Cycling through all six. Tap any point to stop.
Measured on six things
Aurora forecast for iPhone and the web: tonight's chance for your spot, live Kp, 3-day NOAA outlook and northern lights alerts.
Security
52HTTPS enforced with frame protection, X-Content-Type-Options, Referrer-Policy and SPF, but no HSTS, no CSP, no Permissions-Policy and no DMARC — 6/12 on the header checklist. No published audits or security page found; no account requirement limits exposure.
Screenshots
1 / 1
About this app
You do not always have to be in the Arctic to see the aurora. During strong geomagnetic storms the auroral oval expands far toward the equator, which is how the lights become visible from Scotland, the northern United States and northern Germany. Lumavik tells you when that is happening where you live. It follows the NOAA space-weather feeds, shows the current Kp index and a 3-day forecast, and draws the auroral oval with a line marking how far from the pole the lights may be seen at the current activity level. What matters is your geomagnetic latitude, not the latitude on a map, and the two can differ by several degrees depending on your longitude. Lumavik uses the corrected value when it scores your chance for tonight, and a free calculator on lumavik.org explains the difference for any place. Arm an alert and you get a push when a storm brings the aurora within reach, instead of checking the forecast every hour. The forecast and one alert location are free on iPhone.
Key features
- 1Corrected geomagnetic latitude scoring instead of raw planetary Kp, with a named limiting factor on every forecast.
- 2Push alerts gated on darkness and distance to the oval, plus a 3-day Kp forecast and live NOAA OVATION oval.
- 3Free forecast and one alert location on iPhone, no account required; client-side place search across 14,000 locations.
Target customer profile
Drawn from the product itself, not from a survey.
Demographic
Aurora enthusiasts and night sky photographers
Pain points
Unreliable forecasts and false alerts that waste time and fuel on disappointing trips
Primary needs
Accurate, location-specific aurora predictions with reliable push notifications
Demographic
Travelers planning trips to high-latitude destinations (Iceland, Norway, Canada, etc.)
Pain points
Difficulty knowing when and where to go for the best chance of seeing the aurora
Primary needs
Multi-location support, seasonal dark-hours calendar, and trip planning tools
Demographic
Casual skywatchers and families in northern regions
Pain points
Not understanding why an app shows a high Kp but no aurora is visible overhead
Primary needs
Simple, honest 'yes/no' answer with clear explanations for the limiting factor
Scout Review
Written by AI from measured evidence, scored out of 100.
Lumavik is a focused aurora app built on a genuinely sharp insight: the Kp index is a planetary average, and the number that matters is your corrected geomagnetic latitude. The app UI reflects that discipline — one screen, one verdict, a named limiting factor, and a data-freshness label that most competitors skip. The execution has rough edges: a clipped 3-day chart, a low-contrast hero numeral, single-language localization, and a security posture that's HTTPS-and-not-much-else. None of it is fatal for a v1.0.2 indie weather app; all of it is fixable. The free forecast with no account and one alert location is the right on-ramp for a product whose whole promise is 'we'll tell you no.'
Measure by measure
Usability
66The core loop is tight: location picker up top, one screen answering 'tonight?', limiting factor named, free forecast with one alert location and no account. The cramped, clipped 3-day chart is the weak spot in an otherwise focused flow.
Design
70Judging the app UI from store screenshots: a disciplined dark palette with teal reserved for data, a one-glance hero verdict, and an instrument-like monospace readout. The clipped 3-day chart and low-contrast grey hero numeral hold it back.
Speed
58No Lighthouse performance measurement completed this run, so load speed was not observed. The site describes a globe that loads after the page and a client-side 14,000-place search, but without instrumented data this sits at the category-typical band.
Security
52HTTPS enforced with frame protection, X-Content-Type-Options, Referrer-Policy and SPF, but no HSTS, no CSP, no Permissions-Policy and no DMARC — 6/12 on the header checklist. No published audits or security page found; no account requirement limits exposure.
Accessibility
54No accessibility measurement was available this run, so contrast, keyboard and screen-reader support are unverified. Visible signals: a low-contrast grey hero numeral flagged in the visual audit, and the app localized in only one language.
Growth
68A real, specific problem — planetary Kp vs. your actual geomagnetic latitude — with a named wedge (honest scoring, dark-aware alerts, limiting factors) that the category's copycats structurally can't claim without admitting they were wrong.
Improvement areas
- 3-day forecast card clips its final bar and stacks day/hour labels into an unreadable two-line axis.
- Security headers incomplete (no HSTS, CSP, Permissions-Policy or DMARC) and no published security page.
- Single-language localization and a low-contrast grey hero numeral that undercuts the main answer.
Design & Usability
Judged on the app UI, not the marketing site: Lumavik's home screen is genuinely well-composed. A dark, low-chrome layout puts one hero verdict, the Kp gauge and a data-freshness label in a single glance, and the teal-on-dark instrument aesthetic suits a space-weather tool. The problems are execution details — the 3-day chart clips its final bar and stacks day and hour into a cramped two-line axis, and the hero numeral is muted grey while the less important Kp value gets the bright accent. Usability follows the same pattern: the location picker is right where you'd reach for it, the limiting-factor line answers 'why not' without a second screen, and the free tier with one alert location and no account is a low-friction on-ramp. The outlook card is the one place the flow gets harder than the question it's answering.
Speed & Security
Speed is unmeasured this run — the Lighthouse probe did not complete, so there is no LCP, TBT or CLS to cite, and the site's own claim that the globe 'loads after the page' is a design note, not a benchmark. Security is measurable and middling: HTTPS is enforced with frame protection, X-Content-Type-Options, Referrer-Policy and SPF in place, but HSTS, CSP, Permissions-Policy and DMARC are all absent, landing 6/12 on the header checklist. The architecture helps — no account, no passwords, and place search runs client-side so typed locations never leave the browser. But there's no published security page, no audit, and no disclosure policy, which is normal for a v1.0.2 indie app and still a gap for a product that wants your location and push permissions.
Accessibility & Growth
Accessibility is unverified: no Lighthouse a11y run completed, so contrast ratios, keyboard paths and screen-reader labels are unknown. The visible signals are mixed — the visual audit flags a low-contrast grey hero numeral, and the app ships in a single language, which caps reach in the Nordics and beyond. Growth is the strongest story here. The category is crowded with apps that repackage planetary Kp as a local score, and Lumavik's entire pitch is that this is the mistake. Scoring against corrected geomagnetic latitude, gating alerts on darkness and distance, and naming the limiting factor are concrete, demonstrable differentiators against the alternatives listed. The limit: the data is free and public, so the moat is interpretation and trust, not supply — a competitor can copy the framing, though not without conceding the point. Traction is early (domain registered July 2026, no store ratings yet), which says nothing about whether the idea can travel.
Conclusion
If you chase the lights, the honest-forecast angle is worth the install — a push that doesn't send you into a field at 1am for nothing is worth more than any feature list. If you're building in this space, Lumavik is a good example of competing on interpretation when the data is free to everyone. What it needs next is boring and important: fix the outlook chart, raise the hero contrast, add HSTS and a CSP, and publish a security page before asking for location and notification permissions at scale.
Suggestions for improvement
- Fix the 3-day forecast card: stop clipping the final bar and put day and hour on one readable axis line.
- Raise the hero numeral's contrast — it's the main answer and it currently reads as disabled.
- Add HSTS, CSP and DMARC, and publish a short security/privacy page covering location and push data.
- Localize beyond one language — Norwegian, Icelandic and German are the obvious first three.
Alternatives comparison
Named competitors, point by point. Nobody paid to appear here or to be left out.
 Aurora Forecast - Lumavik |  | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forecast basis | Corrected geomagnetic latitude with named limiting factor | Not specified in provided details | Not specified in provided details | Not specified in provided details |
| Alert quality | Darkness- and distance-aware push alerts | Not specified in provided details | Not specified in provided details | Not specified in provided details |
| Free tier | Free forecast forever, one alert location, no account | Not specified in provided details | Not specified in provided details | Not specified in provided details |
| Platform coverage | iPhone app plus free browser globe | Not specified in provided details | Not specified in provided details | Not specified in provided details |
Comparing options? See Aurora Forecast - Lumavik alternatives, scored side by side
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