Sun, but a reason why it probably did not work was because you were in Mazatlan and not in the US in the path of totality. The app at the moment is only designed to work in the US.

Incomplete app

I did my best to cooperate but the app was not helpful, i was in the 99.8% of the eclipse, i saw the solar flares but the app recorded ZERO

PiaPetro

2 years ago

Response from developer

I am sorry that you found our app unhelpful. Our app was designed to work only for users that were located within totality path (100%) for the eclipse.

Didn’t work..at all!!

Followed direction. Didn’t pick up anything at all!! Disappointed to say the least!

Swtrigal

2 years ago

Response from developer

Hello! Can you tell us exactly what went wrong specifically?

Didn’t work

Didn’t get a countdown in the app and it said to set the phone down to take photos. Waited the full 10 minutes and images never showed up. Really disappointed.. was excited to capture this rare moment.

A Camille

2 years ago

Response from developer

We are sorry to hear that. The reason you did not get a countdown could have been because you were not in the path of totality or you denied location permissions.

Simple instructions for competent iPhone users

I’ve read 2 previous reviews that indicated the reviewers couldn’t read the instructions in the app. It’s a simple fix for anyone to make on their own. If you’re using an iPhone, just go into your Settings, then select display & brightness. Scroll down to the text size tab & slide the bar to the left to make the text smaller. Problem solved. You can thank me after the eclipse.

Max Frustration

2 years ago

Camera damage

As far as I know pointing your phone camera at an eclipse is going to cause permanent damage to it. If I’m wrong and someone wants to correct me then please go ahead.

,:):)?46.2(:;'u

2 years ago

Response from developer

While we humans have sensitive eyes that require a solar filter to be able to safely look at the Sun, rest assured that aiming a camera at the Sun will incur no damages to it, especially over such a short period of time. A phone's camera has nothing organic like the cells in our eyes do, and, as such, cannot be damaged by contact with sunlight unless over very long periods, about the same amount of time it might take for a piece of cloth to become sunbleached. The SunSketcher team has performed extensive testing related to the effects of sunlight on phone cameras and even ran an early test during the October 14th annular eclipse last year (which, due to being annular as opposed to total, results in more light hitting the camera's sensor) and saw no adverse effects, whether lasting or temporary, with any phone used.

Instructions are not completely viewable

The instructions cut off at the bottom of the slide. I was unable to determine a way to continue with them. Will be deleting the app. Unfortunately.

Howkim

2 years ago

Response from developer

I am sorry to hear that. Our team is working on an update that will fix this issue. I hope you will reconsider using our app on April 8th. Thank you for your feedback!

Complete instructions on website

FYI if anyone needs to see the full tutorial for the app it is available on the website.

Looking forward to using this app and doing some citizen science with my students in the zone of totality.

livingit2020

2 years ago

Text is cut off

In the tutorial, the text is cut off so that the entire message isn't legible. Looking forward to using the app, would like to be able to see complete instructions.

beinuppity

2 years ago

Response from developer

Our team is working on an update that will fix this issue. Thank you for your feedback and pointing out this problem!

…

I’m excited about this app! However, I was unable to read all the instructions for each step. Could you fix this soon or advise how to view all the text?

B Fly51