Comparison

Sunlight vs Aurora Forecast

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Sunlight

Features
Read full description

Every winter, the days get shorter and the darkness feels endless. But then, quietly, the light starts coming back. One minute more. Then two. Then five. Sunlight shows you that change. A beautiful solar dial tracks the full arc of your day - sunrise, sunset, dawn, dusk, golden hour - and tells you exactly how much daylight you gained or lost. On the darkest days, seeing "+1 min 47 sec" is a small reminder that the light is returning. What you get: - Daily daylight change tracking - see the days getting longer or shorter - A beautiful interactive solar dial showing the full day cycle - Sunrise, sunset, dawn, and dusk times - Golden hour time ranges for photography - Moon phase and illumination - Sun elevation with peak altitude - Aurora forecast with local visibility probability - Civil, nautical, or astronomical twilight - Save up to 10 locations with full timezone support - Home screen widgets in three sizes - Daily notifications with your daylight update - Dark and light themes - Tablet-optimised layout Completely private. No accounts, no tracking, no data collection. Your location never leaves your phone.

About

Aurora Forecast

Features
Read full description

Nightwatch tells you, for your exact location, whether tonight is worth watching for the aurora: No chance, Slim, Worth watching, Strong, or Rare. Then it names the single factor holding it back: geomagnetic activity, cloud cover, darkness, or moonlight, so you know exactly what you are working with before you go outside. Every forecast includes a best viewing window for tonight and an hour by hour curve, so you can plan when to actually look up instead of checking an app every ten minutes. Nightwatch also compares the next three nights, so you can decide whether to wait for a better night or go out now. A map shows tonight's auroral oval edge and your distance to it, useful if a short drive north would put you under a stronger sky. Save the places you watch from, whether that is your backyard, a favorite overlook, or a cabin up north, and get a notification when a night crosses the threshold you choose. When the aurora does appear, switch to night vision mode: a red on black display that keeps your eyes adapted to the dark so you are not fumbling with a bright white screen mid viewing. Nightwatch runs on space weather data from NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center and cloud cover data from MET Norway, combined with sun and moon calculations done entirely on your device. There is no account and no backend server: your saved places and settings stay on your phone. Nightwatch is a subscription app, offered weekly or annually. Most aurora apps hand you a raw Kp number and leave you to work out what it means. Nightwatch gives you the verdict and tells you why, every night. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Sunlight4 screens
Aurora Forecast4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Aurora Forecast at every 4 days against Sunlight's every 2 weeks. On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Sunlight ships an update every 2 weeks, Aurora Forecast every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 5, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 5 level
Sunlight versus Aurora Forecast: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSunlightAurora Forecast
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 4 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS16.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size24 MB16 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBenjamin Edward Newman WhiteAugustin Villetard

In-app purchases

None

Sunlight

No in-app purchases

None

Aurora Forecast

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Sunlight free?
Sunlight is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Aurora Forecast free?
Aurora Forecast is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Sunlight or Aurora Forecast have ads?
Neither Sunlight nor Aurora Forecast shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Sunlight or Aurora Forecast?
Sunlight ships an update every 2 weeks, and Aurora Forecast every 4 days. Most recently, Sunlight was updated on October 5, 2026 and Aurora Forecast on October 14, 2026.

Other comparisons