April 25, 2017

Technical Issues Extending iPhemeris Ephemeris to Cover 5000 Years

Geek alert! This is a technical article about some of the issues I ran into whilst extending iPhemeris’s Ephemeris to cover a 5000 year period from 2500 BC to 2500 AD. Initially I’d thought it would be a simple matter to add a few thousand more years to the database. Devices have a lot more storage these days and network and download speeds are faster than when iPhemeris was first created. So why not, easy peasy right?! I did the work to read the JPL Ephemeris files and the USNO asteroid ephemeris over 8 years ago (both use the same format to store data) and could easily create what iPhemeris uses in any format. So creating a database that covered a longer period of time was really only a matter of a few days work and given the relative frequency of requests for more data, I thought why not just add it as an In-App purchase. It took only a few hours work to create the new tables and pull in 4 more asteroids/planetoids from the USNO Ephemeris (the more frequently requested ones): Hygiea, Astraea, Eris and Sedna. Then set about updating the various places in the iOS and MacOS versions of the code that […]
March 22, 2017

iPhemeris Ephemeris Extended to 5000 Years (2500 BC to 2500 AD)

Announcing Version 3.0 (Mac OSX) of iPhemeris extends the Ephemeris to 5000 Years (2500 BC to 2500 AD). The ephemeris expansion also adds 4 important planetoids/asteroids: Astraea, Hygiea, Eris and Sedna. The expanded coverage works with all features including: Astrological Charts Tabular Ephemerides Graphical Ephemeris Astrological Calendars It is now possible to do anything the program is capable of for any date or date range between 2500 BC and 2500 AD. In addition to the extended ephemeris, we made many other small improvements and fixed numerous minor issues making this version of iPhemeris the best yet and something you will want to update to as soon as possible.
December 24, 2016

Resolving Aspect Lines Issue in iOS v10.4.x

Happy Holidays and welcome to Mercury Retrograde! If you are seeing charts that look something like the image below there is a simple fix, but first a brief explanation. The problem began with iPhemeris v10.4.0 for iOS. It happens intermittently and ONLY on devices running iOS 10.x  Today (Dec. 24), I learned it is caused by a fairly major iOS 10.x bug (Apple’s bug, not mine) The bug affects the way preferences are saved and manifests most obviously in relation to  orb preferences for the 4 new aspects 10.4 adds: Decile (36°), Septile (51.4°), TreDecile (108°) and QuinDecile (165°). When iPhemeris first launches it attempts to update Orb Preferences and add default orbs for the new aspects if they don’t already exist. However, because of the iOS bug this randomly fails and with hundreds of thousands of devices using iPhemeris that is unfortunately fairly often. After getting reports of it (some quite nasty actually) and a few pictures I guessed what might be going on and attempted a fix in 10.4.1. However because of the iOS bug this didn’t work. Not knowing about the bug at the time, I attempted a second fix with 10.4.2 and which also included a way to get some diagnostic information. The diagnostic data confirmed that what I though […]
October 14, 2016

iPhemeris Update for iOS (v10.3) and macOS (2.4)

Updates for both iOS (v10.3) and macOS (v2.4) were just released!! This was primarily a maintenance release but it did have some minor improvements and enhancements. Primarily these were: Graphic Ephemeris – Got its own color preference setting. Midpoints can be sorted by either Planet or Sign. This iOS version resolved a Graphic Ephemeris display issue when using a degree range smaller than 45°. This is the same fix that was included in a previous release of the macOS version. More good things are coming soon! Onward and Upward, iPhemeris
June 14, 2016

iPhemeris Update for iOS and Mac – New Graphic Ephemeris

iPhemeris for iOS and Mac updated today and include a major new feature: the Graphic Ephemeris. This update includes: NEW: Graphic Ephemeris Display Longitude and Declination. Display harmonic degree ranges. Good for finding weird aspects like 45 degrees. Overlay chart data. Added: Composite +Now. When 2 charts are selected an option to display a Composite and a now chart has been added. Added: 7 day time step. Charts can now be time-stepped in 7 day increments. Fixed: Vertex and Descendant display issues on Transit Calendar. Fixed: “Slow typing” issue for chart date entry (Mac version). This only happened on the Mac version and was related to a minimum date condition set on the date entry fields. The mac has some built in timer and if users entered dates too slowly it would decide the minimum date (Jan 1, 1700) was not met and replace what was being typed with Jan. 1 1700. I couldn’t control the timer and had to simply remove the condition. Check out it out:
April 17, 2016

iPhemeris Update v10.1 for iOS

A free update for iPhemeris v10.1 was released today. The following new features, improvements and bug fixes were added: New: Lunar Return. New: Eclipse tables with more data. New: Tri-wheel option – 2 Chart +Now. Improved: Dotted lines for secondary aspects. Improved: Display of points on wheel. Fixed: Ayanamsa settings crash. Fixed: Kuala Lumpur TimeZone issue. Fixed: Time-stepping progressed charts. Fixed: Small screen wheel display (iPhone 4). Enjoy and don’t forget to tell your friends about iPhemeris of iOS and Mac. More good things are always in the works!
March 31, 2016

iPhemeris v2.2 for Mac OSX Released – Lunar Return

Version 2.2 of iPhemeris for Mac OSX with the new Lunar Return feature is now available as an update from the Mac App store! You asked for it, and we delivered!  This version also has some other great new features like a new and improved Eclipse table added to the bottom of Ephemeris pages. v2.2 Features New: Lunar Return New: 2 Charts +Now convenience button for Tri-Wheel. New: Local Mean Time (LMT) button for researchers. Improved: Improved Eclipse Tables. For a complete list see of additions, improvements and bug fixes see the What’s New section here: Mac Version – What’s New. Lunar Returns You can find the new Lunar Return feature in the same place in Chart Details where you set Solar Return data. It has a handy little tool that will let you pick a date and then find the lunar returns after that date or previous to it. It’s super easy to use and will only take  a few seconds to figure out.
March 9, 2016

iPhemeris Version 10 for iOS Released!

iPhemeris Version 10 for iOS Released! Version 10 was just released and is available from the iOS App Store now! It has lots of new features including: Available as In-App Purchase:   – Tri-Wheel – Mid-Point Reports – Void of Course Moon tables   Other free features and enhancements in this update:   – Aries 0 House System. – Print Options. – Printing improved. – Progressed charts can be time stepped. – App works well when users have text set larger for improved visibility. – Lots of other little minor issues fixed! Get it NOW!