SynScan Pro

Skywatcher Apps Team

About this app

Use the SynScan app to control Sky-Watcher telescope mounts via Wi-Fi, USB or Bluetooth LE. Mounts without built-in Wi-Fi can be supported via a SynScan Wi-Fi adapter.

This is the Pro version of the SynScan app and contains features suited for expert users using equatorial mounts.

Features
- Control telescope mount to slew, align, GOTO and track.
- Point And Track: track celestial objects (including the Sun and planets) without aligning.
- Support gamepad navigation.
- Browse a catalog of stars, comets, and deep sky objects. Or, save your own objects.
- Provide access to mount for use by third-party apps, including ASCOM clients, SkySafari, Luminos, Stellarium Mobile Plus, Stellarium Desktop or customer-developed apps.
- Support access to the mount and the SynScan app from any platform that supports TCP/UDP connections.
- Provide emulator mount for testing and practicing.
- Track fast-moving earth satellites by working with the PreviSat app on Windows PC or the Lumios app on iOS devices.
- SynMatrix AutoAlign: use the smartphone camera to align the telescope automatically.
- Perform polar alignment with or without a polar scope.
- Control shutter release (SNAP) port to trigger an attached camera. (Requires mount with SNAP port and adapter cable that matches camera.)
- Use ASCOM to perform autoguiding on mounts that do not have autoguider (ST-4) port.
- Other mount controls: auto home, PPEC, park

Ratings and reviews

App generally sucks. Recent update made it much more stable as it now doesn't send confusing commands to the mount, so that's great but it completely broke the deep space object catalog, I am unable to type the designation. Also the app crashes after typing a named star, going to and the trying to close the named stars window. Honestly I don't get how they got it this wrong. Also for some reason but I don't think it's the app's issue, the phone looses connection every once in a while

This app doesn't crash for me, which sounds odd given other reviews. It has a clunky UI that wouldn't be my first choice for driving a telescope. I had to manually enable location permission from Android, because installation didn't demand it from Android, before it would auto detect where I was for alignment purposes. Other than that, it does the job for running an open port which my Sky Safari app can connect to for driving the telescope, and so I'm finding it useful.

Both the standard and Pro will not work on my upto date mobile. WHEN I open, there a quick flash of the screen opening and then it shuts down. Rather annoying, since this firm is not keeping up with technology, they should include a warning. I have however an older tablet, which does have this app on and is running. So Astronomers, don't throw away that old phone, keep it for synscan.

What’s new

• EQ tracking: fix crash that happens sometimes when this task is interrupted