Chapter 6

Add-ons

Natural Hour
A 24-hour clock & Roman timekeeping add-on app.
Suntimes Calendars
An add-on that supplies events to the Calendar app.
Solunar Periods
A hunting and fishing add-on app.
Suntimes NFC
An NFC Add-on for Suntimes Alarms; dismiss alarms with an NFC tag.
Interval Midpoints
A midpoint calculator add-on for Suntimes Alarms; schedule alarms for event midpoints.

Subsections of Add-ons

Subsections of Natural Hour

Configuration


Location

The location is configured from Suntimes.


Time Format

Natural Hour can display time using 6-hour, 12-hour, or 24-hour format.


Hours of Equal Length

The inner dial displays hours of equal length. Standard options include system time, local mean time, or time zones configured by Suntimes.

Others options:

  • Babylonian hours are counted from sunrise.
  • Italic hours are counted from sunset.
  • Italian Civil hours are counted from civil dusk.
  • Julian hours are counted from solar noon.

Hours of Unequal Length

The outer dial displays hours of unequal length. These are known as Roman hours, temporal hours, or seasonal hours.

Daytime, the period between sunrise and sunset, is divided evenly into 12 hours. The first hour (I) of the day begins with sunrise, while the twelfth hour (XII) ends at sunset.

Similarly, nighttime is also divided into 12 hours. The first hour (I) of the night begins with sunset, and the twelfth hour (XII) ends at sunrise.

These daytime and nighttime hours are not the same, with length depending on latitude and varying with the seasons. For example, in the winter the daytime hours are shorter and nighttime hours longer, and vice versa in the summer.

Summer Summer Winter Winter

Hours Begin

Natural Hour can be configured to start counting Roman hours:

  • at sunrise & sunset (12)
  • at civil dawn & civil dusk (12)
  • at civil dawn (24)
  • at sunrise (24)
  • at noon (24)
  • at sunset (24)
  • at civil dusk (24)

Subsections of Suntimes Calendars

Manage Calendars


Calendar Integration

Suntimes Calendars works by integrating with the calendar app to provide its own custom calendars.

It provides calendars for:

  • Astronomical Twilight
  • Nautical Twilight
  • Civil Twilight
  • Daylight (sunrise, noon, sunset)
  • Golden Hour
  • Blue Hour
  • Moon (rising / setting)
  • Moon Phases
  • Moon Apsis (apogee / perigee)
  • Solstices / Equinoxes
Tip

Additional calendars are available using add-ons. For example, Solunar Periods provides a “Hunting and Fishing” calendar.

Calendar Integration Calendar Integration Calendar Integration Calendar Integration

Note

Suntimes Calendars requires calendar permissions to add, remove, or update calendars. Permissions must be granted before performing these actions (but may be safely revoked at other times).


Add Calendars

  • When calendar integration is disabled, select multiple items, then enable integration to add all calendars at once.
  • When calendar integration is enabled, select items to add them individually.

Add Calendar Add Calendar Add Calendar Add Calendar Update Progress Update Progress

Tip

Updating calendars may take several minutes. It is safe to close the app while waiting; the update will continue in the background.


Remove Calendars

  • While calendar integration is enabled, de-select calendars to remove them individually.
  • Disable calendar integration to remove all custom calendars at once.
Tip

Uninstalling Suntimes Calendars leaves calendars untouched. The app must be re-installed to remove them.


Open Calendar

A separate calendar app is required to view calendars.

Tap : -> Open Calendar to open the default app.

Open Calendar Open Calendar Calendar App Calendar App

Tip

Events should appear in most calendar apps automatically. Check troubleshooting if calendars fail to appear.

Options


Location

The location is configured from Suntimes.

Location Location

Note

The location is applied when calendars are added.


Window

Tap Calendar Window to change the time period of included events.

Calendar Window Calendar Window

Note

The calendar window is applied when calendars are added.


Color

Tap -> Color to change the calendar’s display color.

Menu Menu


Title

Tap -> Title to change the calendar’s display title.

Calendar Title Calendar Title


Event Flags

Tap -> Event Flags to customize included calendar events.

Event Flags Event Flags

Uncheck events that should be omitted from the calendar.

Note

Event flags are applied when calendars are added.


Event Strings

Tap -> Event Flags -> Event Strings to customize event display strings.

Event Strings Event Strings

Event strings are available to the calendar template using %M.

Note

Event strings are applied when calendars are added.


Event Template

Tap -> Event Template to customize the template.

Event Template Event Template

Each event template supplies:

  • Name: A short event title.
  • Location: The event’s location (optional).
  • Description: The expanded event description.

Templates use % substitutions:

  • %cal calendar name
  • %summary calendar summary
  • %color calendar color hex
  • %% % character

  • %loc location name
  • %lat location latitude
  • %lon location longitude
  • %lel location elevation

  • %M event title (supplied by event strings)
  • %em event milliseconds
  • %eZ event azimuth
  • %eA event altitude
  • %eR event right ascension
  • %eD event declination

  • %dist moon distance
  • %illum moon illumination %
  • %phase moon minor phase
Note

Event templates are applied when calendars are added.


Reminders

Tap -> Reminders to configure calendar reminders.

Reminders Reminders Reminders Reminders

Tap Add Reminder to add a reminder to all events in a calendar. Tap to remove reminders.

Tap to apply changes when done. Reminders will be updated immediately if the calendar is already enabled.

Tip

Updating reminders may take several minutes. It is safe to close the app while waiting; the update will continue in the background.

Troubleshooting


Calendars are not shown (missing calendars)

The calendars managed by Suntimes Calendars should automatically appear in your Calendar app. For some apps however they may fail to appear without extra configuration.

Fossify Calendar

Fossify Calendar (and other forks of Simple Calendar) require enabling CalDAV sync.

  1. add calendars from Suntimes Calendars.
  2. from Fossify Calendar verify that : -> Settings -> CalDAV -> CalDAV sync is checked.
  3. from Fossify Calendar navigate to Settings -> Manage synced calendars and enable each calendar entry.
  4. from Fossify Calendar use : -> Refresh CalDAV calendars.
Google Calendar (Android 15)

Some versions of Google Calendar may require enabling the Suntimes local account.

  1. add calendars from Suntimes Calendars.
  2. from Google Calendar navigate to Settings -> Manage accounts.
  3. enable the Suntimes account (listed under Non-Google accounts).