BortleCast: Stargazing Weather

BortleCast is a focused weather companion for stargazers, backyard astronomers, and night-sky observers. Instead of complex charts, BortleCast gives you a simple "Good / Maybe / Poor" verdict to help you decide if tonight is worth heading out.

Designed for the casual observer, BortleCast translates technical weather data into actionable stargazing cues. Whether you are planning a camping trip or just want to step into your backyard, BortleCast tells you exactly what to expect from the sky.

Key Features:

• Tonight's Stargazing Verdict: A single-screen decision card with a 0-100 score and a clear recommendation for your current location.
• Four-Factor Breakdown: Understand the score with dedicated insights into cloud cover, moon illumination, approximate Bortle light pollution, and an estimated seeing proxy.
• Best Observation Windows: Identify the optimal 1-2 hour windows in the next 24 hours for the darkest and clearest skies.
• Private Observing Spots: Save your favorite dark-sky sites or backyard locations locally on your device for quick switching.
• Home Screen Widget: Tonight's verdict with cloud, moon and Bortle details at a glance (medium size; extra-large size on iOS 27). The widget shows the last verdict the app produced and asks you to open the app when it is more than an hour old.
• Spotlight and Shortcuts: Saved spots appear in Spotlight search, and a Shortcuts action opens tonight's forecast.
• Dark-Field Design: A Tier D dark interface designed to preserve your night vision while you are out in the field.

Honest Framing: BortleCast is a stargazing weather verdict app, not a star map or astronomy encyclopedia. It does not provide sky maps, AR overlays, or object identification. All weather data is provided by Apple WeatherKit. Light pollution data is based on an embedded coarse Bortle-class grid. Seeing values are an estimated proxy based on atmospheric conditions.

One-time purchase. No subscriptions. No ads.