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Introducing a new VelaClock app
This version of VelaClock introduces a new user interface with significantly more features as compared to the original VelaClock. Tapping on a city row in the list view, transitions to one of the new four full screen detail views (Sun/Moon, Moon, Next Phases and General Info). This approach delivers much more information in a standard and easily configurable interface. Screenshots and descriptions of the new detail views are below.
VelaClock's feature set is ideal for photographers and outdoor enthusiasts. Users can quickly display the times for sunrise, sunset and three kinds of twilight (civil, nautical, astronomical), moon phase and tilt, and much more. VelaClock is invaluable to users who travel or communicate with friends and colleagues around the world. VelaClock is an excellent tool for finding a good meeting time for cities in multiple time zones.
The new full screen detail views allow additional information to be displayed, including:
- Current position (altitude and azimuth) of the sun and moon.
- Solstice and equinox dates.
- Daylight Saving Time transition dates.
- A large daylight bar depicting 24 hours of light (day, night, twilight) with a thin white bar that indicates when the moon is visible.
- An enhanced photographic image of moon accurately depicting the moon’s phase and tilt.
More features and functionality:
- Improved change date/time controls enable faster and easier changing of the date and time.
- More easily coordinate meetings between cities with different time zones by a new email feature; quickly send an email which will announce the specific local time/date for the meeting in all locations.
- A choice of two color themes for the daylight bar, Natural or Blue.
See VelaClock Reviews and App Store Reviews.
VelaClock requires iOS 4.0 or newer, and works with iPhone and iPod touch.
VelaClock Classic
The original VelaClock is still available and is now named VelaClock Classic (VelaClock1 in the App Store). This version of VelaClock first appeared in the App Store on July 11, 2008, the day that the App Store opened. On that day, only 500 apps were in the App Store and we were honored to be there! VelaClock Classic has a single screen design, which provides a lot of information at glance with minimal interaction with the iphone. Some users prefer VelaClock Classic. To gain an understanding of why we now have two apps, please read our blog post: VelaClock Update.
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Places list
The rows in the city list can show a daylight bar that gives the user a picture of 24 hours of natural light (bright daylight, three kinds of twilight and night). The daylight bar may be centered at noon or current time. A thin white bar indicates when the moon is visible.
Change Time and Date
Quickly change the time and date by incrementing or decrementing different time units (e.g. hours, minutes, days, weeks, etc.). Jump to any arbitrary date/time by tapping on the Date button.
Toolbar Icon Actions
(shown in the screenshot to the left)
- Sun icon: show or hide the daylight bar.
- Daylight Bar Mode icon (triangle icon): toggles daylight bar between centered at current time and centered at noon.
- Compose icon (writing pad with pen): displays email message with current local times for a possible meeting time. Change the date/time to desired meeting time before tapping this button.
- Calendar icon: Shows or hides change date/time controls.
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Send Meeting Time Email
After finding a good meeting time for several cities, an email can be sent to announce the meeting time with the local time and date listed for each city.
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Sun/Moon detail panel - part 1
The upper part of this detail panel shows:
- Current Light: daylight, night or twilight (civil, nautical or astronomical).
- Daylight Duration in hour and minutes, and change in minutes of daylight from previous day (e.g. Δ +1).
- Daylight Bar: a box depicting of 24 hours of natural light (bright daylight, three kinds of twilight, and night). A thin white bar indicates when the moon is visible.
- Begin/end times for three kinds of twilight (civil, nautical, astronomical).
- Time and azimuth of sunrise, sunset, moonrise and moonset. Azimuth (compass direction) is specified in degrees, 0 to 360, clockwise from North.
- A small image of the moon as seen in the sky above the currently selected city. This image accurately depicts the moon’s phase, and the angle at which the moon’s crescent appears to be rotated from the vertical. Because this angle can change rapidly, it is updated once a minute.
There are three kinds of twilight: civil, nautical and astronomical. For twilight definitions, visit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twilight
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Sun/Moon detail panel - part 2
The lower part of this detail panel shows:
- Countdown time (or time passed) to the sunrise, sunset, moonrise and moonset of the current day.
- Current direction of the sun and moon specified by altitude and azimuth. Azimuth (compass direction) is specified in degrees, 0 to 360, clockwise from North.
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Moon detail panel
This detail panel shows:
- A large image of the moon as seen in the sky above the currently selected city. This image accurately depicts the moon’s phase, and the angle at which the moon’s crescent appears to be rotated from the vertical. Because this angle can change rapidly, it is updated once a minute.
- Percentage of illumination.
- Moon age (time since new moon).
- Time until the next phase (new, quarter, full).
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Next Phases detail panel
This detail panel shows the dates, times and images of the next four moon phases.
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General Info detail panel
This detail panel shows:
- Country name. Current time zone name and UTC offset. (UTC is formerly GMT)
- Daylight Saving Time transition dates.
- Solstice and Equinox dates.
- Latitude and Longitude.
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Daylight Bar Color Themes
Two Daylight Bar Color Themes are available, Natural colors or Blue colors. Some users may find the Blue color theme, pictured to the left, to be more soothing and restful than the Natural colors.
The daylight bar color theme can be changed under the Settings tab by tapping on the Gear icon above the City list.
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Places List
Add a new place by tapping on the Places button (located at the top left corner of the screen). Up to 50 cities may be added to the list.
- Remove places (by tapping on the red button to the left of the city name).
- Sort places by time, name or a specify a custom order.
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Add Places
Built-in and custom locations can be added. There are over 500 built-in cities. Custom locations may be defined and added.
Current Location
Turn the "Current Location" switch ON to add it to your list of Places. The position of this location is re-calculated every few minutes. If network access or GPS is not avalable, the last current location will be used. This feature is compatible with iPhone 4/3GS/3G, the original iPhone, and iPod touch.
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Search for Built-in Places
Type a name to find a city.
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Custom Location
Add your own locations by specifying country, time zone, city name and latitude/longitude. The Custom Locations feature is designed for locations that are not included in the built-in list of cities.
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Reviews
VelaClock 1.0 was featured as TUAW's Daily App on March 11, 2011! Reviewer Mike Schramm said, "take a look at the interface on this thing -- it's been thought through so well that just that first page, with the bars and flags, is packed with more information than you'd ever need to know at any one time. Not only do you get the date and time, but you also get day length, countdown to sunrise and sunset and even the timing for dusk and dawn for all of those locations, all relayed in a visually simple and intuitive way. Pretty impressive."
TUAW.com review: http://www.tuaw.com/2011/03/11/tuaws-daily-app-velaclock/
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App Store Reviews
Fun and useful app
★★★★★
by LikesMyTouch (US App Store)
"I have had VelaClock (now called VelaClock 1) since before the name was changed to MagicHour and then back to the original name--in other words, for years by now. It has been a great app for checking on daylight hours, moon phases, moon visibility, etc, and it would be a very good app if that were all it does. However, you can easily keep track of a bunch of locations all over the globe, and you can check out those data for any time or date. We regularly check months in advance to see what the daylight hours will be during our annual August trip to Vancouver, and enjoy the contrast with our paltry hours of daylight where we are. Or we check to see how soon the sun will begin to return to early morning and late afternoon in January. The shades of twilight are also very useful for planning evening activities. It's been a real favorite for me. Apparently the complainers--who tend to be the most vociferous "reviewers"--griped when that app changed to this interface, despite some extra goodies, so the developer reverted to the original interface in that app and produced this one with the new interface. I like the app well enough to spend a buck in the expectation that this will retain the benefits introduced with that earlier update, such as nicer graphics and dates of daylight savings times and a few other features. It's well worth a buck to me to get this version, even though I, in effect, already had it, so i can enjoy the (anticipated) updates."
Outstanding app and update
★★★★★
by loubmac (US App Store)
"Like a previous reviewer, I have had this app's predecessor (which is now called VelaClock1) since it was originally introduced and through all of it's various name changes. It is my favorite app though, admittedly, I don't use it every day. This version is a major interface change (I would say upgrade), which allows for an increased amount of information to be presented through the use of multiple screen pages for each city. The type is also larger and easier to read. I find the interface very intuitive and easy to navigate. Those who desire everything on a single screen and don't mind less data and smaller type will want to use VelaClock1. As for me, I am grateful for the time, effort, and thought that the developer devoted to this version -- VelaClock Sun/Moon. As you can see from the screen shots above, the large photo images of the moon in its various phases are to die for. An example of the casual user's use for this app is that I was curious whether I would be graced with a full moon six months from now when I will be attending an evening Polynesian Luau dinner show at Disney World. (Answer: The moon won't rise till the show is over and will be a waning crescent.) I did find that when cities are sorted by time then the cities that share a given time zone are listed in alphabetical order. I find this disorienting and feel that they should be listed by longitude, as this more closely approximates their relative time (harking back to pre standardized time zone days). This is not nearly enough of an issue to knock off a star from the ratings. I simply use the "custom" sort to list the cities in the order I like them. I highly recommend this app! Many thanks to Vela Design Group."
Excellent
★★★★★
by Nevis79 (US App Store)
"Does it's job, works great. Nice clean look."
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Vela Design Group's first world clock with a compact and highly user configurable interface was the VelaClock dashboard widget, released on April 29, 2005 when Mac OS X 10.4 was introduced. After more than five years on the market, the VelaClock widget continues to appear frequently in Apple's Top 50 widgets list and has users in over 80 countries.
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VelaClock works with iPhone and iPod touch. Requires iOS 4.0 or newer.
VelaClock does not require a network connection.
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