Comparison

chasinglight vs Golden Hour

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

Head to head
About

chasinglight

This app predicts and rates the quality of sunrises and sunsets using real-time atmospheric data. It provides a 3-day forecast, highlights nearby viewing spots, and allows exploration of global locations.

Highlights
  • Sunrise/sunset quality ratings
  • 3-day quality forecast
  • Golden hour times
  • Nearby viewpoint recommendations
  • Global location search
  • Directional viewing cones
Read full description

Never miss a great sunrise or sunset again. chasinglight uses real-time atmospheric data to anticipate and rate the quality of every sunrise and sunset — scored Poor through Great — so you always know whether the sky is worth stepping outside for. QUALITY RATINGS Know before you go. chasinglight scores today's sunrise and sunset quality based on cloud cover, humidity, and atmospheric conditions. A simple rating — Poor, Fair, Good, or Great — tells you instantly whether it's worth chasing. 3-DAY FORECAST Plan ahead with sunrise and sunset quality forecasts for the next 3 days, including golden hour times and first light / last light. BEST SPOTS NEAR YOU The Spots tab finds the best nearby viewpoints, waterfront parks, hilltops, and beaches — ranked and scored for the perfect view. A directional cone on the map shows exactly where to look for the best light. EXPLORE ANYWHERE Planning a trip? Search any city in the world for sunrise and sunset quality and timings before you go. From Santorini to Maui to Boracay — know what the sky has in store. WHAT'S FREE - Sunrise & sunset times - Quality rating & forecast - 3-day outlook - Golden hour times SPOTS TAB — WEEK PASS, MONTHLY & ANNUAL Unlock the full Spots tab with curated viewpoints across Hawaii, Southeast Asia, Europe, the Americas, and beyond. Perfect for travelers. - Week Pass — $2.99 for 7 days, perfect for a trip - Monthly — $6.99/month - Annual — $29.99/year (save $54 vs monthly) Terms of Use: https://chasinglight.app/terms The sun has risen and set every day for 4.5 billion years. Don't miss the next great one.

About

Golden Hour

This app transforms your iPhone into a dynamic sky viewer, displaying real-time sun and moon positions with a color-changing clock. It accurately predicts golden and blue hour, offers interactive day scrubbing, and provides widgets for at-a-glance information. Explore celestial paths in AR and enjoy an ad-free, on-device experience.

Highlights
  • Time-reactive sky with 17 color stops
  • Accurate golden and blue hour prediction
  • Live sun and moon tracking
  • Scrub through the day preview
  • Home and Lock Screen widgets
  • AR Sky mode
  • On-device computation, no network needed
Features
Read full description

Astro turns your iPhone into a window on the sky. Powered by your location and real solar geometry, it renders a time-reactive sky that shifts continuously across 17 hand-crafted colour stops - deep indigo at midnight, warm coral at dawn, cerulean at noon, violet at dusk. The colour is the clock. GOLDEN HOUR AND BLUE HOUR Know exactly when the warm light arrives, and when the blue hour frames it - morning and evening. The windows are derived from real sun elevation, not a fixed hour either side of sunset, so they lengthen and shorten correctly with the season and your latitude. Opt into a single quiet alert an hour before evening golden hour. THE SUN AND MOON, WHERE THEY ACTUALLY ARE A live sun and moon trace their true elliptical arcs across layered landscape silhouettes inspired by the visual worlds of Alto's Adventure and Firewatch. Tap the moon for tonight's phase. SCRUB THROUGH THE DAY Drag the ribbon to preview any moment of the day and watch the whole sky transform - then tap LIVE to snap back to now. WIDGETS AND STANDBY Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets carry the sky with you: the sun arc, sunrise, sunset, and the next golden hour at a glance. StandBy turns your iPhone into a solar clock on the nightstand. CHOOSE YOUR HORIZON Mountains, City, or Plains. Four landscape planes drift at different depths as you tilt the phone - a quiet sense of dimension. Toggle flying birds and your temperature unit to taste. AR SKY Step inside the celestial sphere. Today's sun and moon paths are drawn as rings around you, aligned to true north, with the current position of both bodies glowing on their tracks. WORKS ANYWHERE, INSTANTLY Every sunrise, sunset, solar noon, twilight and moon phase is computed on device using NOAA solar math. No account, no sign-up, no network - the sky is just there, accurate to the minute, wherever you are. Built for people who notice the light. No feeds, no streaks, no noise. Just the sky.

Screenshots

chasinglight4 screens
Golden Hour4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: Golden Hour at free against chasinglight's free with in-app purchases. chasinglight's advantage is update cadence (every 5 days vs every 2 weeks) and iOS requirement (15.1 vs 26.1). 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. chasinglight sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per 7 days and Golden Hour sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

chasinglight ships an update every 5 days, Golden Hour every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
chasinglight versus Golden Hour: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterchasinglightGolden Hour
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 5 days — betterEvery 2 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.1 — better26.1
Further details — not scored
Size41 MB2 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperChristopher LimSimon Joseph

Customer experience

chasinglight

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Golden Hour

Written reviews4 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

3 purchases

chasinglight

Subscriptions3
  • Week Pass$2.997 Days
  • Monthly$6.991 Month
  • Annual$29.991 Year
1 purchases

Golden Hour

One-time1
  • AR Sky$3.99

Questions

Is chasinglight free?
chasinglight is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Golden Hour free?
Golden Hour is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do chasinglight or Golden Hour have ads?
Neither chasinglight nor Golden Hour shows ads.
Which is updated more often, chasinglight or Golden Hour?
chasinglight ships an update every 5 days, and Golden Hour every 2 weeks. Most recently, chasinglight was updated on October 14, 2026 and Golden Hour on October 31, 2026.

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