Alpenglow: Sunset Prediction

We almost skipped going to sunset because the app said “poor” chances - 25%. We went anyway and it was the most stunning sunset of the summer! Bummed, but tried!

I rely on this app heavily so that I don’t waste time waking up early packing up my gear to show up on location. It is always the absolute opposite of what the app says. You can make this app effective if you do the reverse of what it says because I’ve never seen anything more un accurate, except for my March madness bracket.

I have used multiple different sunrise/sunset apps, and Aplenglow is by far the best one. I can honestly say, that without an ounce of doubt, that if this app says that it’ll be a good sunset, then it will absolutely be a good one. Since I travel extensively for my job, I have used this app to try and find out when there will be a beautiful sunset that I can photograph, and share it with my wife so that we can “share” the experience via FaceTime. Thanks to this app, when I was working out at North Island Naval Air Station in San Diego, I was able to choose the right day to head out to Sunset Cliffs National Park and share a West Coast Sunset with my wife in Florida. I HIGHLY recommend this app for anyone trying to track the sunrise/sunset… Addendum: I’ve dropped my rating by one star due to some instances of extreme inaccuracy. Usually the erroneous percentages are on days when the forecast is “poor” or “fair,” but there have also been a couple times when a “good” or “great” sunrise/sunset ended up being mediocre at best. That said, the initial review still stands, as MORE OFTEN THAN NOT, the forecast is relatively accurate. I have read other reviews and comments from the developer, that point out the fact that the local weather forecast is not always accurate, which is a fair statement. I do wonder though, why I have read replies from the developer that says he’s been working on improvements and attempting to work with local news outlets (and other methods of making this app better) that have read the same way for two years of reviews…I have to wonder if there have been any actual improvement updates…regardless, this app is one of the best for this particular purpose

Due to days of rain/clouds in my location, I haven’t yet been able to test the accuracy of the forecasts, but in anticipation of eventually seeing the sun again, I’ve poked around in the app and really love how it’s laid out. Intuitive and easy to use, with some really excellent features. I love the 4-day forecast option, as well as the notification options. I really like seeing all the times laid out for first and last light, golden hour and blue hour, and of course, sunrise and sunset. It’s a really good-looking app with more functionality than you’re going to find on, say, sunsetwx.com, which is what I’ve used for years. Communication with the developer is super-easy with multiple email links to provide feedback, and I had an opportunity to use this when I couldn’t get “Restore Purchase” to work and enable me to use the app on all my devices. I emailed my feedback and had a friendly, personalized response within hours saying he’d reported the bug and offering a workaround, and asking me to let him know if the workaround didn’t fix my issue (it did). If you have an Apple Watch, the Watch app is just the thing, with really intuitive displays and functionality, by the way. I think I may love the Watch app even more than I do the phone/iPad app. I recognize that no sunset/sunrise prediction can be 100% accurate every time, any more than a weather forecast will be. Those of us chasing light should know the factors that create a great sunrise or sunset and consider this app, or sunsetwx, or any other prediction app to be a “rule of thumb” kind of general guide. This one is polished and offers exceptional functionality across multiple devices, and you can’t beat the responsiveness of the developer! I find the $24.95 lifetime cost of this app (the most economical way to support this developer) to be entirely worth it.

It said 97 percent sunset so me and my friend stopped what we were doing and rushed to get ready for it to only be clouds. This has happened many times so please don’t trust this app it will be either a letdown or you will miss a good sunrise/sunset!!

I really appreciate apps like this, that do one thing well and in a beautiful way. This app is a great way to stay on top of sunset and try to not miss the most beautiful ones. Thanks to the developer for being so responsive and making such a lovely app.

Lo

Today there was an absolutely EPIC SUNRISE but your app FAILED BIG TIME . And this isn’t the first time either!!!!!

The complication has been buggy since its inception. In all the years I’ve been a paying customer of this app, the developer has never once acknowledged the issue or responded to support requests. (Update in response to developer comment below: yes, I’m a lifetime subscriber and yes, I’ve reached out to the support email address multiple times like you’ve suggested and have never once received a response. No other third-party Apple Watch complication I use has any problems staying current, so this is an Alpenglow issue, not a watchOS one.)

I know development for the Watch is awful, but I can't tell if the complication for Alpenglow actually works or not. Otherwise, it's a great companion. (Ultra2, many versions)