Aurora alerts without the space weather degree. Personalized to your latitude, sky conditions, and light pollution. We do the science. You just Look North!
Aurora alerts that actually mean something to YOU. No graphs, no jargon. Just an alert when it's time to go outside.
Most aurora apps send generic alerts whether the storm can reach you, the sky is clear, or it's even dark. Look North handles the science and tells you when to go outside, start planning, or relax.
PERSONALIZED TO YOU, NOT TO EVERYONE
Before sending an alert, Look North checks whether the storm can reach your latitude, whether your sky is clear enough, and whether it is dark. Storm cards also factor in wildfire smoke and haze, moonlight, light pollution, daylight, and local viewing reach.
Someone in Kansas gets a different message than someone in Norway during the same storm, because the same event means something different depending on where you're standing.
REAL-TIME SUBSTORM DETECTION
Look North monitors Earth's magnetic field using geosynchronous satellites and detects magnetic signatures of substorm activity. Substorms can intensify auroral displays and push them farther south. Look North tells you when that activity is underway and how the storm's current reach lines up with your location.
EARLY SUBSTORM WATCHES (PRO)
Before a substorm begins, magnetic energy can load into Earth's night side. Look North Pro can show an Early Substorm Watch and the probability that similar past loading patterns produced a detected substorm within the next hour.
LIVE SIGHTING REPORTS
During active events, quickly report what you see. Live reports appear on storm cards. When enough naked-eye reports exist, the card shows whether sightings have reached your latitude, are just north, or remain farther north.
NAKED EYE OR CAMERA?
During strong storms, Look North can help separate what your eyes might see from what a night-mode photo may catch. If aurora may be too faint for naked-eye color but possible on camera, the app says so.
TRACK MULTIPLE STORMS AT ONCE
When solar events overlap, Look North tracks them together, sorted by urgency. Each has its own timeline and a morning-after recap.
ALERTS THAT FOLLOW YOU
Set your Alert Location manually, use your current location, or turn on optional Travel Updates so alerts and sky guidance match where you'll be watching.
GO NORTH: FIND YOUR DARK SKY SPOT
You got the alert. Now where should you go? Go North searches nearly 30,000 dark sky locations across the US and Canada and ranks them for your conditions. Sites are scored using live clouds, light pollution, sky darkness, drive time, and northern horizon terrain.
Choose Nearby, Worth the Drive, or Big Adventure. Forecast mode shows hourly clouds for the overnight viewing window. Drop a pin to score your own spot, or send private feedback about access, safety, views, and light pollution.
FOLLOW THE FULL JOURNEY FROM SUN TO SKY
A solar flare can be followed by an Earth-directed coronal mass ejection, or CME. If it reaches Earth and drives geomagnetic activity, aurora may follow. Look North Pro tracks each stage, giving you hours or days to plan.
THE 5-PHASE ALERT SYSTEM (PRO)
Phase 1: Solar flare detected; checking for an Earth-directed CME
Phase 2: Earth-directed CME confirmed, with a live arrival countdown
Phase 3: Geomagnetic storm watch issued before possible arrival
Phase 4: The disturbance reaches Earth and conditions are watched in real time
Phase 5: Substorm activity detected. Time to look North.
WHAT EVERY USER GETS FREE
Phase 5 go-outside-now alerts, tuned to your location and sky
Severe storm alerts for rare G4+ events
Latitude-aware live sighting reports
Top-ranked dark sky spot from Go North
Home screen and lock screen widgets
Live satellite imagery and map overlays
Plain-English aurora education
Look North Pro is available for $9.99 annually. Free users get real aurora alerts, personalized to their location, at no cost, forever.
Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
What a fantastic use of technology, to make the wonder of experiencing aurora more likely for more people! Had alerts over the weekend & caught some pink skies I would never have known to go look for otherwise. Highly suggest paying for the Pro version to get those notifications in real time too, worth every penny.
(1.8)
• Price Drop! ---> I want each and every one of you to get a chance to see the aurora, so Look North Pro is now only $9.99 a year, down from $14.99. Existing subscribers keep their access and move to the lower price at renewal :)
• Added the ability to redeem offer codes directly in the app
• General bug fixes and UI improvements
(1.7) Big update for you, it's been a while!
• Early Substorm Watches---> Pro users can now see when magnetic energy is loading before aurora activity begins, including a Machine Learning driven substorm onset probability model so you can always be ready for the show.
• Real-Time Sighting Reports---> During active aurora events, you can quickly report whether you are seeing aurora right now, and see if anyone at similar latitudes to you has reported a sighting yet.
• More Personalized Storm Cards---> Cards now better factor in details from your live location, cloud cover, smoke and haze, moonlight, light pollution, and sunset/moonrise timing, all to provide much more custom and personal local visibility guidance.
• Naked Eye or Camera?---> During strong storms, Look North can now help tell you whether aurora is likely to be visible to your eyes, better suited for a night-mode photo, or still too far north.
• Smarter Alert Location---> Use your current location, set a manual alert location, or turn on optional Travel Updates so alerts match where you'll actually be watching.
• Go North Feedback---> You can now send private feedback about Go North viewing spots to flag access, safety, view, or light-pollution issues.
• Science Copy and Reliability Improvements---> Updated solar-wind source language, clearer aurora science explanations, morning-after storm recaps, and other behind-the-scenes fixes.
(1.6)
• "Did You See It" Improvements--->After an aurora event ends, share your photos and tell us how bright it looked! Your sightings help us improve detection accuracy for everyone. v1.6 adds the ability to tell us when you DIDN't see anything, as well as automatic time and location detection from submitted photos.
• Expanded Onboarding Flow--->New users now get a friendly walkthrough of all of the space weather data sources that Look North tracks so that they don't have to!
• Shiny new App icon!
• Reliability Improvements--->Behind-the-scenes fixes and various bugs squashed.
(1.5)
• Did You See It?--->After an aurora event ends, share your photos and tell us how bright it looked! Your sightings help us improve detection accuracy for everyone.
• Reliability Improvements--->Behind-the-scenes fixes for longer and overlapping storm systems.
(1.4) New Feature Alert! Go North, an industry leading smart aurora viewing location finder!
• Go North: Find Your Dark Sky Spot--> Search our database of nearly 30,000 dark sky locations, all scored and ranked by real-time cloud cover, light pollution, drive time from your current location, northern horizon openness, and elevation. Three search ranges let you find a quick weeknight spot nearby, a worthy weekend drive, or a big adventure to the darkest skies available for the trip of a lifetime.
• Plan Your Trip--> When a storm watch is active, see hourly cloud cover forecasts for specific storm dates. Save your favorite viewing spots in go North as bookmarks for quick access anytime. Plan trips for upcoming storm nights and get reminder notifications the day before and morning of your trip.
• Custom Pins--> Long-press anywhere on the map to drop a pin and instantly see the full forecast, sky quality, northern horizon visualization, weather conditions, and driving distance for that exact location in Go North. Save custom pins alongside your other favorite spots.
• Moon Phase Context--> Moon phase and illumination are now shown for each viewing date. A bright moon can wash out faint aurora, so you can pick darker nights when possible. Strong storms are still visible even under a full moon.
Version 1.8
The developer, H Mitchell Reid, 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 Linked to You
The following data may be collected and linked to your identity:
User Content
Data Not Linked to You
The following data may be collected but it is not linked to your identity:
Location
Identifiers
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
Information
Seller
H Mitchell Reid
Size
41.9 MB
Category
Weather
Compatibility
Requires iOS 26.2 or later.
iPhone Requires iOS 26.2 or later.
iPad Requires iPadOS 26.2 or later.
Mac Requires macOS 26.2 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later.