Quick Guide

Every function and where to find it.

Atlas

• Pan: one finger. Zoom: pinch, down to a 0.02° field — fainter stars appear as you zoom in (to mag 14).
• Tap an object (star, DSO, planet, asteroid, comet, satellite): opens its card. Tap empty sky: closes it.
• The atlas shows: 8,797 deep-sky objects · ~12 million stars · Sun, Moon, planets · 14 asteroids · ~900 comets · ~16,000 satellites moving live (selected: orbit line) · JWST · Milky Way · constellation figures and IAU borders · real astrophotos — plus your own plate-solved images (long-press to remove).
• Galaxies are drawn as ellipses with their real orientation.

Toggle button (hexagon, top right)

Opens a capsule with:

• Framing — rotate the FOV frame, set a mosaic (up to 4×4, 10–30% overlap), zoom lenses get a focal-length slider. Long-press: rotation back to 0°. Only with a camera setup.
• Horizon — flat horizon or the location's 8-sector profile (each sector 0–90°), edited in the card. Affects scoring, windows and plots.
• Layers — star-magnitude slider (1–14) · Bortle slider (preview 1–9, reset arrow) · switches: DSO images, Milky Way, my photos, project rings, constellations, constellation borders.
• AR — atlas follows the phone, camera as background. Red dot exits.
• Night vision — whole app red, persists.

With a smart telescope, two extra buttons appear next to the capsule: EQ (wedge mode) and T/W (tele/wide lens).

Main card (bottom)

• Status line — current view: FOV 2.4° · Alt +34° · Az 156° SE.
• Setup pill — active setup, sampling, filters, date/moon/site/Bortle. Tap: switch setups. Below: switch locations.
• Calendar pill — tap: calendar. Red lines: you're planning a time other than right now.
• Tabs — Night · +Frames · ★ · Gear · Location.
• Input field — search, Astro Buddy, gear, plate solving (see below).
• Chevron — collapses everything down to atlas-only. Selection stays on the sky.

Night

• Top 50 — tonight's 50 best DSOs for your setup and location. Per row: grade A–E, type, size, peak, usable dark window. Score = altitude + moon + horizon profile + FOV fit.
• Type pills — Galaxies, Emission, Cluster, Planetary, Supernova, Dark, Reflection. Combinable, drag to reorder.
• Planets — visibility windows and verdicts; twilight counts, since planets need no full darkness.
• Stars — sub-pills All · Variable · Double · Carbon. Variables: state and next maximum/minimum. Doubles: separation, PA, companion — and whether your telescope splits the pair.

+Frames

Projects. Plus button on a target creates one (setup is snapshotted). If the target already has a project, the plus opens a menu: open project, new project with the current setup, delete. One target can hold several projects, each with its own equipment.

• DSO projects — one row per filter. Enter exposure per sub, target subs, gain (HCG suggested if the sensor is known), captured subs per night. Shows integration, percent, remainder.
• List — one row per project, sorted by tonight's score computed with each project's own equipment. Ring on the target = summed progress of its projects. Finished projects sit in a collapsed group at the bottom.
• PA & Position — one row, one edit mode: rotate, set the mosaic, pan to the exact image center — Save stores all of it. Flying to the project restores it. Locked once subs are logged. Export plan: ASIAIR format to clipboard, one line per mosaic pane.
• Mark finished — archive a project any time (the card offers it once the target is reached); reopen it from the Finished group whenever you want more hours.
• Star projects — observation log: seeing (Antoniadi), limiting magnitude, SQM, notes, up to 10 photos. Export: OpenAstronomyLog XML (+ ZIP).
• Moon/planet projects — info cards: ephemeris, disk trend, phase, ring tilt, Moon age, next opportunity (opposition, elongation, terminator window).

★

Favorites — star button on any row or card. Same rows and filters as Night.

Gear

• Sections: astro cameras, planetary cameras, DSLR/mirrorless, telescopes, lenses, mounts, filters (set groups), reducers, flatteners, Barlows, eyepieces, guiding, filter wheels, smart telescopes.
• Setups: save any combination, apply with one tap (also from the main card). An eyepiece makes the setup visual (FOV becomes a circle); a smart telescope activates alone, with its built-in filters.
• Every item is editable field by field. Fastest way to add gear: type it in the chat ("I have a ZWO ASI2600MC") — specs appear, one tap saves.

Location

• GPS plus any number of saved sites (city or place search). Per site: Bortle class 1–9 (with lookup link) and the 8-sector horizon profile.
• All windows, twilight times and scores use the active site. Both hemispheres.
• Credits row at the bottom: all data sources and photo licenses.

Calendar

• Month view: moon phase and illumination under every day, dots for events and notes. Swipe vertically for other months.
• Tap a day = plan that night. Atlas, rankings and cards compute for that date; reset arrow returns to now.
• Event list, 35 days ahead: eclipses, meteor showers, comet perihelia, dark nights.
• Search all events up to 2050: eclipses, moon phases, meteor showers, oppositions, elongations, conjunctions, perihelia.
• Plus button: add your own note to any day.

Object cards

• DSO — data, grade, dark window, moon separation, 24-hour altitude plot (green = usable). Drag the plot to scrub time — the atlas follows. Arrows: next/previous night.
• Star — designation, spectral class, distance. Variables: type, period, next event with time. Doubles: split verdict first, then separation/PA/companion.
• Sun/Moon/planets — rise/set, altitude plot, distance, disk size, phase, observing hint.
• Asteroids/comets — distances, motion, perihelion date; comet brightness marked as estimate.
• Satellites — altitude, speed, sunlit or in shadow, next visible pass with times.

Input field & Astro Buddy

• Exact name → direct flight, no AI: "M 31", "Messier 31", "wolfs cave", "ISS", a NORAD number, "gaia dr3 <number>". Everything else goes to the Astro Buddy.
• Ask: object explanations, visibility with computed times, planning with conditions ("what's in the north above 40° after 1 am?").
• Exposure & filter advice — computed from your sensor, sky and moon; filter suggestions only from filters you own that fit your camera type (mono vs. color).
• Add gear: name a device, check the spec card, tap save.
• Plate solving: plus button in the chat → pick a photo → solved via nova.astrometry.net (own free API key, asked once). The solved photo appears in the atlas.
• Memory: it remembers what you tell it (device + private iCloud only). Gear icon in the chat: view/delete notes, Send feedback, Clear chat history.

Data

Deep-sky catalog — 8,797 objects:

One object often carries several designations, so the rows overlap.

By type: 6,158 galaxies · 875 clusters · 681 emission nebulae · 218 dark nebulae · 185 supernova remnants · 148 reflection nebulae · 149 planetary nebulae · 383 asterisms, star clouds and historic catalog stars.

Stars: ~12 million, down to magnitude 14 — every one tappable · 379 proper names · 3,120 variables with event prediction + 57,852 GCVS variables, searchable · 9,836 doubles · 67 carbon stars · 88 constellations, 752 figure lines.

Backup: everything you create is mirrored to your private iCloud. No account.

Languages: EN, DE, FR, ES, IT, PT.

Sources: HYG/AT-HYG (CC BY-SA), ESA Gaia DR3, Washington Double Star Catalog, GCVS, IAU/Sky & Telescope figures (CC BY 4.0), IAU boundaries via VizieR, Milky Way imagery NASA/SVS, orbits from JPL, MPC, Celestrak. Full credits in the Location panel.

FAQ

Last updated: 25 August 2026

What is +Frames?

+Frames is an iOS app for planning deep-sky astrophotography and visual observing. It combines a GPU-rendered star atlas with 8,797 deep-sky objects and a deep star layer of roughly 12 million stars, a nightly target ranking that scores every object for your equipment, location and sky, a true field-of-view preview for your camera or eyepiece, session and project tracking, an AR finder that shows where a target sits in your real sky, plate solving that places your own photos on the atlas, and an AI assistant that answers your astrophotography questions, explains any object and adds your gear in plain language.

What do I need to run it?

An iPhone running iOS 18 or newer. No account, no sign-up — your data stays on your device.

How do I get +Frames?

+Frames is available on the App Store for iPhone. Download it and start the free trial, and if you have questions or feedback, email support@plus-frames.com or send feedback right from the app.

What does it cost?

+Frames Premium is a single subscription that unlocks the whole app: USD 3.99 per month or USD 29.99 per year, each starting with a 7-day free trial. Prices in your region and currency follow Apple's regional pricing and are shown before you confirm. Billing, renewal and cancellation are handled by Apple through your Apple Account — see the Terms of Use for details.

Are there usage limits for the AI features?

Yes, fair-use limits apply per device and month so the service stays fast and affordable for everyone. Equipment lookups that are answered from the app's built-in equipment catalog — a large, growing dataset covering cameras, telescopes and accessories from many manufacturers — are instant, free and do not count towards any limit. Only requests that need live AI research or chat count. The limits are set as fair use: normal use will not run into them, and they can be adjusted over time.

Can the AI be wrong?

Yes. Equipment data, explanations and other AI-generated answers can be inaccurate or incomplete. +Frames verifies common equipment against its built-in catalog, but always double-check critical specifications before you rely on them.

How does plate solving work?

Plate solving uses the free service at nova.astrometry.net. You need your own free API key (available after a quick sign-up on their site); the app asks for it the first time you solve an image. Solving time depends on the server queue — usually well under a minute, sometimes a few minutes at busy times.

Does +Frames work offline?

The atlas, your gear, your projects and the planning tools work offline. Internet is needed for the AI assistant, plate solving and the initial download of object images.

Where can I learn about privacy?

See the Privacy Policy. In short: no account, no tracking, no ads. AI requests are processed through our server without personal identifiers beyond what is technically required.

Something is broken — where do I report it?

Send feedback right from the app — open the chat settings (gear icon) and tap the feedback option — or email support@plus-frames.com. Both are very welcome.

Privacy Policy

Last updated: 23 August 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how the mobile application +Frames handles your information. The App is provided by Levin Meraner, a private individual based in Switzerland. For any privacy request, contact support@plus-frames.com.

1. Summary

+Frames is an astrophotography planning tool. It stores your data locally on your device and does not require an account or login. Certain optional features send limited data to third-party services to work (AI assistant, image plate-solving, city-name lookup, reference images). We do not use advertising, and we do not track you across other apps or websites.

2. Data stored on your device only

The following is stored locally on your device (via Apple SwiftData / app storage) and is not transmitted to us: your saved equipment, imaging setups and sessions, photos you add to the app, your in-app chat history, calendar notes, chosen observing locations and preferences. If you delete the App, this data is removed with it.

3. Data sent to third parties

Only when you use the related feature, the App sends the following:

• AI assistant & equipment research — the text you type and observing context (your approximate location coordinates, selected equipment). Sent to our proxy server at plus-frames.com (hosted in Switzerland, with a failover server in Germany/EU), which forwards the request to OpenAI (USA) to generate answers and look up equipment specifications. Equipment research triggers a web search, and some assistant answers do too: a weather question runs a web search that includes the name of your observing site (the place name, not your coordinates), and if you send a link in chat, the assistant may open that page to answer.
• Image plate-solving — the photo you select. Sent to astrometry.net (nova.astrometry.net, USA) to determine its celestial coordinates. Uploads are marked non-public.
• City-name lookup — your location coordinates, sent to Apple (CLGeocoder) to display the name of your observing site.
• Object images — when a reference thumbnail loads, your device makes a network request (including its IP address) to Wikimedia / Wikipedia. The images are freely licensed (see the in-app image credits).
• In-app feedback — the message you write and the e-mail address you provide, sent to our server at plus-frames.com (hosted in Switzerland, with a failover server in Germany/EU) so we can read and answer it. A copy is kept alongside our support records.

We ask each provider only for what the feature needs. When data is transferred to recipients in the USA, this may involve a transfer outside your country; we rely on the providers' own safeguards and privacy terms. Please review their policies: OpenAI (openai.com/policies), astrometry.net, Apple (apple.com/legal/privacy), and Wikimedia (foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Policy:Privacy_policy).

4. Location

With your permission, the App uses your device location (via Apple Core Location) to compute an accurate sky map and object visibility. Location is used on the device and, where relevant to the features above, sent as context. You can deny or revoke location access in iOS Settings; the App then falls back to a default location.

5. Third-party links

The App may offer optional links to external websites operated by third parties — for example a light-pollution map (lightpollutionmap.app) that you can open to look up the sky quality of your location. When you tap such a link, your device opens that website and your location coordinates may be included in the address. These sites are not controlled by us and are governed by their own privacy policies.

6. Device identifier and anonymous usage statistics

To apply fair-use limits to the AI features, the App generates a random identifier and sends it with AI requests to our proxy. This identifier is not your name, is not linked to your identity, and is not used for advertising or cross-app tracking. Our proxy keeps aggregate monthly usage counters, and short-lived technical request logs (deleted automatically after at most 14 days) that we use to diagnose problems and improve answer quality.

The App additionally sends anonymous usage events to our server at plus-frames.com, tagged with the same random identifier: ratings you give to assistant answers, search terms that found no match in the catalog, the model names of the equipment you have saved, which targets are viewed and how often app features are used, and technical error reports, together with basic technical context (app version, device model — e.g. "iPhone 17 Pro" —, iOS version and the device's time zone, e.g. “Europe/Paris”). These events contain no other location data, no e-mail address and no chat content, and are used only to improve the App. They are not used for advertising or cross-app tracking.

When an equipment research result is confirmed, the product's name and technical specifications are added to an anonymous shared equipment catalog on our server, so the same product can be answered from the catalog for all users without a new search. The catalog stores product data and usage counters — not who researched the product. If you later correct a researched specification in your gear list, the changed field (old and new value) is reported to our server with the same random identifier as a data-quality hint so we can review the catalog entry.

7. Payments and subscriptions

+Frames offers an auto-renewing premium subscription. Payments are processed by Apple through the App Store. We do not receive or store your name, address or payment card details. Our server receives anonymous subscription status notifications from Apple (for example that a subscription was started, renewed or refunded) so the App can keep premium access working; these notifications are not linked to your identity. To apply the fair-use limits of Section 6 per subscription, the App also sends its Apple-signed subscription receipt to our server. From that receipt the server stores only the subscription's anonymous transaction identifier, product and expiry date, linked to the random device identifier — never your name, Apple ID, address or payment details, which Apple does not share with us.

8. Children

+Frames is not directed at children and does not knowingly collect personal data from children.

9. Legal bases (EEA/UK/Switzerland)

Where the GDPR or equivalent laws apply, we process data on the basis of: performance of the service you request (Art. 6(1)(b)), our legitimate interest in providing and securing the App (Art. 6(1)(f)), and — where applicable — your consent (Art. 6(1)(a)), for example your permission to access location.

10. Your rights

Subject to applicable law, you may request access to, correction of, or deletion of your personal data, and you may object to or restrict certain processing. Because most data lives only on your device, deleting the App removes it. For anything held on our side, contact support@plus-frames.com. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.

11. Data retention

On-device data remains until you delete it or uninstall the App. Our proxy retains aggregate monthly usage counters, which reset over time, and technical request logs that are deleted automatically after at most 14 days. Feedback messages and anonymous usage events (Section 6) are kept as long as needed for support and product analysis, then deleted. Subscription records (Section 7) are kept while the subscription is active and for a short grace period afterwards. Third-party providers retain data according to their own policies.

12. Changes

We may update this policy. Material changes will be reflected by the "Last updated" date above.

13. Contact

Levin Meraner, Switzerland — support@plus-frames.com

Terms of Use

Last updated: 23 August 2026

+Frames ("the App") is provided by Levin Meraner, Switzerland. By downloading or using the App, you agree to these Terms of Use.

1. License agreement (Apple Standard EULA)

Your use of +Frames is governed by Apple's Licensed Application End User License Agreement (the "Standard EULA"), available at apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula.

2. The service

+Frames helps plan astrophotography sessions. Some features rely on third-party services (an AI assistant, image plate-solving, and reference data). These features require an internet connection and may be unavailable at times. Information generated by the AI assistant and equipment lookups may be inaccurate or incomplete and should not be relied upon as the sole source for decisions.

3. Subscriptions and payments

+Frames Premium is an auto-renewing subscription that unlocks the App. It is offered as a monthly plan (USD 3.99) or a yearly plan (USD 29.99), each starting with a 7-day free trial; prices in your region and currency are set according to Apple's regional pricing and shown before you confirm. Purchases are processed by Apple through the App Store and charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. The subscription renews automatically at the end of each period unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the period ends. You can view, manage, or cancel it at any time in your Apple Account settings. Billing, renewals, and refunds are handled by Apple in accordance with Apple's terms and any mandatory consumer rights in your country of residence.

4. Acceptable use

You agree not to misuse the App or its connected services, including attempting to circumvent usage limits, reverse-engineer the service, or use it for unlawful purposes.

5. Solar safety

Never look at the Sun — directly, through a camera viewfinder, telescope, binoculars, or any other optics — without a certified solar filter properly mounted in front of the optics. Permanent eye damage can occur in seconds. Information shown in the App (including positions of the Sun and twilight times) is provided for planning purposes only and is no substitute for safe observing practices and certified solar equipment.

6. Disclaimer

The App is provided "as is" without warranties of any kind, to the extent permitted by law. We do not warrant that the App will be uninterrupted, error-free, or accurate.

7. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, we shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages, or for loss of data or profits, arising out of or related to your use of the App — including reliance on AI-generated information, planning data, or celestial calculations. Nothing in these Terms excludes liability that cannot be excluded under applicable law.

8. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. Material changes will be reflected by the "Last updated" date above. Continued use of the App after changes take effect constitutes acceptance.

9. Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of Switzerland, without regard to conflict-of-law principles, and subject to any mandatory consumer protections of your country of residence.

10. Privacy

Our handling of your data is described in our Privacy Policy.

11. Contact

Levin Meraner, Switzerland — support@plus-frames.com

Image credits

613 deep-sky objects, shown in 301 photographs.

The atlas draws real photographs behind the objects. Most of them are the work of amateur and professional astrophotographers who released them under a free licence; the rest are our own. Every photograph is listed below with its author and its licence — the licence links to the source.

All photographs appear in the atlas in edited form (stars removed, rescaled, background adjusted). Our edited versions of ShareAlike-licensed photographs are available under the same licence as their original — see each entry below.

Licences: CC BY 4.0 (140) · CC BY-SA 4.0 (59) · CC0 (43) · CC BY 2.0 (20) · Public domain (12) · CC BY-SA 3.0 (9) · Own work (7) · CC BY 3.0 (6) · CC BY-SA 3.0 us (3) · CC BY-SA 2.0 (2)

NGC 925 — image processing: Travis Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage), Mahdi Zamani & Davide de Martin.