Dark Sky Finder App Reviews

Fantastic App!

This is a great app, everything one could ask for if they are looking for dark skies near them. However, it freezes a lot and takes a long time to load some screens, and honestly great idea of clicking on the directions link to open up the location in the maps app, doesnt work. It just sits there. So I need to note the site name, google it to get the address, then type that into maps. Kind of a pain that could be avoided if the link worked. The app gets a 5/5 for concept, and 3/5 for these faults, so 4/5 total.

According to the app, it shows dark sky for North America, but it only shows a small portion of Canada and the north part of Mexico! Thats misleading !

Huge improvement adding new updated maps for every inch of the world... Plus tons of new dark sites. Looks like 700-800+ for the USA alone. Nice.

Awesome app! Would be useful if you could search for a location, other than that great for finding class 1 bortle sites.

Love this app! I am amazed by how much light pollution is around. Nice to know exactly where to go for the best star gazing as well as finding the sites most recommended for their awesome skies.

Many of the dark sites have innacurate information. I clicked on a site or two in one state and the infor said the location was in a different state. Not showing the current location was a drawback, too.

I am very pleased that I can use this map on an iOS device since its difficult to control on any other websites that offer this. My problem is that the app will crash about 40%-50% of the time when I try to tap on the info button when a location is selected (Im using an iPhone 5S running iOS 8.0.2). Another major issue for me is that I dont like how I have to either choose between turning location services on all the time even when app is not running or just turn it off all together (then have to manually turn it on in settings if I want to use it). It would just be nice if I could do like other apps do and just have it running when I open the app. Other than that everything is great. It would also be nice (but not necessary) to allow you to copy the address or gps location so you can copy/paste it into another Maps application like Google Maps or whatever. From personal experience, I try to stay away from Apple Maps solely when Im driving in unknown rural areas because it has taken me on some strange dirt backroads in the past that it shouldnt have. If you fix the crashing and location services issues then I will surely increase my rating to 5 stars!

A profound weakness in this app is the lack of ability to type in the coordinates of a possible observing location to see how it polluted it looks. This app needs the ability to chose between publishing a location or dropping a pin as part of a search for possible viewing sites. I wrote the publisher about this a year and a half ago and he promised to look into it, but the latest release does not incorporate it. The app requires you to publish the location before it displays it on the map. Thats bad for a number of reasons: 1) The location might be on private land and unavailable to the public, so it shouldnt be advertised. 2) The possible location may turn out to be horrible, but now its officially listed in the app and potentially misleading to users. 3) Some observers like to find secret spots that they like to keep private to avoid crowds. Yet they have to advertise them here. These weaknesses limit the usability of the app, and the lack of publisher follow through is a disappointment. The app has promise but the current situation warrants a low rating.

The aap is good but need a browser option.

Just what I needed after purchasing a telescope. Great so far. No crashes yet. On iPhone 6 with most updated iOS.

Some decent information here but its very dated (some of it several years old.) Making it worse, the app hasnt been updated in a year and crashes frequently.

The map itself is accurate and it has useful sites, but the bugs make it not worthwhile. If you click on anymore than one dark sky site for more info the app crashes, every time. Plus the app support page leads to a domain for sale and this app hasnt been touched since 2014, sure looks like these bugs arent getting fixed. Dont get this unless its updated.

It does what I need it to do. Layout is a bit plain but it does the job! But I think there should be another update for new dark sites.

The layout makes sense and the app runs smooth! The only thing I would like is if the map was more realistic, like Google earth. (The Mercator projection makes me laugh) Although I dont know how hard this would be to code, or if its even possible. (It is of course not a necessity.)

This app quickly shows me the sky brightness at each location. Worth the money. It works well on my iPad mini and iPhone 6 base model. The brightness shown in the app matches my experience of a site, so I trust its predictions for a site that I have not visited