Now free on iPhone, iPad and Mac. See the whole Solar System, Sun to Neptune on Mac, with the one-time Moon Lunation Pro unlock. Still nothing tracked, ever.
Moon Lunation shows you the Moon's phase for any date between 2000 and 2050 — computed on your device, from the actual geometry of the Sun, Earth and Moon.
Moon Lunation is free. No connection. No account. No data collected. No ads, ever — not even now that there's nothing to buy.
COMPLETELY REBUILT
The original 2009 version read its phase times from a fixed table and estimated the dates in between. This version solves the geometry directly, so every phase name, illuminated percentage, lunar age and event time is calculated for the exact moment you ask about.
The results are checked against NASA JPL's DE440 planetary ephemeris — the same reference used for spacecraft navigation.
TODAY
The current phase, the illuminated percentage, how far through the lunation you are, and when the next principal event falls in your local time.
CALENDAR
Any month from January 2000 to December 2050. New moons, first quarters, full moons and last quarters are marked on the local dates they actually occur. Tap any day to see its phase.
CYCLE
Watch a single lunation play out from one new moon to the next. The timeline runs between two actual computed new moons, so its length varies from cycle to cycle — it is not forced to the average of 29.5 days. Scrub it with your finger, or play it through in fifteen seconds.
SOLAR SYSTEM, WITH MOON LUNATION PRO
See the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, the Moon and Mars in 3D, placed by the same offline astronomy the rest of the app uses. On Mac, all eight planets are drawn, out to Neptune. Drag to orbit, pinch or scroll to zoom, tap a body to centre on it and read its distance from the Sun and from Earth. Scrub the timeline and watch the planets move along orbits traced from real positions.
The Solar System is unlocked by Moon Lunation Pro, a one-time in-app purchase — not a subscription. If you already paid for Lunation or Moon Lunation, on any device, before this update, it's yours automatically, at no charge. Family Sharing is on, so one purchase can cover your family.
NOW ON MAC
Moon Lunation is a native Mac app: a three-pane window with a sidebar and an inspector, full keyboard control, a menu-bar Moon that stays current while you work, and desktop widgets.
THE MOON ITSELF
The surface is built from Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter imagery, reprojected into a fixed north-up view of the near side. The lit region is drawn from the computed phase, so what you see is the geometry, not an illustration of it.
WHAT IT DOESN'T DO
Being clear about the edges:
• It covers 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2050. Outside that range it tells you so rather than guessing.
• It is a north-up diagram of the phase, not a picture of how the Moon looks in your sky tonight. The real Moon appears rotated depending on where you are, and this app does not represent that rotation.
• It does not show libration, the Moon's slight apparent wobble.
• It does not predict eclipses. Phases come from changing Sun–Earth–Moon geometry, not from Earth's shadow — eclipses are separate events.
• Times are geocentric, calculated for the Earth as a whole rather than for your location. There is no location feature and no city list.
• It does not show moonrise or moonset.
PRIVACY
This app makes no network requests of its own. There is no analytics, no crash reporting, no advertising, no tracking, and no account system. It does not ask for your location. It stores no personal data and writes nothing about you to disk. Purchases and Restore Purchases are handled entirely by Apple.
It works in Airplane Mode, on the first launch and every launch after.
iPhone, iPad and Mac. Requires iOS 17, iPadOS 17, or macOS 14 or later.
Lunar surface imagery courtesy of NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio. NASA does not endorse this app.
Version 1.6STILL NOT FIXED!!!!!!!!See previous comments about bugs. Money should be refunded. Isn't the author embarassed?! I'm sure glad my name isn't on this app.Version 1.5In lunar tab the forward button still doesn't work properly, assuming you're supposed to be able to look forward. If you press the back button, it goes back 2 months, not one. What's the problem??? I want to give this app a good rating, but can't!V1.4. the Lunar mode, when you click on the "next month" button, nothing happens. How could the developer release this app when it doesn't function properly? If it worked, this would be a useful app.
I would give it Five Stars -- If it worked
Randy W.W.
This is handy app for people who boat or shoot photos or fish and need to knew which the phase the moon is in. In "Lunar Mode" the app effectively shows the progressive moon stages, day-by-day throughout the current month. Swell! However, an earlier reviewer is precisely right -- you cannot flash forward a month (you're supposed to be able to do this) and the thing jumps back two months when you try to regress. After that, there is no return, save for closing and starting over.
Exactly what I was looking for!
Frost907
All the other apps where too fancy or didn't give the exact enough image phases, more percentiles than visuals. The only thing I'd change is to be able to change the date by typing rather tan hitting an arrow and waiting. If I want to see a different year it takes some time to get there.
Developer Response
Thanks for the feedback! Version 4.1 has now been released with a number of improvements. If you get a chance, I’d really appreciate it if you could try the latest version and let me know what you think. Thanks again for supporting the app!
very small use
PeachesV
Still getting the calendar glitch. I think it was half moon out and it barely showed a quarter lumination. Really not that great of an application, unfortunately. I was hoping it would be more useful, although not having to go online to find out the date when a certain full moon/new moon is happening is a little handy.
Version 5.0: Moon Lunation is now free, and it's on Mac.
IF YOU ALREADY PAID FOR THIS APP — ON ANY DEVICE, EVER, INCLUDING THE ORIGINAL 2009 LUNATION — THE SOLAR SYSTEM IS YOURS AUTOMATICALLY. Nothing to buy, nothing to restore by hand: open the Solar System tab and it's already unlocked.
WHAT'S NEW
• Moon Lunation is now free for everyone. Today, Calendar, Cycle and About are open to all, on iPhone, iPad and now Mac.
• The 3D Solar System is now unlocked by Moon Lunation Pro, a one-time purchase — not a subscription. Family Sharing is on.
• A native Mac app: a three-pane window, full keyboard control, a menu-bar Moon, and desktop widgets.
• On Mac, the Solar System draws all eight planets, out to Neptune, not just the inner system.
Everything is still computed on your device, from the actual Sun–Earth–Moon geometry. No account, no ads, no tracking, no location — that hasn't changed, and it isn't going to.
Version 5.0
The developer, TraLand.com, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Not Collected
The developer does not collect any data from this app.
Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More
Accessibility
The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More
