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/
