Starlapse support
Long-exposure night sky camera: stacks hundreds of 1-second frames and tells you where to aim for meteors.
Contact
Write to [email protected]. A person reads every message, usually within two working days. Include your device model, iOS version and the app version (in the App Store listing or Settings), and what you expected to happen.
Bugs can also go to GitHub issues.
Common questions
Stars are soft or blurry.
Run star autofocus: it steps through the lens range and picks the position with the smallest stars, taking about a minute. Redo it if the phone cools down, since focus drifts.
The aiming overlay does not appear.
It needs location permission while the app is open. Without it everything else works.
Capture stopped when I left the app.
iOS stops the camera in the background. Keep Starlapse on screen; it dims the display for you.
The app crashed.
Next launch, the controls panel shows the report and a Send report button that opens the share sheet. It has the error and code path, no photo or location. Mail it to support.
Why stack instead of one long exposure?
An iPhone frame tops out at about one second. Starlapse takes hundreds of them and adds them up; noise falls with the square root of the frame count, and the same data can become pinpoint stars or star trails.
Do I need a tripod?
Yes. Stacking assumes the phone does not move; handheld frames will not line up.
Can it run with the screen off?
No. iOS stops the camera when an app leaves the screen, so Starlapse keeps the screen on and dims it with a red-on-black interface.
What does Pro add?
A one-time $4.99 purchase: tonight's meteor showers with rates, the aim target 40 degrees off the radiant and away from the Moon, peak nights, and saves without the 'Shot on Starlapse' credit. Camera, stacking, detector and time-lapse are free.
What is the sky dataset?
Optional. If you say yes (asked once after your first saved photo), each saved stack sends a sky brightness reading, a 2048-px photo and a location rounded to about 10 km to study light pollution. Settings > SKY DATASET turns it off or deletes everything you sent.