Launch Guide for iPhone

Your launch day companion.

The best app for watching, or photographing, a Florida rocket launch in person. Where to stand, which way to look, whether clouds will block it, and a countdown in your ear when it matters.

Join the beta on TestFlightApp Store release coming soon · iPhone, iPad & Apple Watch

Made by Steven Madow, the photographer behind rocketlaunchguide.com.

A launch page
The Launch Guide home screen

Launch day, start to finish

From the week before to the booster landing, it knows what you need next.

  1. T−7 days

    Know what's launching, and when it's real

    Every launch from Cape Canaveral and Kennedy, with honest times: if only the day or month is known, that's all you'll see.

    • Live T-minus for every Florida launchGrouped by today, tomorrow, the week and beyond, with the next launch front and center.
    • CONFIRMED vs GOA firm T-0 says Confirmed. GO only appears when the launch team actually polls GO.
    • Holds and scrubs as they happenClaude reads launch updates, the news and posts on X, and puts the hold reason or new time right on the launch.
    • Follow what you care aboutReminders, slip and scrub alerts, plus auto-follow for crewed flights, Falcon Heavy, New Glenn or any rocket or provider.
    • Only the alerts you wantPick each kind: reminder times, delays and scrubs, GO, results, Playalinda, and a first look at Steven's photos.
    • Just flewResults and where every booster landed, minutes after liftoff.
    Launch Guide home screen with the next launch countdown
  2. T−1 day

    Be in the right place

    Hand-picked viewing spots from the person behind rocketlaunchguide.com, with his own photos of each one.

    • The closest spots to each padDistance, which way to face and directions, with lines from every spot to the pad on the map.
    • Closed spots left outNo driving to the LC-39 gantry for a 39A launch.
    • Will Playalinda be open?Park Service notices tied to each launch, a heads-up for pads 39A and 39B, and a push the moment it's confirmed.
    • Photo tips for the launchLens, settings and framing for the time of day, distance and trajectory.
    Jetty Park viewing spot with a launch photo
  3. T−3 hours

    Know if you'll see it

    Clouds decide everything. See them the way forecasters do.

    • Launch-weather oddsThe 45th Weather Squadron's GO percentage and the rules they're worried about.
    • Clouds by layer at T-0Low, mid and high cloud from Apple Weather, with a plain-English verdict.
    • Satellite and radar loopsNOAA GOES-19 true color by day, infrared at night, and NEXRAD radar over the pads.
    • Daytime, twilight or nightIncluding “space jellyfish” alerts for twilight launches, and sonic boom warnings for Cape landings.
    Live satellite cloud loop over Florida
  4. T−10 minutes

    Point at the pad

    Hold up your phone and turn until the arrow lines up. That's where it comes up over the trees.

    • Live compassFind the pad from wherever you're standing, with a quick calibration for steel-railed piers.
    • Your viewDistance to the pad, how long the sound takes to reach you, and whether it'll clear the horizon.
    • Lock Screen countdownStarts itself an hour before launches you follow, in the Dynamic Island and full-screen in StandBy.
    Compass pointing at the launch pad
  5. T−0

    Eyes up, not on your phone

    A voice countdown in your ear while you shoot, through AirPods, glasses or out loud.

    • Spoken calloutsT-minus milestones, the final ten, “Liftoff!”, then Max Q and engine cutoff.
    • Booster burn warnings30 and 10 seconds before boostback, entry and landing, so you're looking at the right part of the sky.
    • Control it from the Lock ScreenTurn the voice on or off without unlocking, and choose headphones or the phone speaker.
    Launch page with countdown mode and callouts
  6. T+8 minutes

    Then watch it come home

    After liftoff the countdown keeps going, to every burn and the landing.

    • Booster countdownsBoostback, entry and landing burns on the Lock Screen, for every booster on a Falcon Heavy.
    • Landing zone or droneshipWhere it's coming down, and if the sonic booms are coming your way.
    • Results pushed to youSuccess, landing and anything that went sideways, the moment it's known.
    • Your launch log and badgesTap “I saw it” (or answer the nudge an hour later) and where you watched from. Earn tiered badges (first crew launch, sonic booms, night launches, Falcon Heavy…) and print discounts along the way.
    • Every launch you've ever seenCheck off past Space Coast launches year by year, or import your own spreadsheet log and Claude matches each row.
    • Rockets you've seenEvery Space Coast rocket by company: today's fleet, then the classics from Delta IV Heavy back to Saturn V and Mercury.
    Map of viewing spots and landing zones on the Space Coast

Know the mission

Everything about the rocket and what it carries, on one page.

Booster historySerial, nth flight, days since it last flew and its landing record.
By the numbersLaunches from the pad this year, the provider's count and pad turnaround.
What's on boardPayload, operator, mass, destination and press kits.
Mission patches & infographicsStraight from the agencies.
Crew and spacecraftWho's flying, the capsule's history and where it's docking.
TimelineEvery countdown and flight event, ticking off as it happens.
Range statusWeather briefings, propellant load and GO polls in one feed.
Launch feedNews coverage of the launch, as it's published.

Everywhere you look

The countdown follows you off the app.

Lock Screen & Dynamic IslandThe countdown, status and next booster burn, live.
StandBySet a wake-up alarm and your nightstand counts down all night, and tells you to go back to sleep if it scrubs.
WidgetsHome Screen, Lock Screen and a Countdown Clock.
Apple WatchApple WatchThe next launch and its countdown on your wrist.
iPadiPadThe schedule and the launch side by side.
Siri“When's the next launch in Launch Guide?”

Prints

Hang a launch on your wall

The app carries Steven's launch photography too: prints from the same rockets you're watching, shot from the Space Coast.

Browse space prints