Sky Map

Point your phone at the sky to see what you're looking at — stars, planets, the Moon and Sun, rendered live over your camera. All 88 constellations are mapped too, each with its own myth and story — browse them anytime in the STAR AND CONSTELLATION SCHINDLER below.

Sky Map needs access to your camera, location, and motion sensors to line the sky up correctly.

Which one's yours?

Step 1 of 3

📍 Location

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Prefer written steps?

Used to work out which stars and planets are above your horizon right now. Never leaves your phone.

Open the Settings app (not Safari) and go to Privacy & Security → Location Services. Make sure the top toggle is on.

Paste that into the search bar at the top of the Settings app and tap the result — usually faster than tapping through the menu above.

Scroll down to Safari Websites (or find Safari in the app list) and set it to Ask Next Time or While Using the App.

Come back to this tab and tap Try again above — no reload needed.

Tap the 🔒 lock icon (or ⓘ) just left of the address bar, right here in this tab.

Permissions → Location → Allow, then tap Try again above.

Not listed there? Chrome menu (⋮) → Settings → Site settings → Location → find this site → Allow.

In Chrome's Settings screen (⋮ → Settings), tap the 🔍 search icon at the top, paste, then tap the result — quicker than digging through Site settings by hand.

📷 Camera

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Prefer written steps?

Fills the background so the sky overlay lines up with what you're actually pointing at. The video never leaves your phone.

Settings → Apps → Safari → Camera → Allow (or Ask).

Paste into the Settings app's search bar — if more than one "Camera" result shows up, pick the one listed under Safari. Skips the Apps → Safari drill-down entirely.

Come back to this tab and tap Try again above.

Tap the 🔒 lock icon next to the address bar → Permissions → Camera → Allow.

Tap Try again above.

🧭 Motion & compass

✓ Nothing to grant here — Android doesn't need a separate motion permission. If the sky looks rotated once you're in, use the compass-offset nudger in Settings.

Sky pointing the wrong way even with permission granted?

Prefer written steps?

Reads your phone's tilt and heading so the overlay tracks where you're pointing. iOS doesn't let Sky Map check this one ahead of time — you'll only know if it worked by tapping Try again.

Settings → Apps → Safari → Motion & Orientation Access → on.

Paste into the Settings app's search bar. This one's a fairly deep toggle, so if search comes up empty, the menu path above will still get you there.

Come back to this tab and tap Try again above.

📲 Make permissions stick — Add to Home Screen

Browsers already remember "Allow" for a site permanently — you shouldn't normally see these prompts more than once. If you are seeing them repeatedly, it's almost always one of two things: opening the link from inside another app (Messages, Notes, Slack) uses a temporary in-app browser that doesn't share Safari's or Chrome's saved permissions, or you're in Private/Incognito browsing, which never remembers anything.

The fix: add Sky Map to your Home Screen. That turns it into its own installed app with its own permanent permission memory, no matter how you got here the first time.

Make sure you're in Safari itself, not a link preview inside another app (tap "Open in Safari" first if needed).

Tap the Share icon (square with an arrow) in the bottom toolbar.

Scroll down and tap Add to Home Screen, then Add.

Launch Sky Map from its new icon from now on.

Tap the ⋮ menu in the top right.

Tap Add to Home screen (or Install app, if Chrome offers it directly), then Add.

One small thing even this doesn't remove: iOS still requires a tap on "Start Sky Map" once per launch to ask about the compass — that's an Apple platform rule, not something any web app can skip. It won't show an actual permission popup again once granted, though — it'll just proceed straight in.

Still stuck on something? Fully closing and reopening the browser app, or reloading the page, after changing a setting usually fixes it.

🔒 Everything runs on your phone. Your location, camera feed, and compass readings are used only to work out what's overhead right now — none of it is sent to a server, tracked, or stored. Close the tab and it's gone.

Locating…

Animate over time

Sky Map

📍 Location

📷 Camera

🧭 Motion & compass

📲 Make permissions stick — Add to Home Screen

What do these icons mean?

Settings

STAR AND CONSTELLATION SCHINDLER

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Function & energy

A deeper look