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Iridium Flares app for iPhone and iPad


4.6 ( 1056 ratings )
Utilities Education
Developer: Dennis van den Berg
1.99 USD
Current version: 4.0.0, last update: 5 years ago
First release : 03 Jan 2009
App size: 3.34 Mb

Did you ever want to see a falling star but dont want to sit outside all night waiting to see one?
The next best thing is watching Iridium Flares. The advantage of them is that you can know the exact time and place when theyre about to happen. The big difference is that youre watching an Iridium (a satellite) thats reflecting sunlight, instead of a falling star.

This application lists the Iridium Flares that are visible on your location for the next 7 days. The only necessary thing to see them is a clear sky.

FEATURES:
- List of Iridium Flares for the next 7 days
- Shows the date and time, the direction, altitude and intensity of the Iridium Flare
- Add multiple observation locations or use your current location
- View flares that occur in daylight
- Alarms can be set to remind you before a flare will occur
- View the path of the flare on a map

All data used in the application is loaded (with permission) from heavens-above.com. If the website is down for maintenance or another cause, data cant be loaded.

Pros and cons of Iridium Flares app for iPhone and iPad

Iridium Flares app good for

This app provides just the information you need quickly and easily. Saw my first flare last night thanks to this app. It would be nice to make it easier to change the observing location, though (I couldnt figure out how to do it).
Thanks a lot for this great App, I tried it in Northern USA and Europe and had great spotting each time. A VR option would make this a killer app for Iridium Flares spotting, but even without it, it is by far my favorite. Thanks a lot !
Funny gadget to surprise your friends with a personal star. App works perfectly.
Although the application works very well... its not really useful to have the opening screen (and results screen) with a bright white background. Its hard enough to get our eyes adapted to the dark for astronomy, having this screen flash brightly into our eyes doesnt help.
Just a wonderful little app that helps find out when good flares are coming up. Keep up the good work!
Iridium Flares is even better now that it supports high resolution screens such as on the iPhone 6s and 6s plus. If you dont have this app get it and use it to see these strange and fascinating lights in the sky. You wont regret it.

Some bad moments

This application has many problems. If theres no GPS signal, it doesnt start (unless one goes to preferences and disable GPS, and manually enters coordinates). The manual coordinates cannot be filled in from the GPS, why not ? There is no count down timer until a pass (why not ?). There is no precise clock display (with seconds), why not ? The application has crashed many times on my latest 3GS 3.1.3 iPhone. This app would be OK if it was free, but not for a paying app ! Stay away from it. Better off by directly bookmarking heavens-above in Safari !
It does not refresh and I cant reinstall it. "Error to reload the flares".
It was just perfekt and stopped working. Promissed update is missing since weeks! What a pitty
The Iridium satellite system continues to be a technical marvel, and from what I know, they have finally become a business success as well. An Iridium phone works anywhere on the planets surface - even in polar regions, at sea, or on the top of a mountain. Visible flares are a wonderful byproduct as the satellites are only about 480 miles away, and travel around the planet in 100 minutes - or about 10 minutes horizon to horizon. This app does a great job of telling you where to look to find them - and it works outside at night rather than the website! Great job.
Hey, is it just me, or is anyone else having problems with this app not connecting and getting flare info?
it dosent work. i have been trying to connect for two months. it wont work. it cant find me. i wonder how it can find a satellite. i want it to work. i am very excited about the idea. i am waiting for the server to locate me. i turn it on and wait for 10 minutes for it to connect to no avail. i will keep trying. for now there is only one star in this galaxy.