Frequently Asked Questions - Astro Gold for the iPhone/iPad Questions

Can I edit a chart in Astro Gold?

Can I clear the Recently used charts?

How do I Save charts?

My Astro Gold will not change orientation from Portrait to Landscape mode? Why not?

I deleted Astro Gold so that I could reload it but Apple is insisting that I buy Astro Gold again? What can I do?

I am having problems entering my place in Astro Gold. I live in the USA?

Can I use Astro Gold on an iTouch?

How do I delete charts??

How Do I import and Export Astro Gold Charts to and from Solar Fire?

Is there a limit to the number of charts that can be stored in Astro Gold?

Can you please tell me how to zoom?

My app is crashing and Apple is asking me to purchase again! I don't want to pay more money. What can I do?

My Astro Gold app has just frozen on the screen and I cannot use it. What can I do?

Can I display Astro Gold on my TV or using a Data Show Projector?

Can I run Astro Gold without an internet or wi fi connection?

My Astro Gold chart is not showing the Retrograde planets, can you help please?

Can I Print from Astro Gold?

Can I edit a chart in Astro Gold?

There is no chart edit option, but you can effectively edit a chart by selecting it as the current chart and then choosing the New Chart option, as this option starts with the data of the currently selected chart. If there is enough call for it, a future version might have a dedicated chart editing option.

Can I clear the Recently used charts?

There is no option to clear the whole list. However, individual entries may be deleted from this list by side-swiping the entry then tapping on the Delete button that appears.

How do I Save charts?

A single tap brings up the screen with list of chart files from which one can be selected to save into.

My Astro Gold will not change orientation from Portrait to Landscape mode? Why not?

App orientation: The app responds automatically to the orientation that the device reports to the app. This is not something that the app controls - it is part of the iOS operating system. If the orientation is upside down, you would need to tilt the device towards you to re-orient it to your side. The landscape/portrait changes in view follow Apple's recommendations - a lot of apps use the same paradigm in their design. It is possible to set the orientation lock on the iPad - this would prevent it ever going into landscape mode or upside down portrait mode, regardless of how the device is held.

I deleted Astro Gold so that I could reload it but Apple is insisting that I buy Astro Gold again? What can I do?

It is true that you still have to tap the "Buy" button again, AFTER which you are told it is free because you already bought it before. That is Apple's system - nothing we can do about it of course, and is the same for all apps.

I am having problems entering my place in Astro Gold. I live in the USA?

The professional  version of the Atlas used by Astro Gold is used around the world. However it does require you to enter anywhere in the USA with its state name in the "country" field, and not just to enter "USA". For instance you should enter "CA" or "California" (not "USA") into the "country" field if you want to look up Los Angeles. If you do enter "USA" in the "country" field, and then you will find that Astro Gold tells you that it can't find either the country or the place. We will consider having the app read "country/state" rather than just "country", but we cannot easily do this due to the space limitations of such a small screen.  
The reason that the ACS uses this different protocol for US places is that there are many duplicate names in different US states, so if the state name is not known it would often result in getting the wrong place. So the Atlas requires 'states' for the USA, and country names for everywhere else, and "country" really means "country or US state name".

Can I use Astro Gold on an iTouch?

Yes. Apple shows the requirements for any app on it's app description page. Currently this says "Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Requires iOS 4.0 or later." Note that Apple doesn't allow you to purchase or download any app which is not compatible with any devices that you are using with your current iTunes account.

iPod Touch will also do voice memos so you can record the consultations and later email them to clients. Now we can do the chart from our pocket as well! So says one of our customers.
Thank You!

How do I delete charts??

To delete a chart inside a file, swipe across the cell displaying the chart details. This will present a delete button. (Swiping is a fairly standard way of deleting a cell when there is no special Edit button or similar available).

How Do I import and Export Astro Gold Charts to and from Solar Fire?

Chart Import/Export

• Chart files may be added to, or downloaded from this app via the iTunes File Sharing feature.
• Chart files may also be interchanged between this app and any other computer via email. This can be used to save and restore backup copies of your chart files, and if you own the Solar Fire astrology program (v6 or higher), then you may also use your chart files interchangeably with that program.

Exporting Charts via Email

To export a chart file, tap on the Settings tab and select Export Chart File. This allows you to select a chart file, which is then attached to an email and sent to whatever email address you wish.

Importing Charts via Email

To import a chart file, you must attach a Solar Fire v6+ chart file (*.SFcht) to an email and then send it to your device, and open it in the email app.
In the email app, open this email and tap on the attached chart file, and you will be prompted whether or not you wish to open it in this app.
If a chart file of the same name already exists in this app, then you will prompted whether to overwrite the existing file, or else to change its name before it is added. Name changes of this type involve adding an underscore and a number to the end of the filename.
After adding a chart file this way, you can access it from a list of all chart files when selecting a chart to open from file, or when saving a chart to file, or when exporting a chart file.
For further information about file sharing: "About File Sharing"

Is there a limit to the number of charts that can be stored in Astro Gold?

Yes - the limitation is storage size. Each chart takes up only about 200 bytes of storage. For practical purposes it would be unwieldy to try to use a chart file with more than 1000 charts, though simply because it then becomes difficult to find the one you want, on the small iPhone screen

Can you please tell me how to zoom?

Because the screen is small you just don't have room to have a control or button for every type of action. Hence it is sometimes necessary to rely on certain behaviours that Apple has built into the iOS user interface.

Some examples of these are:
1) Pinch to zoom out - if a view is zoomable and not already zoomed out to full extent then move fingers together to zoom out
2) Reverse-pinch to zoom in - if a view is zoomable and not already zoomed in to full extent then move fingers apart to zoom in

My app is crashing and Apple is asking me to purchase again! I don't want to pay more money. What can I do?

Firstly Apple never recharges for you to re-download or re-install an app that you already purchased (provided you are using the same iTunes account). Even though the iTunes store button still says "Purchase", if you tap it, you get a message saying you have already purchased it before and it is free this time.

If an app has become unresponsive then it is likely that the device needs a reboot (ie. full power off and then restart). This can occur when device memory gets low. This is a consequence of Apple's multi-tasking implementation, which never actually closes apps when you close them - rather it just puts them into background mode and they continue to take up memory. When device memory gets low, this may cause problems with any app. However, if a reboot still does not clear the problem, it is recommended to delete and then re-install the app, and this indicates that it is due to a problem specific to the app itself, and may be something that can be remedied in a future app update.

My Astro Gold app has just frozen on the screen and I cannot use it. What can I do?

This can happen occasionally for different reasons. Double tap the home button to bring up the task bar, tap and hold Astro Gold icon until it wobbles, then tap its "-" button to close it. When you restart the app, see if you can now use your Astro Gold.

Can I display Astro Gold on my TV or using a Data Show Projector?

You can show Astro Gold from an iPad on the TV or Data Show Projector provided that you have an iPad2 and the ability to connect it via HDMI. To do this you would need to purchase the HDMI to VGA connector from Apple.

Can I run Astro Gold without an internet or wi fi connection?

Once you have downloaded your app, yes the app can be run without an internet connection. However, in this case there is no means of importing or exporting charts, so only charts pre-supplied with the app, or created (and optionally saved) by the user within the app can be used.

My Astro Gold chart is not showing the Retrograde planets, can you help please?

As you will appreciate Astro Gold is designed for the iPhone screen (as well as the iPad). The iPhone screen is very small and so compromises are continually made between clarity and information. For this reason the Retrograde planets will have their degrees and minutes displayed in the colour red and Direct planets will have the information in Black. This is fairly standard in Solar Fire as well and I hope helps answer your query.

Can I Print from Astro Gold?

A: Chart printing is not currently possible. There are apps for printing from an iPad but these mainly work if have an app that has an "Open in" feature built in, which is not the case for Astro Gold. The print option is something that would have to be added as a new feature to the app - and we will consider it as one of the possibilities for future versions.

If you have a question please email:
support@esotech.com.au