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Tapping the binoculars icon at the bottom of the main screen starts the process of computing up-coming visible ISS, TSS, or Hubble Space Telescope passes. First, ISS Real-Time Tracker 3D gets your current location's coordinates. Then, it computes the ISS , TSS, or Hubble passes that should be visible (weather permitting) from your location. The default number of days to predict passes is set in Settings and can be overridden in the Passes screen. The passes are listed in chronological order along with detailed viewing data.
Data for each pass includes:
Each pass is rated based on its maximum magnitude (i.e., brightness). The brightest passes get the highest ratings. Passes are rated with 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4 stars corresponding to relatively poor, fair, good, better, or best, respectively.
Tap the switch target button in the navigation bar to switch between the ISS, TSS (Chinese space station named Tiangong), and Hubble Space Telescope. The table will automatically refresh and present passes for the selected target.
Tap any pass in the table to add it as an event in your calendar. When adding a pass to your calendar, two alerts will be set: the first for 1 hour before, and the second for 15 minutes before the start of the pass. The starting and ending times for the pass are saved in the event in your calendar, along with the maximum magnitude, as well as the starting, maximum, and ending azimuths and elevations for the pass.
Tap the Calendar icon at the top-right of the screen to change the number of days to compute and refresh the list. To change the number of days so that the app remembers your setting for next time, change it in Settings.
Drag down the table to refresh the data.
Tap the back button to return to the map and resume tracking.
To locate and track the International Space Station in real time, tap the play button at the bottom of the screen. To pause tracking, tap the pause button.
You can select from the following map types in Settings from the Tracking screen:
To zoom in or out of the map, use the slider control at the top of the map. This changes the scale of the map, which is displayed in degrees to the right of the zoom slider.
You can set the map scale range in Settings to any of the following ranges (in degrees):
There are three styles of markers, which you can select in Settings:
The time interval between map updates is automatically set from 1 to 6 seconds, based upon the zoom slider setting. With the slider all the way to the left, the update interval is set at 1 second. As you drag the slider right, it increases by 1 second up to a maximum interval of 6 seconds. This keeps the relative motion of the map roughly equal at all scales within a given range.
The orbit ground track line is drawn by default. This shows the ground track of the ISS. You can turn this on/off in Settings by tapping the settings icon from the Tracking screen. When the orbit track is on, the ground track clear button is displayed on the Tracking screen.
The globe shows the current position of the ISS, its orbital track, and viewing range circle. The globe is a photorealistic model of the Earth complete with accurate Sun subsolar position, specular reflections on the water, seasonal tilt, mountain shadows, and other details. Drag the globe to rotate and pan it. The circle represents the approximate ISS sighting range from ground level. Auto-rotation is enabled by default and rotates the globe once every 90 seconds. To disable auto-rotation, as well as to enable/disable the globe overlay entirely, go to Settings. Tapping the expand icon on the globe overlay, or the globe button on the tab bar, expands the globe to fullscreen mode and hides the map. Tap the reset button to reset the globe.
Tap the copy icon next to the info box on bottom of the map to copy the ISS's location, altitude, velocity, and associated time to the clipboard. You can then paste the data in another app.
From the Tracking screen, tapping the expand icon on the globe overlay, or the globe icon on the tab bar, expands the globe to fullscreen mode and hides the map.
The 3D interactive globe shows the current position of the ISS, its orbital track, and footprint (viewing range circle). The globe also shows the current position of the new Chinese Space Station, Tiangong-3 (TSS), its orbital track, and footprint (viewing range circle), as well as those of the Hubble. The ISS track and footprint are shown in red, in gold for the TSS, and in blue for the Hubble.
The globe is a photorealistic model of the Earth complete with accurate Sun subsolar position, specular reflections on the water, seasonal tilt, mountain shadows, and other details.
The globe starts updating automatically when in fullscreen mode.
From Settings, you can select from five backgrounds for your fullscreen globe. These are:
Tap the reset button on the upper-middle of the globe scene to reset the globe.
Tap the collapse button on the upper-right of the globe scene, or the back button, to return to the tracking screen.
Tap the astronaut icon at the bottom of the screen to get a table of information about the current space station crew.
Tap the switch target button in the navigation bar to switch between the ISS and the Chinese space station, Tiangong. The table will automatically refresh and present the crew data for the selected space station.
Tap any cell in the table to pop-up the detail view for that crewmember. This will display a brief bio. To view the full bio, tap the biography icon.
To visit the crew member's Twitter feed, open their Twitter profile by tapping the Twitter button. If you do not have the Twitter app installed, it will open in Safari instead. If the crewmember does not have a Twitter profile, the Twitter button will not be displayed. Return to ISS Real-Time Tracker 3D by tapping "◀︎ ISS Tracker" on the top-left of Twitter.
Tap X to close the pop-up and return to the crew table.
Tap the copy icon at the top-right of the screen to copy the crew names, titles, and nationalities to the clipboard. You can then paste them into another app.
Drag down the table to refresh the data.
Tap the back button to return to the map and resume tracking.
Live streaming HD video of Earth is provided via NASA's External High Definition Camera (EHDC).
Tap the back button to return to the map.
NASA TV airs a variety of regularly scheduled, pre-recorded educational and public relations programming 24 hours a day. The network also provides an array of live programming, such as 24-hour coverage of missions, events (spacewalks, media interviews, educational broadcasts), press conferences & rocket launches.
Tap the back button to return to the map.
All of your current user settings are automatically saved on your device when you exit the app or switch to another app. This also includes the current zoom slider position. Each time you run ISS Real-Time Tracker 3D, your settings are restored.
Tapping the ⟳ button on the Settings title bar will clear all your user settings and change them back to their defaults. The zoom slider will reset to its default (center) position, and What's New and other messages will be restored.
Tap the back button to return to the tracking view.
If you own an Apple Watch, then installing the app on your phone will also install it on your watch.
The watch app shows the interactive 3D globe with real-time positions of the ISS, Tiangong (Chinese space station), and the Hubble Space Telescope. From the globe tap on the reset button on the bottom-left of the watchface to restore the globe to its starting position. Tap the bottom-middle button to disable/enable the globe's autorotation. Tap the show details button on the bottom-right to display a table of the coordinates and altitudes of the three satellites, along with the subsolar point. The data update every three seconds.
Tap the back button to return to the globe.
