ChaseLight
ChaseLight scores every sunrise, sunset and night sky ahead of time — cloud, wind, moonlight and all — so the only alarms you set are for mornings that are actually worth it.
The old way
One app for cloud cover. Another for moon phase. A maps app to find parking before sunrise. An old forum thread for whether the vantage point is even worth the walk. And after all that — you're still just guessing whether it adds up to a shoot worth losing sleep over.
How it works
Search any location on Earth — not just where you happen to be. ChaseLight pulls the forecast, the moon, and the on-the-ground detail together into four focused views, so you're never piecing it together yourself.
Reading the score
Every sunrise, sunset, and night sky gets a Shoot Score from 0–100 — the same five tiers whether it's Sun, Stars, or Moon, so you always know instantly what the number is telling you to do.
Sun
Next Chase is the very next sunrise or sunset. Best Chase is the single best opportunity scanned across the days ahead — so a disappointing sky tonight doesn't mean you miss a much better morning coming up on Wednesday.
Tap in for the full picture: cloud broken into high, mid and low layers, wind and gusts, a plain-language read on what's actually going on, tide levels either side of the event, and blue hour, golden hour and sunrise or sunset laid out on a timeline.
Plan My Drive (Premium) turns that timeline into a real leave-by time — drive time from wherever you are right now to the location, with a buffer before golden hour starts, worked out automatically. Buffer length and whether it avoids tolls are both yours to set in Settings.
Moon
A bright moon ruins a stars shoot but makes a great moonlit landscape — so ChaseLight never blends them into one number. Stars and Moon are scored separately, every night, so you know exactly which kind of shoot tonight actually favours.
Scanned across the coming week for the single best night for stars and the single best night for moon — then tap any of the next seven nights for cloud cover, moon phase, and the best shooting window.
Scout
Tap Scout and get a written briefing for that exact location — the best vantage points, the best time of year or day to visit, how to get there and park, and what to actually expect once you're standing there: crowds, hazards, gear worth bringing.
Flying a drone? Scout runs a quick airspace check against known airports before you launch. And because parking, cafés, walking paths and toilets matter on a real shoot morning, it maps those out too.
Saved
Star any location or any specific chase to save it. Come back the next day, or the morning of, and watch how the score has changed as the forecast firms up — instead of re-searching from scratch every time.
Pick a date from the dropdown above your saved locations and every one of them instantly re-scores against that exact sunrise or sunset — not just today's, so you can compare the whole shortlist for a specific morning next week in one glance.
It's the one list of everywhere you want to shoot eventually, and everything you're currently watching for this week.
Bringing it together
Find the location — your usual spot, or somewhere you've never shot before.
Next Chase and Best Chase tell you at a glance whether it's worth the alarm.
New to the location? Get the briefing — vantage points, parking, hazards — before you arrive.
Star it and track how the score moves as the forecast firms up before shoot day.
Why photographers use it
Cloud, wind, moon and on-the-ground detail, in one place, for one location.
A Skip It score is as useful as an Exceptional one — it tells you the alarm isn't worth it.
A bright moon means two very different verdicts — ChaseLight always scores them apart.
Scout does the legwork on a new location, so the first visit isn't a scouting trip too.
Scoping next week's shoot on the other side of the world is exactly as easy as checking tomorrow morning at home.
Saved locations and chases update automatically as the forecast changes — nothing to re-check by hand.
Pricing
Prices shown in AUD; you're charged in your local currency at the price shown in the App Store or Google Play at checkout. Subscriptions auto-renew until cancelled, managed through your Apple ID or Google Play account — see the Terms of Service for full details.
ChaseLight tells you whether the light's worth chasing — before you lose the sleep finding out.
Available now on iOS & Android