If you want to see an aurora with your own eyes, you will probably need the help of an aurora tracking app to maximize your chances. But there are a lot of options available, each with its pros and cons. These are some fantastic choices to consider if you are looking for one.
5
Aurora Notifier
This free app is one of my favorites simply because it has a really great home screen that’s simple and intuitive but still gives you a ton of information. When you open Aurora Notifier, you’ll be treated to a 3D image of the Earth, showing off several things: your exact location, the level of light pollution in any given area, and even the actual regions where the auroras are visible.
This kind of information isn’t exactly unique among apps, but the simple yet effective visual presentation makes it super easy to parse in a single glance. You don’t need much time to see and understand everything important.
Furthermore, the main page of the app gives you tons of other relevant information, letting you know the KP Index, local aurora activity, cloud cover, latitude and longitude, and a whole lot more. This is the meat of the app, all of which is, admittedly, very straightforward. But it gives you everything you need to know quickly and efficiently.
Finally, AuroraNotifier has a unique alert option where you can be notified if other people in your area have reported seeing the aurora. Needless to say, if you’re hunting for that amazing visual, knowing exactly where other people are seeing it helps you out a lot. The app will even let you see pictures uploaded by other users who are reporting their sightings.
There are also many unique settings for when you want to be notified: only when the KP Index is above a certain threshold, only when cloud cover isn’t too severe, and even the times of day you want to be notified.
There is a premium version of this app, but so far, I haven’t seen any reason to get it. Everything you could reasonably want is available on the free version. The only real downside of this app is that it’s only available on the Google Play Store.
4
Aurora Now
Aurora Now is not free, despite being advertised as such on the Google Play Store and iOS app store. It actually offers a one-week free trial, after which it requires you to pay a monthly or yearly subscription, though it’s very cheap at only a few dollars a month. For that price, you do actually get quite a lot of utility: admittedly more than the aforementioned Aurora Notifier.
Aurora Now gives you access to a ton of very specific information: on top of things like local aurora chance and KP Index readings, you can also get solar wind and hemispheric power measurements, 3-day or 27-day forecasts, and even X-ray flux and solar flare tracking.
The best part about all of this is that the app includes explanations for what all of these things mean and how they impact your aurora hunting, making it a great way to learn if you’re somewhat new to the whole thing and want to get educated on the matter.
This app also includes graphs and maps. Though they aren’t as animated as Aurora Notifier’s 3D globe, they do include even more information and may be easier for some people to read clearly thanks to their 2D nature. For example, the 2D map on Aurora Now clearly labels the countries the aurora is currently present in, so I can tell that Finland is often getting a show without having to just know where Finland is.
Ultimately, I would say that Aurora Now is a better and more comprehensive app than Aurora Notifier, but since it’s not free, I don’t think it’s objectively more worth it. It depends on if you are willing to spend a few bucks every month on a subscription. The app is very good, but there are alternatives that have comparable offerings for free.
3
Aurora Compass
Aurora Compass is another free app for both Android and Apple devices that, while not my favorite, can definitely still get the job done. The app home page is a bit lackluster, showing only local auroral activity, cloudiness, geomagnetic activity, and time estimates of when darkness will fall and when the Moon will rise in your area.
On the map tab, there is a basic map showing you where the auroras can be sighted, but also a unique filter that shows you real-time activity data from magnetometers around the world. That metric is not always included in these apps, making it a fairly unique feature on this list.
Aurora Compass also provides all the data needed to track solar winds and stay aware of the KP Index, as well as information on solar flares, sunspots, and other solar activity that can influence the visibility of an aurora. It’s worth noting that this app includes recent NOAA activity reports as well, and it also has very thorough tooltips that can teach you about all of the data you’re reading and why it matters.
Personally, I think Aurora Compass is a better pick over Aurora Now. Both apps provide similar information with similar levels of complexity. Aurora Now has more user-friendly maps and graphs, but it’s not like Aurora Compass doesn’t get you the same information anyway.
Speaking for myself only, Aurora Compass is definitely comparable in utility to its paid counterpart, and I don’t see any reason to pay for the same level of usefulness that I could get for free. You can buy new color schemes to support the app developer, but you don’t have to.
2
Aurora Labs: Aurora Forecast
Aurora Labs is an Android-exclusive app that can get the job done, but not in a very appealing way, in my opinion. It provides a lot of the same information as the other apps so far, like solar wind info, KP, and cloud coverage, but it does this by presenting you with a bunch of widgets that aren’t really organized in any particular way.
It’s kind of like a widget-filled phone home screen, with each widget presenting specific data. Personally, I don’t think it works as well as the more streamlined data presentation in the other apps.
Overall, Aurora Labs doesn’t provide a breadth of info as robust as Aurora Compass or Aurora Now either. The map is very basic and doesn’t provide much info other than where the aurora might be seen. It also doesn’t provide any thorough explanation of the data it is presenting to you, so if you don’t already know the importance of the provided solar wind information, you won’t be able to learn why it matters here in this app.
There is one thing I’d like to praise, though. Aurora Labs does provide a more detailed and thorough cloud coverage map than many other apps I’ve tested. Instead of just giving you a regional cloud coverage percentage, you get a real map akin to the one you’d see on the weather channel, showing you actual cloud formations, wind direction, etc.
It’s a nice feature, but overall, I think some of the other apps on this list are more useful. Still, Aurora Labs is free, so there’s no harm in trying it out to see for yourself.
1
Lumyros
Lumyros is an app that has both a free and pro version for both Apple and Android devices. Right off the bat, what I like most about it is the fact that it has all of the information of the robust apps, but it’s divided into a beginner and expert tab.
So if you don’t want to know about things like solar wind density and magnetic fields, and you just want a general estimate of how likely a visible aurora is, you can find that on the beginner tab in very easily understood terms. But if you do want to understand the finer mechanics of it all, you can dive deeper on the expert tab.
Another unique feature about Lumyros is the presence of a “Lumyros Academy” where you can learn all about aurora hunting. There are lots of videos in the academy that explain everything very clearly, making this app a valid choice if you are literally brand-new to aurora hunting and need to learn all of the basics.
Lumyros also gamifies aurora hunting by rewarding you with “achievements” for your profile as you report aurora sightings. This works in tandem with the social media aspect of the app, with a profile feed, posts, and a follower system. All of that is pretty unique among these types of apps, so if you like the sound of that, Lumyros might be your only choice.
Unfortunately, it’s not all good news. Though Lumyros has a free and pro version, the free version is pretty limited. You can’t even have the app provide data about a specific location unless you pay for pro, and you’re only allowed to set notifications for auroral activity, not visible auroras or KP index thresholds.
On top of that, a lot of the content in the aforementioned Lumyros Academy is also restricted to the pro version. More than half of their tutorials and videos are locked behind the pro version, which costs $6.49 per month.
Personally, I don’t think it’s worth it. Though the app does offer some nice features and useful data, it also feels intentionally predatory to have so many things locked behind a paywall. Admittedly, it might be worth it for a brand-new aurora hunter, but at the same time, all of the information taught in the Lumyros Academy can definitely be found online too for free.
It’s worth giving the free version a shot, but I don’t think the pro version offers enough to justify its price when some competition offers that stuff free of charge.
Bear in mind that this is only a handful of aurora tracking apps, and there are plenty of others out there for both Android and Apple devices. A great majority of them are free, so if you are interested in seeing the Northern Lights or their Southern cousin, take the time to try them out and see which one might fit your needs the best.
