Borealis Buddy: Aurora Alerts

AstroStack

In-app purchases

About this app

Never miss the northern lights again. BorealisBuddy tracks aurora activity in real time, predicts when storms will hit, and alerts you the moment the sky is worth stepping outside for — tuned to your exact location.

Built on live data from the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center and NASA, BorealisBuddy goes beyond a simple Kp number: an interactive aurora map that points you where to look, an animated forecast you can scrub through, and a substorm watch that catches the sudden overhead displays the standard Kp index is too slow to see.

REAL-TIME AURORA TRACKER
• Live Kp index, solar wind speed, Bz magnetic field, and Newell coupling
• Boulder K-index updates every minute — 180x faster than the standard 3-hourly Kp
• NOAA G/S/R geomagnetic storm scale status
• Hourly cloud-cover forecast so you know if the sky will be clear

SUBSTORM ONSET WATCH — FREE
• Tracks GOES satellite magnetometer data to catch substorm onset — the real trigger behind bright, dancing, overhead aurora
• Live pressure dial, GOES sparkline, and phase/ETA, so you know when the sky is about to erupt — minutes ahead, not hours behind

AURORA COMPASS & LIVE MAP
• Live OVATION aurora-oval map shows exactly where the aurora is right now
• Directional compass tells you which way to look from where you stand
• Color-coded ring shows aurora intensity by direction
• Naked-eye visibility model — shows what you can actually see, not just what exists

ANIMATED AURORA FORECAST
• Watch the aurora oval move, not just a static snapshot
• Live + 1-hour replays driven entirely by measured solar-wind data — FREE
• 3-Day forecast oval out to 72 hours (Pro)

SMART AURORA ALERTS
• Two clear levels: "Aurora Visible Now" (naked-eye) and "GO NOW" (dramatic overhead)
• Location-aware — tuned to your geomagnetic latitude
• Daytime heads-up when tonight's forecast looks exceptional
• Cloud-cover suppression — no false alarms when it's overcast
• Background monitoring every 15 minutes, even when the app is closed

AURORA CAMERA — FREE
• Manual exposure, ISO, focus, and white-balance controls
• Presets tuned for aurora night photography
• RAW capture and long-exposure mode
• Built device-agnostic — works beyond the usual flagship-only camera apps

FORECAST & HISTORY
• 3-day Kp forecast from NOAA
• Solar-wind propagation — see what's heading toward Earth from L1
• Historical Kp data back to 1932
• Storm-event timeline from NASA DONKI

GO PRO
• Real-time alerts — unlimited rising-edge alerts through the night as conditions strengthen
• 3-Day forecast oval — animate the aurora out to 72 hours
• Custom Kp alert threshold (override the auto location-based value)
• Storm mode — 3-minute rapid checks when activity is rising
• Quiet hours — pause alerts while you sleep
• Planning mode — simulate aurora at any location and date
• Home-screen widgets — aurora oval, Kp forecast, cloud cover, and live conditions at a glance

DATA SOURCES
• NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center: https://www.swpc.noaa.gov
• NASA DONKI (Space Weather Database): https://kauai.ccmc.gsfc.nasa.gov/DONKI/
• Open-Meteo Weather API: https://open-meteo.com

PRIVACY FIRST
• No ads, no tracking, no account required
• Location is used only for aurora visibility calculations — it never leaves your device

BorealisBuddy is the aurora app built for serious aurora chasers and casual skywatchers alike. Whether you're planning a northern-lights trip to Iceland, Norway, or Alaska, or you live at high latitudes and want to catch every storm, BorealisBuddy has you covered.

Download BorealisBuddy — your personal aurora and northern lights tracker, forecast, map, alert system, and camera.

BorealisBuddy is an independent app and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or associated with NOAA, NASA, or any government agency. All space weather data is sourced from publicly available government APIs.

What’s new

1h and 3d forecast consistency and artifacting fixes