Every window detail page now shows a 12-bar chart — January through December — of the daily-average direct-sun hours for that window. The peak month glows in gold, the lowest in blue, and a swing callout tells you how many hours per day shift between them. This is the chart that tells you exactly when to move a sun-sensitive plant away from the south window in October, and when to bring it back in March.
Know your windows. Grow the right plants.
Hold your iPhone against any window. Sungrade reads the compass and tilt, runs NOAA's solar position algorithm for every day of the year, and tells you exactly how many minutes of direct sun that window gets — broken down month-by-month, season-by-season, graded A through F. Then it shows you which of 51 houseplants will actually thrive there, and calculates how much supplemental grow light you'd need to close the gap on dim spots. Everything on device. No account, no subscription, no ads.
When "Highlight golden hour" is enabled in Settings, the sun arc chart shades the 60-minute bands after sunrise and before sunset in warm amber. These are the windows of soft, low-angle light ideal for portrait photography, for hardening off new seedlings, and for plants that need bright but non-scorching morning light. Toggle it on or off from Settings — no extra permissions required.
Sungrade samples the sun's position at 5-minute intervals for every day of the year using NOAA's published solar position equations. It counts the minutes of direct sun that actually reach your specific window orientation, and grades it A (6+ hours/day average) through F (under 30 minutes). You get a seasonal breakdown — winter, spring, summer, fall — plus the peak day and lowest day of the year.
Version 1.3 adds eight new species: Pilea (Pilea peperomioides), Calathea Medallion, Alocasia Polly, String of Hearts (Ceropegia woodii), Bird's Nest Fern, Neon Pothos, Fishbone Prayer Plant (Ctenanthe), and Iron Cross Oxalis — all with scientifically-grounded direct-sun tolerance ranges. Every plant entry includes common name, scientific name, care note, and watering hint. Light data is drawn from University of Minnesota Extension, University of Florida IFAS, and the University of Arkansas Extension light tables.
Browse all 51 plants in the database, tap any plant, and instantly see your windows ranked best-to-worst for that species. Each plant carries a scientifically-grounded daily direct-sun tolerance range (e.g. Rosemary needs 6–12 hours; Peace Lily tolerates 0–2). The ranking tells you whether each window is a great match, acceptable, too bright, or too dim — with the gap quantified in hours.
For windows that grade C, D, or F, Sungrade calculates how many hours of supplemental 6500K grow light per day can bring a plant to its minimum threshold. The math is grounded in University of Minnesota Extension guidance: one hour of outdoor direct sun is approximately equivalent to two hours from a 2500-lumen LED panel at 12 inches. The recommendation caps at 14 hours to preserve plants' required dark rest period.
Every window detail page shows a live arc chart of the sun's path for the day you select. A 7-day strip lets you tap backward or forward to replay yesterday's light or preview tomorrow's — useful for checking whether a cloudy week will affect a sun-sensitive plant, or for scouting a window in an apartment you're touring.
The Compare tab ranks every window you've added by annual direct-sun hours, with a bar chart scaled to the best window. A seasonal table shows winter, spring, summer, and fall averages side by side, so you can see which window holds up best in the dark months and plan plant rotations before winter arrives.
Tap the menu on any window to share a plain-text sun report. In 1.3, the report now includes the full month-by-month table (all 12 months with the peak and lowest months marked) and the annual light swing — so the report you forward to a landlord, real estate agent, or plant-obsessed friend is fully self-contained and verifiable.
The Pro screen shows seasonal placement recommendations drawn from your actual window grades — which window is best in winter, which peaks in summer — with a grow-light planner for every dim window and a light-level reference table sourced from university extension services.