Accuracy and troubleshooting

Where every number in Photinerary comes from, how far to trust it, and fixes for the problems people run into.

Where the numbers come from

Photinerary calculates rather than looks up wherever it can, and says where something is an estimate.

Sun, moon and Milky Way positions

Calculated on your device from standard astronomical formulas. Sunrise and sunset are good to about a minute. The moon's position is good to about a third of its own width, plenty for planning but not for a once-a-decade alignment where you'd want a few minutes' margin. Full and new moon instants are good to a few seconds.

Eclipses

Computed from NASA's published eclipse elements, and checked against NASA's path tables.

Meteor showers

Peak dates computed for each year and checked against the International Meteor Organization's published dates.

Tides

NOAA predictions from the nearest station in the U.S., its territories and the Great Lakes. Elsewhere a rough estimate from the moon, labeled as an estimate.

Weather and the Sky Forecast

Apple Weather. The readings (Great, Promising and so on) are Photinerary's own judgement of that forecast, each with its reasons.

Terrain

Open elevation data (USGS, SRTM and others) with cells about 30 m across. In the U.S. it's bare earth; trees and buildings aren't included.

Buildings

OpenStreetMap, through OpenFreeMap's map tiles. Heights are as mapped, or estimated from the number of floors.

Places and drives

Apple Maps and OpenStreetMap for places, and Apple Maps for routes and drive times. The AI planners only choose among places found there.

Common problems

Times look an hour off

Times are shown in the local time of the place you're planning, not your phone's. Planning a place in another time zone shows that zone's time.

Something described here isn't in my app

It's probably a Pro feature: they don't appear at all without Pro. If you've subscribed and they're missing, go to Settings › Photinerary Pro and tap Restore Purchases, and make sure you're signed in under Settings › Account. The AI planners also need a device that supports Apple Intelligence, and Plan From a Photo needs iOS 27.

My library isn't on my other device

Check that both devices are signed in to the same iCloud account with iCloud on for Photinerary, and that both have a connection. Open the app on both; changes usually arrive within a minute or two.

No reminders, alerts or summaries arrive

Check that notifications are allowed for Photinerary in the iOS Settings app, and that a Focus mode isn't silencing them. For Daily Summaries, use Send Test Notification in the summary's editor. Location alerts come once in the evening, and only when a condition you chose is forecast.

The Sky Forecast shows weather but no readings

Readings are Pro, and appear only for the next five days. Further out, only the plain forecast is shown.

View from Here says "Loading buildings…" or shows no terrain

The first view of a new area downloads elevation and building data, which needs a connection. Once downloaded it's kept on the device. If it fails, close the view and open it again.

The tide shows "estimate"

There's no NOAA station close enough. Treat the times as approximate and check a local tide table, especially anywhere the tide can cut you off.

An AI-planned trip has a strange stop or a long empty drive

Edit the draft before saving: remove the stop and add your own. Then please send us the trip's Planning Details (Share Planning Details), which records what was searched and why each place was kept. It's how planning problems get fixed.

Still stuck?

Email support@photinerary.com, or see the Support page. It helps to include your device, iOS version, and what you were doing.