Darkspot: Light Pollution Map
Bortle Scale & Dark Sky Finder
Only for iPhone
Free · Designed for iPhone. Not verified for macOS.
iPhone
Milky Way season runs into October. See tonight's dark window, where the moon and clouds fall, and the nearest darker sky within a drive.
How dark is the sky where you are, and is tonight worth going out?
Darkspot answers both. It reads your sky from 2025 NASA satellite data and shows it on the Bortle scale, from 1 (pristine) to 9 (inner city), with what you'll actually see: the Milky Way with detail, only overhead, or not at all.
Tonight, with reasons
Every night gets a plain score (Great, Good, Fair, Poor or Not tonight) and the reasons behind it: when the moon sets, whether the clouds clear, when the Milky Way core is up. Darkness, moon and twilight are worked out on your phone; cloud cover comes from Apple Weather. The week view picks the best night for you.
A light pollution map with its legend
The whole contiguous US, coloured by Bortle class, with the scale always on screen. Tap anywhere to see how dark it is and tonight's window there. The darkness data lives on your phone, so the Bortle lookup works with no signal.
Find darker skies
From any place, Darkspot finds the nearest parks and campgrounds under a darker sky, with drive times from Apple Maps and tonight's score at each. One tap hands off to Maps.
Save spots and get great-night alerts
Save your backyard and your favourite dark sites to compare them at a glance. Turn on the bell and Darkspot tells you when a great night is coming in the next 72 hours. It's worked out on your phone: no account, no server.
Red mode for your night vision
One tap turns every screen deep red, with no white or blue light, so your eyes stay dark-adapted at the telescope.
Honest about accuracy
Checked against 286 National Park Service sky measurements the model was never tuned on: half were within 0.21 mag/arcsec² of what Darkspot predicts, typically within about one Bortle class. Nearby lights such as a porch light or a parking lot aren't in the model.
Free, private, no account
Your own location, the forecast, saved spots and alerts are all free. No ads, no tracking, no sign-up. Your location goes only to Apple Weather and Apple Maps, never to us.
Darkness data covers the contiguous United States. Tonight's moon, darkness window and clouds work anywhere.
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The developer, Nadi Mertan, 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.
Accessibility
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Information
- Seller
- Nadi Mertan
- Size
- 3.5 MB
- Category
- Weather
- Compatibility
Requires iOS 18.0 or later.
- iPhone
Requires iOS 18.0 or later. - Mac
Requires macOS 15.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later. - Apple Vision
Requires visionOS 2.0 or later.
- iPhone
- Languages
- English
- Age Rating
4+
- 4+
- Copyright
- © 2026 Nadi Mertan