How It Works
Three steps
Set where you are, set what you are pointing at, and let the app watch the sky for you.
1 Set your location
Take one GPS reading, type your coordinates, or share a map link into the app. SunQuest looks up the place name and timezone so you can check it looks right.
2 Choose a target
Anywhere on Earth: a city you are travelling to, a landmark on the horizon, or a place that matters to you. The app works out the bearing between the two points.
3 Get notified
SunQuest finds the next moment the sun sits on that bearing and counts down to it, on screen and in the widget, with reminders before it arrives.
The idea behind it
Long before compasses, travellers took their direction from the sun. If you know where the sun is, you know where everything else is — and at one particular moment each day, the sun sits exactly along the line between you and wherever you are heading. Stand facing it then, and you are facing your destination.
Finding that moment by hand means knowing the sun's position for your latitude, longitude and date. SunQuest searches for it: it calculates the sun's azimuth through the day and looks for the closest match to your bearing, refining the answer down to the minute.
What it will not do
Some alignments simply do not happen. If the sun never reaches your target's bearing from where you are standing — which is common for targets to the north in the northern hemisphere — there is no moment to report. Treat the result as a guide rather than an instrument: check it against what you can see.