Comparison · updated September 2026

The best northern lights apps in 2026

Disclosure first: we make Aurora Lens, one of the apps below, so read this the way you'd read a chef reviewing restaurants — informed, and interested. The honest structure of this market: several good free apps tell you WHEN the aurora might appear, and they differ mainly in interface and data depth. Only one app on this page films it. We compare all of them on what each actually does best, because the right answer for most people is two apps, not one.

The short version

Easiest free forecast: My Aurora Forecast
Deepest live data (Bz, solar wind): SpaceWeatherLive
Community sighting alerts: Hello Aurora / Glendale App
Filming the aurora on iPhone: Aurora Lens (ours — and it bundles its own live forecast)

Side by side

App	Forecast	Alerts	Films the aurora	Price	Platforms
My Aurora Forecast	Plain-language probability score	Push, Kp-based	—	Free with ads · Pro upgrade	iOS, Android
SpaceWeatherLive	Raw solar-wind data (Kp, Bz, Bt)	Configurable thresholds	—	Free with ads · subscription	iOS, Android
Hello Aurora	Forecast + crowd sightings	Community reports	—	Free tier, paid unlocks	iOS, Android
Glendale App	28-day outlook, expert commentary	Community, UK-centred	—	Free, no ads	Web app
Aurora Lens	Live forecast for your location, built in	Storm web alerts via site	4K timelapse + still, one tap	$4.99 once	iPhone + Apple Watch

Each app, honestly

My Aurora Forecast

Best first app — the one to recommend to a friend who asks tonight.

The most-downloaded aurora app for a reason: it compresses the forecast into one plain-language probability for your location, with a map and Kp push alerts. Reviewers from Astro Bob to DarkSkiesAtlas land on the same verdict — easiest to read, and the free tier is genuinely enough.

Good

· Simplest possible read on tonight
· Solid free tier
· Both platforms

Limits

· Ad-supported
· Kp-centric — coarse at any single location
· Nothing for the camera

SpaceWeatherLive

Best for data people — the app aurora chasers argue with each other about Bz in.

Live solar-wind readings, magnetometer plots, and every number NOAA publishes, presented without dumbing down. If you want to know why the forecast says what it says, or to beat it by watching Bz swing south in real time, this is the one. It expects you to learn what the numbers mean; that's a feature.

Good

· Deepest live data of any aurora app
· Configurable alert thresholds
· Active expert community

Limits

· Steep first hour
· Ads unless you subscribe
· No capture features

Hello Aurora

Best crowd-sourced sightings — humans confirming what sensors suggest.

Its distinctive idea is people: users report live sightings with photos, so instead of a probability you get 'someone 40 km north of you sees it right now'. In Iceland and northern Norway, where its community is dense, that beats any model. The free tier caps some features, and thin coverage regions get thin value.

Good

· Live human confirmation
· Clean design
· Useful guides in-app

Limits

· Value depends on local community density
· Free-tier limits
· Photo tips, but no filming

Glendale App

Best free option, and the best long-range view — run as a labor of love.

A web app rather than a store app, built by an aurora obsessive in Scotland, with a 28-day outlook, plain-English expert commentary and zero ads — DarkSkiesAtlas puts it at roughly 210,000 users. Its perspective is UK/northern-Europe-centred, and 'install' means bookmarking, which is either charming or a dealbreaker.

Good

· Free, no ads at all
· 28-day planning horizon
· Expert commentary, not just numbers

Limits

· UK-centred view
· Web app, not native
· No camera features

Aurora Lens (ours)

The only app on this page that films the aurora — with its own live forecast riding along.

Every app above answers 'will I see it?'. Aurora Lens answers that too (a live forecast for your location is built in, on the same NOAA feeds), then adds the question none of them touch: what do you bring home? Rest the iPhone on something steady, tap once, and it films the next few minutes as calibrated long exposures, assembled on the phone into a fluid 4K timelapse plus a still, saved to Photos. When recording starts, Smart Calibration reads the live conditions and tunes the camera to them, and an Apple Watch companion runs the capture remotely. $4.99 once — and when the apps above charge at all, it's for ad removal, unlocks or a subscription.

Get Aurora Lens on the App Store →

Good

· Films a 4K aurora timelapse with one tap — no other app here captures at all
· Live forecast for your location built in, so one app covers the night
· $4.99 once, no subscription, with an Apple Watch remote

Limits

· iPhone only (iOS 17.6+)
· Raw solar-wind plots are still SpaceWeatherLive's home turf
· Like every camera method, needs a steady prop and real activity overhead

Why doesn't any other app film the aurora?

Because it's genuinely hard, and it isn't a forecast feature you can bolt on. Aurora video is a timelapse of second-plus long exposures — phone video mode physically can't record it (each video frame gets under 1/30 s of light). Building capture means real-time exposure calibration against a moving, unpredictable subject, stacking, and on-device 4K assembly.

We checked the seven comparison pages currently ranking for this query: none of them mentions any app that captures the aurora — the category simply hasn't existed. That's the gap Aurora Lens was built for, and it's also why the fairest summary of this page is: pick one forecast app from the list above, and if you shoot on iPhone, add the one capture app that exists.

FAQ

What is the best free northern lights app?

My Aurora Forecast for a simple probability, or the Glendale App for depth without ads. Both are genuinely free; paying in any forecast app buys a cleaner interface, not a better forecast — the underlying NOAA data is the same public feed.

Which aurora app has the most accurate forecast?

They largely share sources: NOAA's Ovation model and planetary Kp. Accuracy differs less than presentation does. SpaceWeatherLive shows the rawest feed, Hello Aurora adds human sightings on top, and this site's own city pages add the three Kp thresholds your latitude actually needs (camera / naked eye / overhead).

Is there an app that records the northern lights?

One aurora app: Aurora Lens ($4.99, iPhone). It films calibrated long exposures for a few minutes and saves a 4K timelapse plus a still — and it shows a live forecast for your location too, so on iPhone it covers both jobs. The forecast-only apps above don't capture; the categories complement each other.

Do I need a paid aurora app?

For forecasts, no — free tiers cover most needs, and paid tiers mainly remove ads and add alert options. Paying makes sense for two things: SpaceWeatherLive's subscription if you love the raw data, or a capture app if you want footage rather than just a heads-up.

Which apps work in Iceland / Norway / Lapland?

All of them — forecasts are global. Hello Aurora is at its best there thanks to a dense sighting community, and at high latitude your camera threshold sits near Kp 1, which is most nights with clear skies. Check the live city pages here for Reykjavik, Tromso or Rovaniemi.

How this comparison was made

We read the five most-cited independent comparisons (How-To Geek, ShutterMuse, DarkSkiesAtlas, Astro Bob, utopia.de), used each competitor app, and kept only claims that at least one independent source corroborates. Competitor pricing and features move; last verified September 2026. Corrections: hello@auroralens.app.

Forecast apps tell you to look up. This one brings it home.

When you're finally standing in the cold under the night you've waited years for, there are no retakes — the sky does its show once and moves on. So pack the jacket, pack the thermos, and pack the one thing that makes the night eternal: the only iOS astrophotography app built for auroras. Long after the trip, you'll still have the display itself, moving, in 4K.

✦ Set it down and it arms itself
✦ 4K timelapse + a still from the session
✦ Aurora intelligence tunes every capture
✦ Tracks the aurora live — no extra app
✦ Apple Watch companion
✦ Pay once, own it forever

Download on the App Store — $4.99

More: live aurora forecast by city · how to film the northern lights on iPhone

Popular aurora forecasts: Toronto · Oslo · Montreal · Vancouver · Seattle · Tromsø