Help center · Clockwork Sky · Last updated: October 5, 2026
Welcome to the Clockwork Sky support center. Here you'll find how-to guides, answers to the most common questions, and a direct way to reach the developer.
Email: [email protected]
Instagram: @chrisifm
We reply within 48 business hours, Monday through Friday (Mexico City time). You can write in English, Spanish or Portuguese.
The Sun sits at the center and every planet from Mercury to Neptune rides on its own brass arm, with the Moon circling the Earth. Each arm points where its planet really is today, computed on your iPhone. A pin on the Earth marks your city. Tap any planet to open its planet card.
In the free version the crank travels up to one year before or after today. Complete Observatory lets it travel across centuries.
Open Tonight to see which planets you can spot from your city tonight and when to look. Tonight uses your approximate location if you allowed it on the welcome screens; otherwise it uses the city you pick.
Open Settings and choose your city from the list built into the App. You don't need to share your location to use Tonight — picking a city is enough.
Alerts are scheduled on your iPhone; no account or internet connection is needed. If an alert doesn't appear, check iOS Settings → Apps → Clockwork Sky → Notifications and any active Focus mode.
Saved birth skies stay on your iPhone. In the free version the card carries a small "Clockwork Sky" watermark; Complete Observatory removes it.
The orrery normally compresses the distances so every planet fits on your desk. Turn on real scale to see the true proportions — and how far away the outer planets really are. Turn it off to return to the compressed view.
Brass is included. With Complete Observatory you can also finish your orrery in silver and nacre, verdigris bronze or 8-bit pixel.
Open About and use the Language selector to choose English, Español or Português (Brasil). The change applies across the whole App.
The App is a free download with the live orrery, planet cards, Tonight, the next upcoming sky events, real scale, birth-sky cards and the brass finish. Complete Observatory adds centuries of time travel, the full year of sky events with alerts, three premium materials and watermark-free birth-sky cards. It is an optional, one-time In-App Purchase of $3.99 USD (prices vary by country). No subscriptions, no ads.
The App asks Apple for your purchase and unlocks it again at no cost. If someone in your family group must approve purchases (Ask to Buy), it unlocks as soon as the purchase is approved.
Refunds are decided and processed by Apple, not by the developer. If a refund is granted, the orrery returns to brass, the crank returns to one year either way and new birth-sky cards carry the watermark; your saved birth skies and preferences are kept.
Your payment method belongs to your Apple ID. Update it in Settings → [your name] → Payment & Shipping or at account.apple.com. Apple's guide: support.apple.com/en-us/118429.
Complete Observatory supports Family Sharing. Members of your family group can restore it on their own iPhone without paying again. Set it up in Settings → [your name] → Family Sharing; Apple's guide: support.apple.com/en-us/108380.
No. Complete Observatory is a one-time purchase, not a subscription. Nothing renews and you will never be charged again for it.
No. Clockwork Sky works completely without registration. No email, no password, no sign-in. Open the App and the sky is there.
No. It is astronomy: it shows where the planets and the Moon really are, and makes no predictions about people or events. Your birth sky shows only where the planets stood on the date you choose.
Your personal content, no. Your preferences, your city and your saved birth skies are stored only on your iPhone, and the App does not use iCloud. To help us improve the App, it sends anonymous usage and diagnostics data to our own first-party analytics service. That data is never linked to your identity — there is no account and no user profile. Purchases are processed by Apple; we never see your payment details. See our Privacy Policy.
Only to place your city on the Earth and compute what is visible tonight. It asks for approximate location, only while you use the App, and uses it only on your iPhone. It is never stored on a server and never sent to us. If you decline, pick your city from the built-in list and everything works the same.
Which screens are opened and the actions taken in the App, App and iOS versions, device model, approximate country and city derived from the connection, and crash and performance reports. It runs on our own server, it is never sold or shared, it is never used for advertising, and it is kept for up to 13 months. It never includes your name, email, location coordinates, the dates of your birth skies or payment details. To ask for deletion, email [email protected].
Yes. The orrery, the time crank, Tonight, sky events, alerts and birth skies are all computed on your iPhone without an internet connection. Buying or restoring Complete Observatory needs a connection to reach the App Store.
Positions are calculated from published astronomical tables and methods and are close to the real sky — most precise for dates between 1800 and 2050, and increasingly approximate further away. The compressed view is a model of the solar system, not a map; turn on real scale to see true distances. It is not meant for navigation or for pointing instruments that need precise coordinates.
Clockwork Sky tells you when an eclipse happens, but it does not protect your eyes. Never look at the Sun directly or through binoculars, a camera or a telescope without proper certified solar filters, including during a partial eclipse.
Any iPhone running iOS 26 or later. The App is iPhone-only; iPad is not supported at this time.
Email [email protected] and include:
Of course. Email [email protected] and tell us what would make your observatory better. Every idea is read, and the most requested ones shape the next updates.
Uninstall the App. Everything it stored on your device — preferences, your city, your saved birth skies, scheduled alerts and the random installation identifier — is permanently removed. If you want to keep a birth sky, share its card before uninstalling. There is no account to close. Your Complete Observatory purchase stays on your Apple ID and can be restored later. Anonymous analytics data is deleted automatically after 13 months, or sooner if you ask us by email.
Clockwork Sky includes open data and artwork from these authors, also credited inside the App:
Estimated response time: 48 business hours (Monday through Friday, Mexico City time).