PolarAlign is used as a reference to help "polar align" an equitorial telescope mount that has a "Polar Alignment" scope. PolarAlign uses iPhone's Location Service to obtain your current latitude and longitude, although they can be entered manually if Location Services are turned off.

The screen shows the position of Polaris if you are in the Northern Hemisphere or Sigma Octanis if you are in the Southern Hemisphere. It also displays your latitude, longitude, altitude and the Universal Date and Time.

The view can be zoomed on an iPhone by double tapping the screen. The reticle can be set to inverted, corrected, or right angle, to match the polar finder.

The outer circular ring matches the reticle found in "Polar Alignment" scopes that are typically used in the Northern hemisphere. The Southern Hemisphere reticle is an extension of the Northern Hemisphere reticle.

PolarAlign also has an "augmented reality" capability which allows an iPhone to be mated to a polar finder scope, if you build a simple adaptor.

If your telescope does not have a "Polar Alignment" scope, this application will not help you. It can't be used with an ordinary "finder" scope. A Polar Alignment scope is mounted inside the telescope's right ascension axis and is pointed directly at the north or south celestial pole.