AstroOwl
Plan & shoot the Milky Way
Only for iPhone
Free · In‑App Purchases · Designed for iPhone. Not verified for macOS.
iPhone
Nail focus on a star in the dark — magnified live view, one-tap gain, tap anywhere to focus. Then watch the shot before you commit to the night.
AstroOwl is the night photographer's whole workflow in one app: find the
night, frame the shot, prove the exposure, then drive the camera — without
juggling three apps and an intervalometer at 2 AM in the dark.
PLAN THE RIGHT NIGHT
• Best-nights calendar scores the next several months for your location —
moonlight, Milky Way visibility, darkness windows, weather, and light
pollution, distilled to an honest verdict ("Fair — moonlight") instead
of a mystery number
• Milky Way core position, rise/set and darkness windows for any date
• 33,000+ locations with offline time zones and measured/modeled sky
darkness, including DarkSky International certified places
• Scrub time with a knob and watch the whole sky move
COMPOSE THE SHOT
• Pick your camera and lens (or browse presets) and see the real field of
view framed on the sky
• Exposure recipes with NPF-aware shutter limits — start from presets
matched to your subject (Milky Way, star trails, moon, timelapse…) and
save your own
• Simulate the result before you commit: realistic star trails, stacking,
and noise for YOUR gear and settings
• AR mode — hold the phone up and see targets over the live camera view
SHOOT — HANDS OFF (Pro)
• Connect your Sony Alpha camera over Wi-Fi and fire recipes directly
• Multi-frame sequences run on the camera body itself — stacks, star
trails, timelapses keep shooting even if the phone sleeps
• Focus magnifier, session progress with ETA, automatic reconnect, and
session recovery if anything drops mid-shoot
• Your photos stay on your camera's card — they never pass through us
FREE VS PRO
The planner, composer, and simulator are free. AstroOwl Pro unlocks
camera control and removes the free tier's monthly caps and watermark —
as a subscription or a one-time lifetime purchase. Payment is charged to
your Apple Account at confirmation; subscriptions renew automatically
unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the period ends, and can be
managed in your Apple Account settings.
CAMERA COMPATIBILITY
Camera control supports Sony Alpha bodies with built-in Wi-Fi (validated
on the a7 IV). Planning, composing, and simulation work with any camera —
or none at all. No account, no sign-up; the app works offline at dark-sky
sites once you've planned.
Terms of Use: https://astroowl.app/terms/
Privacy Policy: https://astroowl.app/privacy/
Ratings & Reviews
- Star focus. Tap Focus: the live view magnifies, gain goes up, the body switches to manual. Tap a star to focus on it, drag to move around, turn the ring. Everything is put back when you close it.
- Timelapse preview. Play a sequence forward on a simulated sky before you commit a night to it.
- Focal length. A FOCAL slot carries what you are actually shooting and feeds the NPF shutter limit, so a zoom no longer gets a wide lens's exposure.
- Landscape. Exposure cluster on the right edge, trigger centred, preview keeps the full height.
- Daylight-readable HUD. Values hold a soft halo over a bright sky; the night look is unchanged.
The developer, Yong Tze Chi, 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 Linked to You
The following data may be collected but it is not linked to your identity:
- Purchases
- Location
- Identifiers
- Diagnostics
Accessibility
The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More
Information
- Seller
- Yong Tze Chi
- Size
- 72 MB
- Category
- Photo & Video
- Compatibility
Requires iOS 18.2 or later.
- iPhone
Requires iOS 18.2 or later. - Mac
Requires macOS 15.2 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later. - Apple Vision
Requires visionOS 2.2 or later.
- iPhone
- Languages
- English
- Age Rating
4+
- 4+
- In-App Purchases
Yes
- AstroOwl Pro Lifetime $14.99
- AstroOwl Pro Yearly $9.99
- AstroOwl Pro Monthly $3.99
- Copyright
- © 2026 Yongtze Chi