Where’s the Sun? Which way is home? Meet Acolo

Problem

Some questions are too small for a map. Where is the Sun right now? Where’s the Moon tonight? Which way is home from this hotel room?

You can work them out. You open a map or a sky chart, find yourself, find the thing, and turn the screen round until the two line up. By then you’ve usually lost interest, or the bus has gone.

What’s the small “which way?” question you keep asking?

The Feature

Meet Acolo – my new app for iPhone and Apple Watch. The name means “There” in Romanian. You pick one thing, and a translucent 3D arrow points straight at it as in GTA.

That thing can be the Sun, the Moon, the planets and Pluto, bright stars, the center of our galaxy, 40 constellations, Earth’s Center, or a place you choose on the map. The arrow works in full 3D, so it keeps pointing when the target is behind you or below the horizon.

How To Use It

Where is the Sun right now? Pick the Sun and follow the arrow. It works at midnight too, pointing down through the floor and telling you how many degrees below the horizon the Sun is.

Where’s the Moon tonight? Pick the Moon. The degrees above the horizon tell you straight away whether it’s up yet, or whether you’re about to stare at a rooftop for nothing.

Which way is home? Search for a place or drop a pin on the map, like home or the city where family lives, and pin it to the top. The arrow takes the direct line through the Earth, with the distance alongside.

Wait, why is it pointing at the floor? That’s the curvature of the Earth. A city a few hundred kilometres away already sits below your horizon, so the arrow dips. The further away it is, the steeper the dip, until the far side of the world is straight down.

Where’s that planet everyone is talking about? Pick Jupiter or Mars. “Turn right” and “Tilt up” hints get you close, and haptics tell you when you’re on target, so your eyes can stay on the sky.

Finding a constellation? Pick one of the 40, drawn with their real star patterns, and follow the arrow.

Rather not look at the screen? Acolo works by touch and sound too. Light haptic pulses start once you’re roughly facing the target, speed up as you get closer, and keep going while you’re lined up: a continuous purr on iPhone, fast taps on the Watch. With VoiceOver on, it names the target once, gives short cues like “Tilt your phone up and to the right,” and says “There” when you’re lined up. It only speaks when the direction actually changes, and the compass reads in plain words, like “Compass, facing northwest.” VoiceOver was my focus, so Dynamic Type, contrast, Switch Control, and motion settings haven’t had a dedicated pass.

Phone in your pocket? On Apple Watch, the top edge of the Watch is the pointer. Your selection, saved places, and pins sync between iPhone and Watch through iCloud.

Just curious? Change where you’re standing. Stand virtually on Mars and ask where Jupiter is, or stand at Sirius and point back at the Sun.

It teaches you as you go

Acolo started as a pointer, but it turns out to be a good teacher. Every list shows a live arrow for each target, when it’s visible from where you are, and which ones you’ve already found. Check the Sun in the morning and again at dinner, and you’ve watched its path across the sky. Follow the Moon for a week and you’ll see it rise later each night.

The numbers help too: how far away each thing is, and how long the trip would take, from walking to the speed of light. The Sun is about 3,400 years away on foot. Pack a sandwich.

Limits

Acolo isn’t a planetarium. If you want to know “what’s that bright thing over there?”, Sky Guide or Stellarium Mobile is the better tool. Acolo works the other way round: you already know what you want, and it shows you where.

It also isn’t a navigation app. It points; it doesn’t plan a route.

The pointing works offline. Apple Maps supplies the map and place search. There’s no account, and your location stays on your device.

The Sun, the Moon, and Earth’s Center are free. Leave any tip in the Tip Jar and every planet, star, constellation, and place unlocks for good, with no subscription. Acolo needs iOS 26 or watchOS 26 or later.

Closing

And this is only the start: more updates are on the way.

Not every question needs a map. Some just need a direction.

More about it: https://aigarden.uk/acolo

Reddit: r/AcoloApp

Tell me what you think, and which small question you’d ask it first.

Best wishes 🌻
from AI Garden