iOptron Optical Polar Scope8.30 - App Store

This is an app to show the position of the Pole Star (Polaris in Northern Hemisphere, or Sigma Octantis in Southern Hemisphere) in the polar scope of all the iOptron(R) telescope/camera mounts.

The app uses the best algorithm to calculate the position of Pole Star: The algorithm calculates 3D space motion of the Pole Star itself, precession, temperature and barometric pressure corrected atmospheric refraction, nutation, parallax, aberration, and etc.). The overall accuracy of the algorithm has reached sub 0.1 arc-seconds now.

The app now using a 10 minute marker reticle, the same reticle used in the polar scope of iOptron(R) telescope mount since 2014.

A must have for iOptron(R) SkyGuider Pro, iOptron(R) SkyTracker Pro, SkyGuider and SkyTracker users!
Also very helpful for any iOptron(R) telescope mount owners. It may also be used with other brand telescope/camera mounts with similar polar scope reticle.

No human interaction required when iOS devices can using location service normally.
iOS users can manually enter the location when location service is unavailable.

Version History Added support for new iOS and iPadOS devices.
Now requires iOS 18.
Minor improvments. 8.30 10/24/2025 Barometric pressure now correctly displayed in iOS 17.4 and later. 8.20 05/21/2024 Now display 2 more decimal digits in longitude and latitude. 8.12 12/12/2021 Now display 2 more decimal digits in longitude and latitude. 8.11 12/09/2021 Added support for iPhone 13 mini, 13, 13 Pro, 13 Pro Max and iPad mini 6.
Added support for ProMotion (120Hz refresh) for iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max.
Added support for iOS 15.x. 8.10 09/28/2021 Correct the name and description of the app. 8.02 01/18/2021 Added support for new devices (iPhone 12 series, iPhone SE 2nd gen, iPad Air 4, iPad 8th gen and etc.).
Added support for iOS 14 and later.
Updated position data from latest Gaia EDR3 catalog.
Some minor improvements.
Now requires iOS 12.0 and later. 8.00 12/27/2020 Added support for iOS 13.x.
Added support for iPhone 11/11 Pro/11 Pro Max and iPad 7th generation.
Fixed the bug of displaying incorrectly when using iPad 7th generation.
Fixed the bug of displaying incorrectly when using iOS 10.x. 7.51 10/10/2019 Added support for new iPhone and iPad series. 7.50 09/12/2019 Added support for iPad Air 3rd generation and iPad mini 5th generation. 7.40 04/15/2019 Added support for iPad 11-inch and iPad 12.9-inch 3rd generation. 7.30 11/01/2018 Added support for new iPhone series.
Added support for iOS 12.x.
Removed support for 32-bit devices.
Some minor tweaks and optimizations. 7.20 09/28/2018 Added support for iPad 6th gen.
Updated position data of Polaris and Sigma Octantis from Gaia DR2.
Improved algorithm of calculating atmospheric refraction. 7.10 06/04/2018 Fixed the bug of the longitude input dialog has been partly covered when using iPad Pro/Pro 2 12.9-inch.
All iPad models now display the status bar, as same as iPhone X.
Some minor tweaks. 7.01 12/08/2017 Added support for iPhone X, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone 8, iPad Pro 10.5-inch, iPad Pro 12.9-inch 2nd generation and iPad 5th generation.
Added support for iOS 11.x.
Some minor tweaks. 7.0 09/28/2017 Added support for iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus.
Added support for iOS 10, and the minimum requirement is iOS 10 now.
The app can get temperature automatically when the iOS devices could access Internet. This feature only consumes less than 5KB data per hour.
The app will display the temperature, and take account into the calculation of atmospheric refraction.
You may manually enter location data when location service is unavailable on iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.
Added a button to switch between English and Simplified-Chinese. 6.0 09/15/2016 Added support for iPhone SE and iPad Pro 9.7-inch.
Now requires iOS 9.0 and later.
Minor correction has been made to the algorithm.
Minor tweaks. 5.2 03/29/2016 Fixed the bug of iPad Wi-Fi only edition cannot get position after app launched several seconds and/or randomly. 5.01 02/29/2016 Core algorithm has been rewritten from scratch. The overall accuracy of the algorithm has reached sub 0.1 arc-seconds now.
Redesigned the app icon. Redraw the iOptron logo.
Some minor tweaks.

NOTE: Currently (2016/01/18), This app has better accuracy than iOptron Commander and iOptron 8407/8408 hand controller. iOptron Commander and iOptron 8407/8408 hand controller will be updated to the identical algorithm as this app in a future release. 5.0 01/21/2016 Added support for iPad Pro.
Core algorithm slightly improved.
Fixed a bug somewhere will display Polaris when in the Southern Hemisphere.
Minor tweaks. 4.5 01/06/2016 Added support for iOS 9.x.
Added support for iPhone 6S, iPhone 6S Plus and iPod Touch 6th generation.
Added a Widget to display the position of the Polaris or Sigma Octantis.
Core algorithm updated. The position of the Polaris or Sigma Octantis is more accurate.

Fixed a bug caused iPod Touch 5th generation to only display a black screen.
Minor tweaks. 4.0 09/16/2015 Added a new feature to let iPad users to manually enter location when location service is unavailable.
Added support for iOS 8.2.
Fixed a bug caused the text to be truncated on iPad when in Southern Hemisphere.
Fixed a bug sometimes given an incorrect position of Sigma Octantis in Southern Hemisphere.
Fixed a bug sometimes will show "**h60.0m". 3.1 04/01/2015 Only supports for iOS 8.x.
Added native support for iPhone6, iPhone 6 zoomed mode, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6 Plus zoomed mode, iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3.
Using a new reticle of 10 minutes marker instead of the old 15 minutes marker reticle.
Using latest UCAC4 Catalog for calculating position of Polaris and Sigma Octantis.
The kernel algorithm updated, now have better accuracy and compensate for atmospheric refraction.
For iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus and iPad Air 2 users, The apps now using built-in barometer to get accurate barometric pressure to calculate the value of atmospheric refraction.
For other users, The app will use elevation from Location Service to estimate the barometric pressure. 3.0 12/12/2014 Fixed a bug of displaying incorrect crosshair on iPad running on iOS 7. 2.01 11/24/2013 Added support for iPhone 5S, iPhone 5C, iPad Air and iPad mini 2.
Added support for iOS 7 and later.
Added support for 64 bit iOS.
The minimum requirement has been raised to iOS 6 due to support 64 bit iOS.

We will add the feature of manually enter latitude and longitude when iOS devices cannot get them in the next version.

We will release a new app about comets calculation and prediction, especially for ISON very soon! 2.0 11/18/2013