FAQ
What does PhotoSignal do?
PhotoSignal helps landscape, seascape, and outdoor photographers monitor forecast windows at saved locations. It looks for photography-relevant conditions such as cloud layers, fog potential, wind, tides, marine conditions, moon timing, storms, and other alert rules you choose.
Is this a normal weather app?
No. It is not trying to replace a full weather app. The focus is narrower: helping photographers decide when a location may be worth watching, preparing for, or visiting.
Does it guarantee good conditions?
No. Forecasts are imperfect, and photography conditions can change quickly. The app is designed as decision support, not a guarantee of good light, fog, cloud, tide, safety, access, or a successful shoot.
Why might an alert miss real-world conditions?
Forecast models can miss local or short-lived conditions, especially high cloud, fog, coastal changes, storms, and small clearing windows. Sometimes the real sky simply does something the model did not predict.
What kinds of alerts can I create?
Alerts can be based on conditions such as cloud cover, cloud layers, fog, wind, weather codes, rain, storms, tides, marine data, moon timing, and timing windows around sunrise or sunset.
How do I create a colourful sunrise or sunset alert?
Start with the "Colour Potential at Sunrise/Sunset" template, or create an alert using "High cloud", limited "Low cloud", "Total cloud" below a heavy-overcast level, and timing windows around sunrise or sunset. The colourful sunrise and sunset alert guide explains the setup and when to consider the "Sun-facing Horizon Open" Smart Check.
How do I use Sun-facing Horizon Open?
Use the "Sun-facing Horizon Open" Smart Check with a timing window anchored to sunrise or sunset. It watches whether the horizon toward the sun may be open, so it is usually best as a separate context alert alongside cloud-layer alerts. The Sun-facing Horizon Open guide explains the setup and why it is not a moonrise or moonset check.
How do I create an alert for full moonrise or moonset?
Use a moon illumination condition together with the "Moonrise/moonset near this time" Smart Check. The full moonrise and moonset alert guide walks through the setup, including timing windows around sunrise or sunset.
How do I create a fog alert?
Open a saved location, create a new alert, add the "Fog possible" Smart Check, and set a timing window around sunrise or early morning. The fog alert setup guide walks through the basic version and the optional Wind speed, Visibility, Humidity, or Weather type limits you might add later.
Can I use it for seascape photography?
Yes. Coastal and seascape planning is one of the intended use cases. Depending on location and available data, the app can help consider wind, marine conditions, tide timing, and weather windows alongside sky conditions.
Can I use it for forests, waterfalls, or fog?
Yes, within the limits of forecast data. Fog and low-cloud alerts can be useful for forest, mountain, valley, and waterfall planning, but these conditions are often very local and should be treated as possibilities rather than promises.
How are locations used?
You save locations you care about, then create or apply alert rules for those locations. The app monitors the forecast for those saved places and surfaces upcoming windows when conditions match.
Will I get email alerts?
If email notifications are enabled, the app can send grouped alert summaries instead of making you repeatedly check every location manually. Email delivery is still a convenience and should not be treated as a safety warning system.
Can PhotoSignal notify me when conditions are coming up?
Yes. PhotoSignal is not only a real-time checking tool. When a saved alert matches, it can notify you ahead of time, usually around 24 hours before the window and again around 3 hours before the window if the match still looks useful. It can also send a cancellation if a previously promising window no longer matches. See Understanding PhotoSignal Alert Notifications for more detail.
Do I need an account?
Yes. The app needs an account so it can store your saved locations, alert rules, notification preferences, and alert history.
Is this useful if I already check weather manually?
That is the main target use case. The app is meant to reduce repetitive checking across locations and conditions, not replace your judgement. You still decide whether the forecast window is worth acting on.
What is Rain Clearing?
Rain Clearing looks for situations where rain is forecast to ease or stop within a selected time window. Many photographers find that some of the best conditions can occur shortly after rain passes, particularly around sunrise or sunset.
Rain Clearing does not predict good light directly. It identifies forecast periods where conditions may improve following rain.
What is Fog possible?
Fog possible looks for forecast patterns that are commonly associated with fog formation. These may include combinations of temperature, humidity, wind, and other atmospheric conditions.
Fog is highly local and can be difficult to forecast accurately. A positive result should be treated as an increased possibility of fog rather than a guarantee that fog will form.
What is Frost Likely?
Frost Likely looks for forecast conditions that may support frost formation, particularly during colder overnight and early morning periods.
Local terrain, elevation, vegetation, and microclimates can strongly influence frost development. A positive result indicates that frost may be possible, not that frost is certain.
What is Sky Context?
Sky Context is a premium feature that analyses forecast conditions around a location rather than looking only at the location itself.
It examines cloud patterns and conditions in multiple directions to provide additional context for sunrise, sunset, and general sky conditions. The goal is to help photographers understand whether conditions may be blocked, clear, mixed, or potentially interesting from a photography perspective.
Sky Context is designed to support planning and interpretation. It does not guarantee colour, dramatic light, cloud formations, or a successful photography outcome.
Can I cancel my subscription?
Yes. Paid subscriptions can be cancelled through the billing section of your account. Cancellation prevents future renewals and your paid features remain available until the end of the current billing period.