SkyCandy - Sunset Forecast App

Review by eFreeware

SkyCandy is a weather app from Dunbar Technology, LLC that turns the local forecast into something more specific: a score for how colorful the next sunrise or sunset is likely to be. Instead of checking cloud cover and guessing, you get a single number that summarizes whether the sky is worth stepping outside for. The app has been on Google Play since May 2017 and sits at a 3.2 average from 559 ratings, with more than 10,000 installs.

The pitch is narrow and clear. This is a planning tool for people who care about light: photographers scouting a shot, or anyone who would rather catch a vivid sky than stand around waiting for a dull one. The download is free, there are no ads, and some features sit behind an optional subscription. If that sounds like your kind of weather app, the rest of this review breaks down what it actually offers.

How the sky score works

At the center of SkyCandy is a hyperlocal forecast that weighs weather conditions known to favor colorful skies and converts them into a percentage. A vivid sunrise or sunset is more likely when the score is high. The developer is careful to frame this as a probability rather than a promise, and the same applies in reverse: a low score means the sky is unlikely to deliver, not that it definitely won't.

That distinction matters for how you use it. A forecast like this is a guide for deciding whether an early alarm or a drive to a viewpoint is worth it, not a guarantee you can build a paid shoot around. I'd treat the score as a nudge toward the better evenings and mornings in the week ahead, and accept that weather has the final say.

Everything else in the app is built around that core reading, which is why the app feels more like a focused instrument than a general weather dashboard.

Sun direction and daylight timing tools

The Sun Direction Tool is the feature photographers will likely care about most after the score itself. Pick any spot on the map to see where the sun will sit at a chosen time and date. For scouting a shoot, that answers a question that otherwise takes a compass, a sun-path chart and some patience: where the light will come from when you finally set up your camera.

Alongside that, SkyCandy lists the exact times for sunrise and sunset plus the surrounding phases, including Golden Hour and Blue Hour. Those are the windows photographers actually plan around, and having them in the same place as the quality score saves bouncing between apps.

Countdown timers round out the timing side. They show how long remains until the next sunrise or sunset, which is handy when you are already out and want to know how much light is left to work with.

Alerts, saved locations and the widget

SkyCandy can watch the forecast for you rather than the other way around. Automatic alerts and notifications can be configured to fire when a sunrise or sunset at your location is expected to be high quality, so a good evening does not pass unnoticed while you are busy with something else.

The app can also hold multiple saved locations, along with multiple dates and events, so you can compare the outlook for a home spot against somewhere you are traveling to. Both the alerts and the multi-location setup are tied to the premium subscription.

A today widget is part of the same paid tier. It shows your quality score, the sunset time and a live countdown to sunset, which is a sensible format for a glanceable home-screen tile. The developer notes that annual subscribers save more than $5 compared with paying monthly, and that subscriptions fund continued development.

Learning material and the community gallery

Beyond the forecast, SkyCandy bundles more than 50 tips, tricks and facts aimed at improving your sunset photography. They surface automatically inside the app, and you can switch them off in settings if you would rather not see them. For someone new to shooting golden hour, that is a reasonable amount of material to work through without leaving the app.

There is also a community gallery showing sunset photos posted by other users. It works as inspiration and as a rough sense of what other people are chasing.

If something is confusing, the app includes an FAQ and knowledge base, plus an in-app way to contact support. The developer also invites feature requests through that channel, which suggests the tool is being shaped with user input rather than fixed in place.

What the subscription covers and what to expect

SkyCandy is free to download and shows no ads, but several of its more advanced tools require a premium subscription priced at $2.99 per month or $29.99 per year. The paid tier covers multiple saved locations, the today widget, and configurable alerts for high-quality skies. The core forecast and daylight times are the parts you can use without paying.

The obvious trade-off is that the features which make the app convenient over time, rather than merely informative in the moment, sit behind the subscription. If you want the app to watch the forecast for you across several places, you will be paying.

The other thing to weigh is the nature of the product itself. A quality score is inherently probabilistic, and the developer is upfront that a high percentage is a strong possibility rather than a certainty. Anyone expecting a definitive answer about whether the sky will perform will be disappointed by any tool built this way.

The current 3.2 rating from 559 ratings is worth noting as context, though individual experiences with a forecast app tend to hinge on how well the predictions match the skies in a given region.

Who SkyCandy is built for

The app's stated audience is photographers and anyone who wants to avoid dull sunsets. That framing holds up: the sun direction tool, the golden and blue hour times, and the multi-location comparison all serve people who plan shoots or outings around light rather than people who want a general-purpose weather report.

It also suits casual sky-watchers who simply want a heads-up before deciding whether to head to a viewpoint. The countdown timers and alerts fit that use well, particularly for anyone who would otherwise forget to look up at the right moment.

If your interest in weather is mainly about rain, temperature or travel planning, this app's focus on sky color will not cover much of what you need. It is a specialist tool, and it is honest about being one.

A focused tool for chasing colorful skies

The sun direction tool and the daylight phase times are the strongest parts for photographers, while the alerts, widget and saved locations add convenience for those who subscribe.

The subscription is the main cost to weigh, and the probabilistic nature of the score is the main expectation to manage. Neither undermines what the app is for. If you plan outings around golden hour and want a single score to help you choose your evenings, this is a sensible app to try, starting with the free features and upgrading only if the alerts and multi-location support become useful to you.

What's new in version 2.8.0

Improved the Score, Countdown Alerts UI improvements for Phone and Tablets Various bug fixes and performance improvements