Aurora Watch (UK)
Get AuroraWatch UK status alerts to warn of possible sightings
Get AuroraWatch UK status alerts to warn of possible sightings
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Description
The aurora borealis (or northern lights) is a spectacular natural phenomenon which can occasionally be seen in the night sky over Britain. Once seen, it is never forgotten. Aurora Watch UK allows you to monitor geomagnetic activity and will let you know when aurora MAY be visible from the UK.
Get alerts about increases in geomagnetic activity - triggered when the AuroraWatch status level changes; this indicates the relative likelihood of viewing an aurora in the UK.
See the current alert status - see Notes.
Read last 24 hours recent history.
30 minute forecast model from SWPC.
Please email aurora@smallbouldering.com with any issues.
PLEASE NOTE:
Aurora Watch is NOT a forecasting app.
Phone settings such as Battery Saver which limit the phone getting push notifications will narrow or even close the aurora alert window.
If you are not receiving alerts check your phone's Settings/Notifications/App settings to see that Notifications for Aurora Watch UK are not turned off.
The app does not alert historically. If your phone is off or unable to connect to the internet when the status goes up but the level goes back down before the next data update you will receive no alert.
There is a necessary delay before alerts are sent since the data needs to 'settle down' as recommended by Lancaster University.
The alerts provided by Lancaster University tend to default to their Lancaster magnetometer for alerting though they do have others; most importantly one in Shetland. Naturally there is a greater chance of seeing an Aurora in Shetland but since that data is not (usually) used alerts are a little more 'pessimistic'. This is appropriate for those of us living in England but less so for those further north.
The Aurora Watch UK (Android) app is developed and maintained by Smallbouldering Projects, it is not an 'Official' app.
Alerts data is provided by Lancaster University, UK using data from the SAMNET and/or AuroraWatchNet magnetometer networks: Read more about this here:
http://aurorawatch.lancs.ac.uk/introduction
Screenshots
Version History
Releasing updates every 27 days on average. Last update 53 days ago.
Internal changes suggested by Google. If you find any issues with the screen layout please email developers@smallbouldering.com
Corrected dupes in About.
Increase 'increase' amount on Alert Notification "Triggered by value" so that it doesn't trigger quite so often.
Added some abbreviations to About.
Added Bristol and Portsmouth to locations.
Added new optional Alert Notification \"Triggered by value\" so that e.g. when there has been a red alert and the status value (nT) goes even higher you can receive another notification.
Added some abbreviations to About.
Added Bristol and Portsmouth to locations.
Added new optional Alert Notification \"Triggered by value\" so that e.g. when there has been a red alert and the status value (nT) goes even higher you can receive another notification.
Added some abbreviations to About.
Added Bristol and Portsmouth to locations.
Added new optional Alert Notification \"Triggered by value\" so that e.g. when there has been a red alert and the status value (nT) goes even higher you can receive another notification.
Added at least one location in each UK country.
Added at least one location in each UK country.
Add text saying that meaning is from the University of Lancaster
Minor internal changes suggested by Google
Add an option to turn off alert notifications during the daytime.
Add Setting to turn off vibrate on alert notifications.
Use University of Lancaster preferred Project/Site naming convention for magnetometer location.
Slight amendments to app name to satisfy the Google naming police robot.
Remove Magnetometer location since so many users misunderstand it to be their location.
Make it clearer that you can change the alert threshold in Settings.
Fix issue with status updates
Indicate that Status descriptions are from the University of Lancaster and not the AuroraWatch UK app
Fix interim error populating statuses - no data shown.
Show last alert (for a limited period) to avoid confusion with alert hour.
Do not show End User Licence Agreement for every update. Instead show update changes in the About view.
Amend alert text to say the time the alert arrived not the hour the alert was in.
Handle invalid values from the Lancaster University AuroraWatch UK API.
Fix accidental TEST in alert text
Bug fixes.
Bug fixes.
If Notifications permission is off when an alert comes in put a message (Toast) on the screen in hope that the user sees it.
Warn new users with Android 13 phones that Notification permissions need to be set in order to get alerts.
Fix ANR in graph setup
Internal changes mandated by Google
Added a warning in Settings if notifications are disabled for AuroraWatch UK on your phone.
Add test alert option
Add vibrate to alert notifications.
Fix bug where scroll up refreshed the list rather than scrolling up.
Add Magnotometer location label
Fix issue on some phones when refreshing.
Swipe to refresh
Minor internal changes.
Plus add note about Battery Saver inhibiting notifications.
Change Feedback to only allow email clients
Fix issue with some phones in daytime checking.
Add option to turn off daytime notifications.
This assumes that your location is the UK (which is where this app is targeted).
Add option to turn off daytime notifications.
This assumes that your location is the UK (which is where this app is targeted).
Use Google Firebase to push activity changes to the app - making it more likely that AuroraWatch can alert when your phone is idle (Doze mode).
Refresh view on re-opening the app now that Google doesn't allow it to happen in the background.
Use Google Firebase to push activity changes to the app - making it more likely that AuroraWatch can alert when your phone is idle (Doze mode).
Refresh view on re-opening the app now that Google doesn't allow it to happen in the background.
Use Google Firebase to push activity changes to the app - making it more likely that AuroraWatch can alert when your phone is idle (Doze mode).
Fix Google bug with HttpGet.
Fix notifications on Android Oreo.
Target SDK 26 as mandated by Google.
Added EULA
Version 1.0:
You now tap on the graph rather then the list to get large graph.
Previously:
Fix crashes caused by Google changes to Google Play Services.
Added a progress bar for SWPC forecasts.
Added graph to main page (portrait only).
Added a link to the SWPC 3 Day forecast - alpha/test product.
Version 0.9
Attempt to fix crashes caused by background download where connections are poor.
Previous version:
Added a progress bar for SWPC forecasts.
Added graph to main page (portrait only).
Added a link to the SWPC 3 Day forecast - alpha/test product.
Version 0.7:
Added a progress bar for SWPC forecasts.
Added graph to main page (portrait only).
Added a link to the SWPC 3 Day forecast - alpha/test product.
Version 06:
Updated the link to SWPC 30 minute forecast
Version 0.5
Added option to set your own notification sound.
Version 0.4
Use Material Design
0.2: Changed logo as Google do not allow re-use of the AuroraWatch UK logo.
Use new 0.2 AuroraWatch API (no change to functionality of app).
Removed Report sightings as it is no longer supported by AuroraWatch UK.
0.3:
Minor changes to the way notifications work.
Changed logo as Google do not allow re-use of the AuroraWatch UK logo.
Use new 0.2 AuroraWatch API (no change to functionality of app).
Removed Report sightings as it is no longer supported by AuroraWatch UK.
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