Best Apps for the 2027 Total Solar Eclipse

For the day itself, you want a timer that talks: The Eclipse App, Eclipse Countdown, or Solar Eclipse Timer once its 2027 update lands. For choosing where to stand, you want contact times at your exact spot, a map and cloud history. Unlike 2026, the sun is high for most of the 2027 path, so terrain only matters for viewpoints tucked under a steep slope. For those, eclipses.app, GrandTotality, IGN Eclipses (Spain) and Heliora all check it in different ways; Heliora is the free one that draws the full 3D sky and skyline from any point you pick.

Heliora wrote this page and is one of the tools on it. Where another tool does something better, the page says so.

Much less than in 2026. At mid-totality the sun stands about 38° high at Cádiz, Tarifa and Tangier, and around 80° at Luxor and 76° at Jeddah (computed with the same astronomy engine Heliora uses). A distant ridge cannot reach that high. Terrain only matters if you stand close under a steep slope or building to the east-southeast in Spain and Morocco. On 12 August 2026, with the sun a few degrees above the western horizon in northern Spain, it decided many viewpoints; in 2027, cloud and heat are the bigger risks.

• The whole sky, not a verdict. Heliora renders the eclipse in a 3D sky dome from your pin, with the real skyline around it, corona and darkening, so you can see how close the ridge is rather than read a yes or no.
• Free and linkable. Any view is a URL with the coordinates, date and minute, so a group can agree on a spot by sharing a link.
• It was used at scale. Around 27,000 people used Heliora on 12 August 2026, when the eclipse crossed northern Spain with the sun low.

What it does not do

• No on-the-day talking timer and no offline mode. Take a dedicated timer app for the day itself.
• Terrain is sampled at roughly 110 m; eclipses.app states a 30 m model. Heliora's accuracy bounds are on the method page.
• Totality durations from its astronomy engine run a few seconds long compared with published canonical values; the 2026 vs 2027 page explains why.

What is the best app for the 2027 solar eclipse?

Use two. For the day itself, a talking timer: The Eclipse App, Eclipse Countdown, or Solar Eclipse Timer once its 2027 update ships. For choosing where to stand, a tool that gives times at your exact spot, cloud history and, if you are under a slope, a terrain check: eclipses.app, GrandTotality, IGN Eclipses for Spain, or Heliora, which is free and shows the eclipse in 3D against the real skyline from any point. Because the sun is high in 2027 (about 38° in southern Spain), terrain rarely decides it.

Which eclipse app checks whether a mountain blocks the sun?

eclipses.app uses a 30 m elevation model in its verdict. GrandTotality samples elevation along the solar azimuth out to 20 km. IGN Eclipses has a relief-based visibility layer for Spain, and Xavier Jubier's map offers an optional elevation profile. Heliora ray-casts the full 360° horizon from any pin, draws it in a 3D sky view, and states when the terrain takes the sun.

Is there a free 2027 eclipse planner that works in a browser?

Yes. Heliora, GrandTotality, Xavier Jubier's interactive map and the IGN viewer are free on the web, and eclipses.app has a free simulator with paid extras. Heliora also has a guide page for every city of more than 15,000 people with local 2027 times.

Every claim about another product was read from that product's own website or app store listing on 27 September 2026, not from memory. Features are listed as each vendor describes them; we have not tested every app. Prices are US store prices and vary by region. If something here is wrong or out of date, tell us and it will be corrected.

• The Eclipse App
• Eclipse Countdown
• Solar Eclipse Timer
• Totality by Big Kid Science
• Total Solar Eclipse 2027 on the App Store
• Eclipse Companion on the App Store
• eclipses.app
• GrandTotality: about
• IGN Eclipses: observing conditions
• Xavier Jubier: 2027 interactive map
• PhotoPills on the App Store