THE SUN is a ancient timekeeper whose cycles have governed life on earth for as long as there has been life. Before the invention of the clock, man depended on the the light and position of the sun to tell time. Some of the oldest known buildings were known to be aligned with the position of the sun at the solstice (Newgrange, for instance, in Ireland). These days, few of us are farmers or hunters -- yet we underestimate how much influence the sun still has on our lives and health.

SOL: SUN CLOCK is the Swiss army knife of sunlight tools with a design inspired by the simplicity of the sundial. Use it to plan the perfect photograph, time exercise sessions, guide natural sleep cycles, catch the sunrise and sunset, or map out the best times to go fishing.

Watch Sol: Sun Clock trailer (HD) on Vimeo. Also available on YouTube.

Overview

We developed Sol because no other app in the App Store could bring you clear information about the day's sunlight and let you set alarms that would repeat according to your schedule.

• Be in tune: Sol will tell you how much sunlight you have left in the day or what time the next sunrise occurs.
• Find sunrise and sunset times, solar midnight and solar noon.
• Find the beginning and ends of all three twilight (dawn and dusk) periods: astronomical twilight, nautical twilight, and civil twilight, plus the “golden hour (aka “magic hour).
• Keep tabs on the next solstice and equinox.
• Any date. Set a date for the past or the future to see what its times look like.
• Alarm feature: Have Sol:Sun Clock fire off a reminder tied to any solar event (like sunset, golden hour or solar noon), and the alarm time will adjust gradually as the days change with the seasons.
• Automatic Location: Sol not only calculates the amount of daylight and sunrise and sunset times, but does so for any location in the world (both Northern and Southern hemispheres) by using your device's GPS... .
• No network connection needed. Sol: Sun Clock uses pure astronomical mathematics to calculate sun positions based on any location and date.
• Other locations: Optionally, use the built-in map to choose any location in the world by moving the pin, or search using the name of any city.
• Optional location-aware alarms. Sol knows when you change with your location; and as you travel it will adjust any alarms you set relative to sunrise and sunset times. Create alarms for multiple locations around the world!

Features, Hints, and Tips

• Unique feature: the only app with audible alarms you can use to set to variable minutes before/after sunrise, sunset, solar noon/midnight, AND dawn/dusk twilight periods
• only app with sun timers that can be set to be repeatable or attached to a distinct day
• Sol doesn't need to be running to cancel alarms
• View solar periods of the day represented in 24-hour circle in zoom-out mode
• Location-aware using your phone's GPS
• Set manual location by moving pin on map or typing in city name
• move wheel with thumb to see what the rest of the day will look like
• tap on date to look at a different date
• tap on time zone to pick a different time zone to use
• tap on left and right arrows in toolbar to see previous and next sun events
• tap on info ("i") button to see all today's times in a chart
• tap on pin to change your location
• tap on refresh button in toolbar to reset to present time and/or location
• tap on settings button to hide twilight periods or adjust golden hour elevation
• double-tap earth (green area) or pinch to zoom out and see 24-hour view (iPhone only)
• scrolling tickers show times until/since nearest daily event and equinox or solstice

Availability

Sol is a Universal app (one app for both iPhone/iPod Touch and iPad) and is available on the App Store.

Suggested Uses

Great for:

• Photographers and cinematographers
• Athletes, joggers, cyclists
• Fishing, hunting, boating
• Parents and coaches
• Farmers and gardeners
• Astronomers
• Event and wedding planners
• People with S.A.D. (Seasonal Affective Disorder)

Also useful for religious rites where the position of the sun is important; for example:

• Islam — Set an alarm for the five prayer times a day according to Islamic tradition; each prayer time is tied to the position of the sun.
• Judaism — according to tradition, the day begins and ends at sunset, rather than at midnight; the Sabbath actually begins at sunset on Friday. You might want to set a repeating alarm to repeat every Friday at sunset to remind you that the Sabbath had begun.

Feature Walk-through

Here's an in-depth video demonstrating each feature of Sol: Sun Clock with voiceover narration.

Watch Sol: Sun Clock Walkthru on Vimeo. Also available on YouTube.

Support

• Please check out our updated help file! (These instructions are also available in the app pressing the (i) button in the upper-right corner. )
• Still have questions? Check out our FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
• If you still need support with Sol: Sun Clock, or have a question or feature request, please contact us. Please give us as much detail as you can regarding your question, and we'll do our best to help.

The Story Behind the App

Interested why we made Sol:Sun Clock? Read Alec's entry about Sol on the dev blog.

Credits

Sol: Sun Clock was conceived and developed for Juggleware LLC by Alec Vance. Co-designed and graphics by Josh Warren. Special Thanks to John Barousse for his additional design assistance, and the beta testers and early adopters for their helpful feedback.