← Back to +Frames

Quick Guide

Every function and where to find it. Updated 17 October 2026.

Layout

One screen: the atlas. Everything else opens in the bottom sheet.
Bottom: tab capsule with five icons: Night, +Frames, Gear, Location, Chat. Tap the active tab again: the sheet closes.
Top right: hexagon. Opens Framing, Layers, Calendar, AR, Night vision. With a smart telescope: EQ and T/W buttons below it.
Sheet: half or full height. At half height the atlas stays usable. Swipe down: everything closes, the selected object stays selected.
No search field: typing happens in the Chat tab.

Atlas

Pan: one finger. Zoom: pinch, 179° to 0.02°.
Tap an object: it flies to the centre, its card opens. Tap it again: deselected. Tap empty sky: nothing changes.
Stars: depth follows your Bortle class and the zoom. To mag 14 from the device, to mag 21 online (Gaia DR3).
Deep-sky objects: galaxies as ellipses with position angle, nebulae outlined, clusters dashed. Names from a common name, otherwise the catalog designation.
Also drawn: 307 plate-solved photos, Milky Way, alt/az grid, meridian, equator, constellation figures, IAU borders, Sun, Moon with phase, planets with disk when zoomed, 14 asteroids, comets, satellites moving live, JWST while selected.
Flight path: dashed line for the selected object. Green where it is usable: dark window, above the minimum altitude, above your horizon. Night start and end marked.
Horizon line: the active location's profile. Below it the sky is dimmed.
FOV frame: green, at the view centre. Rectangle for a camera, circle for an eyepiece, one frame per mosaic panel. Labels: optics, camera, field size.
Project rings: around +Frames targets, progress from red to green.
Long-press on one of your plate-solved photos: delete.

Hexagon (top right)

Framing: camera rotation dial, focal length for zoom lenses, mosaic up to 4×4 with 10 to 30 % overlap. Long-press the icon: rotation back to 0°. Red icon: framing applied. Gear view inside for quick gear changes. Share button: ASIAIR plan or NINA target set.
+FOV: compare up to 10 frames at once (camera and telescope, setup or smart telescope). Premium.
Layers: Stars to mag 1 to 21. Bortle preview 1 to 9 (display only). Switches: DSO images, Milky Way, My photos, Labels & markers, Project rings, Constellations, Constellation borders.
Calendar: shows the day being viewed, red when not today.
AR: camera image behind the atlas, the phone's orientation steers the view. Green chevrons point to the selected target. Red dot exits.
Night vision: whole app red. Remembered.
EQ / T/W: smart telescope wedge mode and tele/wide lens.

Main card (top of the sheet)

Status line: FOV 2.4° · Alt +34° · Az 156° SE. FOV across the screen width.
Title: applied setup, or camera and optics. Tap: switch setups (two or more saved).
Line below: sampling in "/px with a colour dot (green = 0.67 to 2.0), active filters. Visual setup: magnification, FOV, exit pupil.
Values: Moon %, DSO Window, location with Bortle, Time. Red Time: tap returns the clock to live.

Night

Top 50: the best 50 deep-sky targets for the active setup, location and night. Per row: grade A to E, type, size, Peak, Max, Tonight (usable hours).
Score: altitude, field fit, filter fit, moon. E: too few usable hours, far too large or small for the frame, dark or reflection nebula with narrowband only.
Filter menu: Top 50, Favorites | Planets, Stars, Variable stars, Double stars, Carbon stars | Galaxies, Emission, Cluster, Planetary, Supernova, Dark, Reflection (combinable).
Swipe a row left: Project, Favorite. Long-press: the same menu.
Planets: visibility windows, twilight counts.
Stars: variables with next maximum or minimum, doubles with separation, PA and whether your aperture splits them, carbon stars.

Object cards

Header: image, name (tap: fly back), grade, plus (project), star (favorite).
Altitude plot noon to noon, green = usable. Drag: time scrub, the atlas follows. Arrows: next or previous night. 20°/30° lines set the minimum altitude.
Star cards: VARIABLE STAR and DOUBLE STAR sections. Planet cards: Peak, Max, Distance, Rise, Set, Diameter. Satellites: next pass with times. Comets: brightness marked as estimate.
Tap the selected object again or the chevron: the card closes.

+Frames

Plus on a card or row: new project with the active setup. Snapshot: camera, optics, field, rotation, mosaic, one filter row per active filter. Several projects per target.
Project card: filter letters with captured / target hours, Total integration, one card per night.
Night card: subs per filter, exposure, gain (HCG suggested when the sensor is known), location, Bortle, Moon %. Add filter.
Plus menu: New night, Framing (PA & Position, locked once subs are logged), Export to ASIAIR, Export to NINA, Mark finished / Reopen project.
List: one row per project with percent done, sorted by tonight's score with the project's own gear. Finished projects in the filter menu.
Swipe left: Delete. Long-press: reorder.
Star projects: observing log: date, seeing, limiting magnitude, SQM, notes, sketches. OpenAstronomyLog export.
Sun, Moon, planet projects: log for lucky imaging: clips, fps, exposure, gain. Ephemeris lines on the card.

Gear

Cards: Setups, Smart Telescope, Camera, Telescope, Mount, Filter, Reducer · Barlow, Eyepiece, Accessories. Tap a card: its devices. Tap a device: on or off in the active selection.
Filter sets: letters per filter, tap a letter: that filter alone. Smart telescope: built-in filters inside its card.
Edit set: one page per filter: name (max. 10 characters), type, bandwidth. The name shows in the nights and in the NINA file.
Swipe a device left: Delete. Swipe right: Edit. Long-press: move.
Plus: New Setup, Save as setup, Add manually.
Setups: camera + optics, telescope + eyepiece, or a smart telescope. Tap: applied. Tap again: cleared. Any manual gear tap releases the setup.
Deleting a camera, telescope, lens, eyepiece or smart telescope deletes the saved setups that need it; the dialog names them. Other items are only removed from the setups.
Fastest way to add gear: name the device in the chat. Specs appear, one tap saves.

Location

Cards: Current Location (GPS) first, then your sites. Tap: active. Tap the active card: opens.
On the card: local time, Bortle, weather symbol and word for the atlas hour, coordinates. Background: night, twilight or day at that place, with the weather scene.
Open card: Bortle 1 to 9 (arrow: lightpollutionmap), Horizon with 8 bars 0 to 90° (hold briefly, then drag; Save; reset asks first), Conditions: 72 hours of clouds, dew point, rain, wind with Dark and Dawn marks.
Plus: city or place search. Rename: tap the name. Coordinates: tap the line. Delete: swipe left. Reorder: long-press.
Credits row at the bottom: data sources and photo licences.

Calendar

Month grid: moon phase and % per night (green = moon-free), red dot = showpiece target at its best, green dots = events, pink dot = your note.
Tap a day: that night is planned, atlas, lists and cards follow. Day view: Moon, DSO Window, moonrise, events, note. Today returns to live.
Magnifier: event search to 2050: eclipses, moon phases, meteor showers, oppositions, elongations, conjunctions, comet perihelia, showpiece targets.
Plus: note for the selected day.

Chat

Input line: text field, microphone for dictation, green arrow sends. Plus: Plate solving.
Exact object name or coordinates: direct fly-to, no AI.
Ask the Astro Buddy: targets by type, direction, altitude or time window; exposure and filter advice; which of your gear suits a target; object data and best night of the year; events; targets for another saved setup.
Gear: name a device, check the card, tap Save. Variants as pills.
Buddy acts: fly-to, views, time, gear selection, setups, projects (create, change), locations, calendar notes, exports (ASIAIR, NINA, observing log). It does not edit gear data and does not delete anything.
Tour: after install, once after each update, or type tour.
Gear icon: Settings (plan, Upgrade, Restore purchases, Rate +Frames, Send feedback).
Sparkles: Buddy remembers (your name, last topic, up to 30 facts), Clear chat history.
Touch and hold an answer: Copy. Answers come in the app language.
Limit: monthly AI quota per device.

Plate solving

Chat plus → Plate solving → pick a photo. Solved by nova.astrometry.net with your own free key, asked once, stored in the keychain.
The solved photo appears in the atlas at its position, size and rotation. Layers: My photos. Long-press: delete.

Data

Deep-sky catalog: 8,806 objects.

Catalog	In the app
Messier, complete	110 / 110
Sharpless (Sh2)	309 / 313
NGC	7,458 / 7,840
IC	437 / 5,386
LBN (bright nebulae)	397 / 1,125
LDN (dark nebulae)	161 / 1,802
Barnard (dark nebulae)	83 / 349
Collinder	74 / 471
vdB (reflection nebulae)	47 / 158

One object often carries several designations, so the rows overlap.

Photos: 307 plate-solved atlas photos covering 613 objects. 2,121 object photos on the cards.

Stars: 41,396 named and Bayer stars · deep layer to mag 13 · Gaia to mag 14 on the device (9.5 million) · Gaia DR3 to mag 21 online (1.8 billion) · 3,120 variables with event prediction plus 57,852 GCVS variables · 9,836 doubles (WDS) · 67 carbon stars · 88 constellations.

Solar system: Sun, Moon, planets · 14 asteroids · comets from the MPC feed · satellites from CelesTrak · JWST.

Requirements: iPhone or iPad, iOS 18 or newer.

Backup: gear, setups, locations, projects and photos sync through your private iCloud. No account.

Languages: English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Polish, Turkish, Ukrainian, Russian, Japanese, Korean, Simplified and Traditional Chinese. Follows the iOS language setting.

Sources: HYG/AT-HYG (CC BY-SA), ESA Gaia DR3, Washington Double Star Catalog, GCVS, IAU/Sky & Telescope figures (CC BY 4.0), IAU boundaries via VizieR, Milky Way imagery NASA/SVS, orbits from JPL, MPC, CelesTrak, weather by Apple Weather. Full credits in the Location tab.