FAQs

General

Android? Now available on Google Play!!

Good news! PhotoPills is available on Android. You can get it here: Download PhotoPills Android

Thanks for your infinite patience and support!

Is my camera supported by PhotoPills?

PhotoPills includes more than 2000 camera models. If you cannot find yours in the list, just send us your camera model via [email protected] and we'll add it in the next update. In the meanwhile, PhotoPills allows you to create your own personalized camera. Add your own camera by tapping on the "+" icon you see at the top right-hand corner of the camera list screen. You'll find it in the camera selector within Camera in Settings (menu My Stuff) and the following photography calculators: Depth of Field, Hyperfocal Table, DoF table, Field of View, Subject Distance, Focal Length Match and Spot Stars.  

How can I enable PhotoPills' Widgets?

PhotoPills’ widgets not only give you all the main Sun, Moon and Milky Way events for the current date, but also all the upcoming photo plans you’ve saved. Therefore, to have a quick look at all the fresh daily information, you won’t even need to go to PhotoPills app. All you have to do is to enable the three PhotoPills’ widgets: PhotoPills (Sun and Moon), PhotoPills Night and PhotoPills Plans.

Widgets on iOS

Enable the widgets by pulling down from the top of the screen. This will open the notification center. Then, tap the Edit button you see at the bottom of the Today view.

You’ll see a list of your installed widgets. The standard ones of the Today view (Today Summary, Calendar, Reminders, etc) are all now preinstalled widgets. Below them, you’ll see a list of widgets from apps you have installed, including: PhotoPills, PhotoPills Night and PhotoPills Plans.

Tap the green “+” button next to each one of PhotoPills’ widgets to enable them. You can then touch the handles at the right side of the screen and drag them up or down to rearrange your list of widgets. Tap the red “–” button to remove a widget from the list.

Widgets on Android

Important: Please, install PhotoPills on the device internal storage (not in the SD card). If PhotoPills is not installed in internal storage, the widgets won't be displayed in widget drawer.

Tap an hold with your finger on your phone screen.  And then tap on the "Widgets" button that appears in the lower part of the screen (center).

Now, look for the PhotoPills Widgets. Tap on them to see al the options.

Choose the widget you wish to enable and drag and drop it where you wish.

Can I Transfer My Licence From iOS To Android (Or Vice Versa)?

Unfortunately neither Apple or Google provides a way to transfer a current user from one platform to the other.

Also, there is no such a mechanism in the App Store or Google Play that allows us to offer a discount to an user that decides to move from one platform to the other.

Both PhotoPills versions have been developed separately and are also updated separately.

Thanks for understanding.

How to update PhotoPills on iOS & Android

Updating PhotoPills on iOS

To update PhotoPills on iOs, go to the App Store and tap “Updates” at the bottom. There you’ll see all the apps pending to update.

If you have issues updating the app, or the app doesn’t download, try the following tips Apple gives: https://support.apple.com/en-us/ht207165

If the update doesn’t appear on the App Store, you might have the auto update function on, and the app has been already installed. To check it, search PhotoPills on the App store and look for the version number at the bottom of the app description. Now, open PhotoPills, go to the menu My Stuff and tap on Settings. Scroll down till you see the version number. It should be the same that appears on the App Store. If they don’t match, you have a pending update.

If you change the email (or account) you’re using in iTunes, the update won’t appear on the App Store. Your PhotoPills purchase is linked to your email (account). If you change it, Apple can’t know whether you bought the app or not. In this case, you must log in with the same email (account) you used to buy PhotoPills.

If you didn’t change your iTunes account (email), try to log out and log in again. You can do it from your device Settings > iTunes & App Stores > Tap on your Apple ID > Log out.

Updating PhotoPills on Android

To update PhotoPills on Android go to the Play Store app. Tap on the three horizontal lines at the top left-hand corner, and tap on “My apps and games”. There you’ll see the list of pending updates. Here you have the steps you should follow.

If the update doesn’t appear on Google Play, you might have the out update function on, and the app has been already installed. To check it, search PhotoPills on Google Play, tap on the icone of the app to read the description. Then tap on Read more (below what’s new) and look for the version number at the bottom. Now, open PhotoPills, go to the menu My Stuff and tap on Settings. Scroll down till you see the version number. It should be the same that appears on Google Play. If that’s not the case, you have a pending update.

If you change the email (or account) you’re using on Google Play, the update won’t appear. Your PhotoPills purchase is linked to your email (account). If you change it, Google can’t know whether you bought the app or not. In this case, you add the same email (account) you used to buy PhotoPills.

If you didn’t change your Google Play account (email), some PhotoPillers have told us that logging out and logging back in helps.

How can I make money with PhotoPills?

You can earn up to 7% commission on sales of iPhone/iPad Apps, including PhotoPills. Apple's affiliate program provides a unique way for your website or app to link to millions of songs and thousands of apps - as well as books, movies, TV shows and more while earning commissions on qualifying sales.

Apply now to join the program for free and earn commissions when you link to music, apps, books and more on iTunes, App Store, iBooks and the Mac App Store.

Who can take advantage of PhotoPills?

(i) Photographers: nature, night, time lapse, architecture, wedding, fashion. (ii) Filmmakers, directors of photography, camera operators, camera assistants, script supervisors, production designers, art directors. (iii) Film and photography students. (iv) Architects. (v) Sun lovers, Moon lovers and Instagramers.

I’d like to master PhotoPills as soon as possible, can you help me?

YES. Start with the How-to videos and articles you’ll find on this website. You can alsow take a look at the user guide provided both on this website and within PhotoPills app.

How can I help you improve PhotoPills?

You can help us in three different ways: (i) Send your feedback through our CONTACT e-mail, (ii) Send us your questions with the form you find in this page. (iii) Go to the Settings option you find in the menu “My Stuff” of PhotoPills and activate the option “Send anonymous usage data” to share data on how you use the app. Remember, data collection is anonymous. No personally identifiable information is included.

The Augmented Reality seems not to work properly, what’s happening?

Make sure you are away from any electronic device, metal object or magnetic field because they may interfere with the sensors of the device. We recommend you to shake your device and wait a few seconds to let the system become stable. We've seen that the sensors of your device work better when you use it in landscape mode.

Quality of the information displayed in the AR view is good enough to work, but it strongly depends on the limitations of the sensors of your device (GPS, Accelerometer, Gyroscope). This is an issue we cannot control but, as technology advances, manufacturers improve the quality of sensors too.

The app crashes when opening an Augmented Reality (AR) View. What can I do?

When the iPhone hasn't been rebooted for a long time, it can be buggy and unresponsive and this is the cause that PhotoPills crashes when trying to open the AR views (not enough memory available for the app). To fix it, follow these steps:

Do a soft reset by pressing and holding the power/sleep button and the home/menu button simultaneously for approximately 10 seconds. When prompted with the slide to unlock screen, ignore it and continue holding the buttons. Hold them until the device restarts and the Apple logo appears. No data will be lost when preforming these steps.

Now the AR viewers will work like a charm.

Can I customize PhotoPills?

YES. Customize PhotoPills to your convenience from the Settings option of the menu “My Stuff”. (i) Choose between metric and imperial units system. (ii) Set the aperture stops you wish to use in the calculations: full stops, halves stops and third stops. (iii) Set your default camera. (iv) Choose the map type you like. (v) Enter the height at which you normally use the device in order to correctly represent the augmented reality (AR).

What’s the web that provides you with the information about sun and moon?

There is no magic web. PhotoPills uses advanced algorithms to predict the sun, moon, Milky Way, celestial equator, twilights, magic hours, Polaris and much more.

All calculations are computed by PhotoPills. Astronomical algorithms have been taken from the book Astronomical Algorithms (2nd edition) by Jean Meeus and from the book Astronomy on the Personal Computer (4th edition) by Oliver Montenbruck and Thomas Pfleger.

Can I take photos and use filters with PhotoPills?

NO. PhotoPills hasn’t been designed with the purpose to take photos and play with filters. Although, when adding a photo to a Point of Interest or Planning you can choose from taking a photo or importing an existing one from your library.

How can I become a PhotoPiller?

Easy, just buy PhotoPills.

Team

Who are you?

Just the Bard, the Developer, the Designer and the Photographer.

Are you professional photographers?

No, just beginners… but we can tell you when the photo of your dreams happens :p

To tell you the truth... Antoni Cladera is a real genius with the camera. Have a look at his work here.

Who are your Beta Testers?

Special thanks to the first PhotoPillers: José Benito Ruiz, Antoni Cladera, José Antonio Hervás, Joan Mercadal and María López-Cancio.

What’s your goal?

Just to help you take legendary photos.

Planner

Can I work offline with PhotoPills?

YES. If you think there will be no network coverage, to make a map available offline you must proceed as follows: in the Planner, view the locations you want available offline by panning and zoom in and out to cover all the views you need. Notice that PhotoPills stores offline map tiles in Cache memory and, if there’s a problem of running out of space on your device, the maps views will be deleted.

What’s the azimuth?

The angle between a celestial body (sun, moon), measured clockwise around the observer's horizon, and the North. It determines the direction of the celestial body. So a celestial body due North has an azimuth of 0°, one due East 90°, South 180° and West 270°. For example, sun is at azimuth 193º when it is situated at 193º measured clockwise from North. In the following article, it is explained with examples: Understanding azimuth and elevation.

What’s the elevation?

The vertical angular distance between a celestial body (sun, moon) and the observer's local horizon. For visible objects it is an angle between 0 degrees to 90 degrees. For example, the elevation of the sun is the angle between the direction of the geometric center of the sun's apparent disk and the observer's (idealized) horizon. We say sun is at elevation 12º when it is situated at 12º above our ideal horizon. In the following article, it is explained with examples: Understanding azimuth and elevation.

How to find sunrises, sunsets, moonrises and moonsets?

(i) Scout the location looking for the best spot from where to take the photo. (ii) In the Planner, place the Observer's pin in the chosen location. (iii) Tap on the Find button, choose sun and then at azimuth and elevation. (iv) Select the date range in which you wish to find the sunset. (v) Set the azimuth where you want the sunset. (vi) Set the elevation to zero. (vii) Tap on the Search button to get the table of results. (viii) It works the same way for sunrises, moonrises and moonsets. In the Academy you'll find articles and videos explaining it with examples.

How to find a moon appearing from behind a hill?

(i) Scout the location looking for the best spot from where to take the photo. (ii) In the Planner, place the Observer’s pin in the chosen location. (iii) Tap on the Find button, choose moon and then at azimuth and elevation. (iv) Select the date range in which you wish to find the moon. (v) Set the azimuth where you want the moon to be by locating the Moon’s pin on the hill. (vi) Tap on the Moon’s pin to see its information box and jot down the relative elevation between the Observer’s Pin and the Moon’s pin (last number in degreesº). (vii) Set the elevation equal to the relative elevation between pins. (viii) Tap on the Search button to get the table of results. (ix) It works the same way for the sun. In the Academy you'll find articles and videos explaining it with examples.

Planner: How to calculate the height of a building?

(i)You must do some field work first. In situ, measure the length of the shadow cast by the building. Jot down the length of the shadow and both the date and time you measured it. (ii) In the Planner, place the Observer's pin in the location of the building. (iii) Select the date and time you took the measure. (iv) In the Shadow calculator, change the height of the building until you get a shadow length equal to the one measured in situ.

What are the azimuth error and elevation error?

When looking for dates and times the sun or moon will be in a desired position, the error of the azimuth and elevation define the spatial region we consider results to be acceptable. By introducing a margin of maneuver when setting the desired sun or moon's position (azimuth, elevation), the likelihood of getting a result increases. To sum up, the Planner will give us any date and time sun or moon will be at: (azimuth+-error, elevation+-error). For example if we are looking for dates when the moon is at azimuth 93º and elevation 10º and we accept a 3º azimuth error and 2º elevation error. We will get as a result all dates in which the moon's azimuth will be in the interval (90º,96º) and the moon's elevation will be in the interval (8º,12º).

What’s the Height Above Horizon?

The vertical distance of an object or location above the horizon level. PhotoPills uses the Height Above Horizon to adjust the calculations of sun and moon rise and set times. For example, an observer situated at the top of a mountain at 2.000 feet of height above his horizon will see sunrise earlier in the morning than another observer situated at the horizon level.

What’s the Apparent Altitude of the sun/moon?

The altitude of the sun/moon at the location of the sun/moon's pin seen from the Observer’s pin location. We use it to find when the sun or moon will be just over a building or a mountain.

What’s the Augmented Reality (AR)?

A generation of a composite view for the user that is the combination of the real scene viewed by the user and a virtual scene generated that augments the scene with additional information. For example, PhotoPills allows you to visualize moon position and moon path information on the real scene.

What’s the Shadow Ratio?

The ratio of an object’s height to its shadow length. Multiply the height of any object by the shadow ratio to calculate the length of the object's shadow.