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

Version 2.4.31 fixes the "negative response" error introduced in previous updates. Even the Pro version is very limited in it's functionality, but it does what I need it to. UPDATE 2026-03-09 v2.6.10 on Android 16. Sideloaded FITS files because the built-in downloader often fails, but files downloaded so far remain, taking up space, but without purpose. After a while, FITS files are auto-deleted. We need a way to direct SynScan to a User folder where the FITS files for auto align can be stored.

I'm leaving a 5 star review to hopefully offset some of the lousy reviews here. Is it a 5 star app? No. A weak 4 star app, but I have no connectivity issues. It does exactly what it's supposed to do. It's just terrible at context switching. If I want to open something else for astronomy on my phone, there's about a 50/50 chance the app will stay responsive. Half the time, it has crashed when I get back to it. Edit: updating the app lost planetary alignment to knock off 1 star. Bring it back!

Half works. It's unclear when alignment is set and ready, and usually the movement arrows don't work. The manual is pretty bad and really doesn't need to be; needs more screenshots, how-tos, and hand-holding for using the app's current version.

What’s new

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