Nyx: Dark Sky Planner

Plan a darker night

Free

Where and when the sky is darkest, worldwide. Drag the dial through two weeks of nights, count the Little Dipper's stars, and let night vision start at dusk. No tracking. Where should you go, and on which night, for the darkest sky? Nyx gives each night a darkness score from 0 to 100, from the Moon, the clouds, the sky glow and the hours of true darkness: for the 63 US national parks, for parks and dark-sky places around the world, and for any spot you save. It tells you what it doesn't know. Free. No account, no ads, no tracking. ONE SCORE, WITH ITS REASONS Four parts add up, and the weakest can cap the total, so a cloudy night never looks good. The line under the score names the cap. At the US national parks, closures from the National Park Service sit beside the number; elsewhere Nyx says plainly that it cannot check closures. THE US NATIONAL PARKS All 63, checked by hand: named viewing spots, Bortle estimates beside the Park Service's own sky measurements, park alerts, ranger night-sky programs, campgrounds, busy and quiet months, and access notes. AROUND THE WORLD About 3,400 national parks and certified dark-sky places in 172 countries, and starting points in about 31,600 towns and cities. Almost anywhere on land, sky brightness comes from NASA's satellite night lights and the usual clouds from ten years of weather records, both labeled as estimates. Save your own spot and it is scored like a park. PLAN See tonight's darkest places within a straight-line radius, or browse the world by country and on a map. When nothing dark is within reach, Tonight points to the nearest dark land on the satellite light map. Each place has a month calendar and a thirty-night timeline where the Moon changes shape as you scrub. Times are local to the place. AN HONEST FORECAST For the next few days the cloud forecast counts in full. Further out it eases toward each place's usual clouds, and beyond the forecast the usual clouds count alone, and say so. Rain, fog and storms are named when forecast, and heavy smoke can cap the score. At the US national parks, three weather models are also compared. WHAT'S UP TONIGHT The Milky Way core with its Moon-free hours, in either hemisphere; the planets and their meetings; meteor showers with a rate range; lunar eclipses; aurora when NOAA's forecast reaches the place; and a few sights for binoculars. They never change the score. FIELD MODE On site, a red, dimmed screen counts down to true darkness, and "Where to look" turns the real sky to wherever you point your iPhone. ON YOUR WRIST AND IN THE ROOM Apple Watch shows tonight's score. On Apple Vision Pro, stand under a US national park's computed sky. KEEP A LITTLE OF THE NIGHT Save places and get optional reminders for promising nights. Keep a private journal with notes and photos. Widgets show the best sky among your saved places. FOR MORE PEOPLE Designed for VoiceOver and the largest text sizes, with audio graphs and a night vision mode that keeps the whole app readable to night-adapted eyes. In English, Spanish, German, French and Japanese. PRIVATE AND OFFLINE Your location, journal and photos stay on your device. Four public services supply data, each with its own switch: park alerts from the National Park Service, forecasts and smoke from Open-Meteo, and NOAA's aurora forecast, one file for the whole world. Places abroad are asked for by whole regions, and a spot you save is sent only rounded to about 11 km. The Moon, the Milky Way, the calendar and your journal work offline. BEFORE YOU GO Scores are planning estimates. They do not confirm clear skies or open roads. Check current conditions with the park before you travel. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0). Smoke and usual clouds: Copernicus (CAMS, C3S). Aurora: NOAA SWPC. Night lights and Moon imagery: NASA. Moon names: IAU. Terrain: USGS and Copernicus. Places: Wikidata (CC0) and GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Meteor showers: IMO. Lunar eclipses: Fred Espenak, NASA's GSFC. Park data: National Park Service. Nyx is not affiliated with or endorsed by the National Park Service, NASA or DarkSky International.

  • 5.0
    out of 5
    2 Ratings

The dial now shows the night itself: it runs from sunset to sunrise, with true darkness and the best hours drawn brightest, and the score in the middle. When the best hours fall under a bright Moon, Nyx says so rather than drawing them as dark sky. One best night everywhere: a park's page, Tonight, Best nights and the calendar now name the same best night and the same score. Lists that look only at the next seven nights say "Best this week". The answer comes first: a closure sits right under the score, and "I'm going" is on a park's first screen. Tap a night in the calendar to keep it or open it. Past weeks in the month fold away. When moonlight caps a score, the page says so in plain words. Night vision's red is now readable for red-blind and green-blind eyes too, and still deep red. Settings › Red light for the whole iPhone shows how to turn every screen red with iOS's Color Filters, menus and keyboard included. Motion, refined: pull down on Tonight and a star gathers under your finger before a meteor carries it away. The Moon above the 30 nights changes phase as you scrub, the score starts counting as the app opens, and its four parts fill in under it. With Reduce Motion on, changes now fade instead of cutting. On Apple Watch, the score rolls as you turn the Crown, and the dial keeps its size. New in 2.10: drag sideways across Tonight's dial to step through the next two weeks; the darkest place in reach and its score follow your finger, and VoiceOver can step night by night. Night vision can now turn on at dusk where you plan from and off at dawn, at the same minute on iPhone and Apple Watch. And each park in the list shows how many of the Little Dipper's seven stars you would likely see, an estimate from its sky glow and the Moon. Also: the sky chart steps hour by hour with VoiceOver, larger buttons step through the 30 nights at the largest text sizes, the journal editor is calmer, and on iPad a journal entry uses two columns.

The developer, Hardik Pakhale, 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

    The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More

    Seller
    Hardik Pakhale
    Size
    91.7 MB
    Category
    Travel
    Compatibility
    Requires iOS 26.0 or later.
    • iPhone
      Requires iOS 26.0 or later.
    • iPad
      Requires iPadOS 26.0 or later.
    • Apple Vision
      Requires visionOS 26.0 or later.
    • Apple Watch
      Requires watchOS 26.0 or later.
    Languages
    English and 4 more
    • English, French, German, Japanese, Spanish
    Age Rating
    4+
    Copyright
    © 2026 Hardik Pakhale