Viewfinder — Support & Troubleshooting

Got a question or something not working as expected? Most issues are solved by one of the steps below.

Permissions

The camera isn't showing anything / I see a black screen. Viewfinder needs camera access to work. Go to Settings → Privacy & Security → Camera and make sure Viewfinder is turned on. Then close the app fully and reopen it.

The sun tracker isn't working / no sun appears on screen. The AR solar tracker requires three permissions: Location, Motion & Fitness, and Compass access.

  • Location: Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services → Viewfinder → set to While Using the App
  • Motion & Fitness: Settings → Privacy & Security → Motion & Fitness → Viewfinder → turn on
  • Make sure Location Services itself is also enabled at the top of that screen.

After granting permissions, close and reopen the app. The sun overlay will activate once a GPS fix has been obtained — this usually takes a few seconds outdoors.

Camera & Framing

The image looks soft or grainy, especially at long focal lengths. At very long focal lengths (e.g. 200–300 mm on Full Frame), the app applies heavy digital zoom on top of the iPhone's telephoto lens. This is inherent to the hardware — the preview is showing you a cropped and enlarged version of the telephoto sensor. On older iPhones with a shorter telephoto, degradation starts earlier. The framing is still accurate; it is a pre-visualisation tool, not a replacement for your actual lens.

I'm getting a "wider than iPhone lens" warning in the HUD. Your chosen sensor + focal length combination produces a field of view wider than the iPhone's ultrawide camera can show (roughly 120° horizontal). The app will show the widest view available but cannot go any wider. Try a shorter sensor (e.g. Super 35 instead of Full Frame) or a longer focal length.

The wrong iPhone lens seems to be selected. Viewfinder automatically picks the narrowest physical lens whose native field of view is still wider than your target — then crops digitally to match exactly. If the HUD shows an unexpected lens (e.g. Telephoto instead of Wide), it means your target focal length is longer than what the Wide lens can cover cleanly. This is correct behaviour.

The live preview doesn't fill the whole screen. Letterboxing is intentional — the black bars represent the aspect ratio crop you've selected (e.g. 2.39:1 Scope). The framed area is your actual shot.

AR Solar Tracker

The sun disk is not visible even though it should be daytime.

  • Confirm location permissions are set to While Using the App (see above).
  • Make sure you are outdoors or near a window — GPS fixes are unreliable indoors.
  • Check that the date/time in the app is set to Now (not a future or past time from a previous session).
  • If the sun is outside the current camera frame, an arrow at the screen edge will point toward it — the sun disk only appears when the sun is within the field of view.

The sun position looks slightly off compared to where the real sun is.

  • The tracker needs a moment to stabilise after launch. Hold the phone steady for 2–3 seconds to let the compass and motion sensors settle.
  • Magnetic interference (metal structures, car roofs, power lines) can affect compass accuracy. Move a few metres away from large metal objects and try again.
  • Make sure Location Services is set to While Using the App (not Never or Ask Next Time) so the solar calculation uses your actual GPS coordinates rather than a default position.

The Time Travel preview doesn't seem to update. Tap the date/time field and confirm your selection. Changes apply as soon as you adjust the picker. To return to live mode, set the date and time back to the current date and time.

Saved photos don't have the sun overlay burned in. The overlay is only composited if AR mode is active at the moment of capture. Make sure the sun tracker is enabled before you take the shot.

Shot Projects & Export

My projects or saved shots have disappeared. Projects are stored locally on the device and are not backed up to iCloud. They will not survive a full app delete and reinstall. If you need to preserve your shot lists, export them to PDF before uninstalling.

The PDF export is empty or missing thumbnails. PDF export pulls from the saved thumbnails in each project. If a shot was saved but the thumbnail didn't generate (e.g. the app was force-quit mid-capture), the PDF entry may appear blank. Re-capturing the shot from the same location will regenerate the thumbnail.

General

The app won't run on my device / crashes on launch. Viewfinder requires iOS 17 or later and a physical iPhone — it cannot run on iPad or in the iOS Simulator. If your device is on iOS 16 or earlier, an OS update is required.

The app worked yesterday but the camera is now stuck. Another app (FaceTime, Instagram, etc.) may have left the camera session open. Close all other camera apps from the App Switcher, then relaunch Viewfinder.

Something isn't listed here. Tap the feedback button inside the app or email us at support@viewfinder.app. Please include your iPhone model and iOS version — it helps us reproduce and fix issues faster.

Viewfinder requires iOS 17.0 or later. Some features (multi-lens switching, AR sun tracker) require a physical device with GPS and rear cameras.