Can you really photograph aurora with a phone?

The short answer is yes — with significant asterisks. In 2026, the computational photography in flagship phones has closed a large part of the gap with dedicated cameras for low-light work. An iPhone 16 Pro or Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra can produce genuinely impressive aurora photos under the right conditions. You won't get the same detail, dynamic range, or ability to freeze fast-moving aurora as a mirrorless camera with a fast prime lens, but you will get shareable, recognisably-aurora images that your camera-equipped friends will look at and say "wait, you got that on a phone?"

The conditions where phones deliver good aurora results:

  • Bright aurora (Kp 4 or above, not just a faint glow)
  • Slow or stationary aurora (not a fast-moving substorm)
  • Camera on a tripod or solid surface
  • Clear sky with no cloud interference
  • Manual settings rather than full auto

The conditions where phones consistently fail:

  • Faint aurora below Kp 2–3 — the phone's sensor can't accumulate enough light even in night mode
  • Fast-moving substorm aurora — by the time the phone finishes its multi-frame composite, the aurora has moved and you get a smeared blob
  • Hand-held at any shutter speed above 1 second — humans cannot hold a phone still enough for a 5-second aurora exposure

The one accessory you absolutely need

A mini tripod. This is non-negotiable for phone aurora photography. The exposures required (5–10 seconds) produce total blur from hand movement — the resulting images look like a green smear rather than an aurora. You don't need an expensive setup: a Joby GorillaPod (flexible legs, wraps around objects) costs €25–40 and fits in a jacket pocket. A small tabletop tripod (Manfrotto Pixi, Amazon Basics mini) costs €10–25 and works perfectly for placing on a car bonnet, fence post, rock, or snow.

Also useful: a Bluetooth remote shutter (under €10). Pressing the phone's screen button introduces vibration even at the start of a 5-second exposure. A remote lets you trigger the shot without touching the phone. Alternatively, use a 2-second self-timer on the phone.

iPhone: best settings for northern lights

iPhones (iPhone 12 Pro and later, ideally iPhone 15/16 Pro for best performance) have increasingly capable aurora photography modes:

Night mode (built-in Camera app): Available automatically in low light — the yellow moon icon appears. Place the phone on a tripod, hold still, and the camera will default to a 10–30 second multi-frame Night mode exposure. Works reasonably well for slow aurora. Limitation: the camera controls the exposure time; you can't force longer exposures if the camera decides 3 seconds is enough.

ProRAW in Camera app: On iPhone 15/16 Pro, enable ProRAW in Settings → Camera → Formats → ProRAW. Then in the Camera app, use the RAW button and switch to manual control. Set the shutter to 5–10 seconds using the shutter slider. ProRAW gives you a 48-megapixel RAW file you can process properly in Lightroom rather than a processed HEIC.

Astrophoto in Halide or NightCap: Third-party apps like Halide Mark III (€6/year) and NightCap (€3) give you full manual control: ISO, shutter speed, RAW capture. NightCap's "Stars mode" automatically accumulates multiple long exposures and combines them. For aurora specifically, set Halide to ISO 1600, 8-second shutter, RAW. NightCap's Astrophotography mode can be set to 5–10 second individual exposures, which works better for moving aurora than stacking modes.

Settings reference for iPhone aurora:

  • App: Halide, NightCap, or ProRAW mode in Camera
  • Shutter: 5–8 seconds
  • ISO: 800–1600 (iPhone handles 1600 cleanly on 15/16 Pro)
  • Lens: widest available (0.5x ultra-wide lens on Pro models)
  • Format: RAW or ProRAW
  • White balance: 4000 K if manually controllable; Auto WB if not
  • Focus: tap to focus on a star or distant object; lock focus
  • Tripod: essential

Samsung Galaxy: best settings for northern lights

Samsung Galaxy flagships (S22, S23, S24, S25 series; also Z Fold series) have the best manual control of any major phone brand for aurora photography, primarily through the Expert RAW app.

Expert RAW app (free, Samsung Galaxy Store): Professional-grade manual controls including ISO, shutter speed (up to 30 seconds), white balance, RAW capture, and an astrophoto stacking mode. For aurora:

  • Mode: Manual or Astrophoto
  • ISO: 800–1600
  • Shutter speed: 6–8 seconds
  • Format: RAW (not processed JPG)
  • Lens: 0.6x or 1x (not the telephoto zoom)
  • White balance: 4000 K
  • Tripod: required

Pro Video in stock Camera app: Also provides manual control in the standard camera app. Less comprehensive than Expert RAW but available without installing a separate app.

Samsung's Galaxy S25 Ultra is one of the best phones currently available for aurora photography due to its large sensor, excellent computational noise reduction, and full manual RAW control. The processing pipeline in Expert RAW produces remarkably clean results at ISO 1600.

Google Pixel: best settings for northern lights

Google Pixel phones (Pixel 6 and later, ideally Pixel 8/9 Pro) have two relevant shooting modes:

Night Sight: Google's night photography mode, which uses machine learning to combine multiple exposures. On a tripod in darkness, Night Sight will automatically extend to 6–15 second exposures. It's excellent for static scenes but struggles with moving aurora — the AI scene merging can blur aurora movement into a smear. For slow or stationary aurora, Night Sight delivers very good results for a casual shooter.

Astrophotography mode (within Night Sight): Activated automatically when the phone is on a tripod in near-total darkness. Takes a 4-minute exposure broken into many short frames, combined computationally. Produces extraordinary Milky Way photos but is poorly suited for aurora — a 4-minute integration completely blurs any aurora movement. Only use Astrophotography mode for aurora if the display is completely stationary and you want maximum detail.

Pro mode: Manual ISO, shutter speed, and RAW capture. Set ISO 800, shutter 8 seconds for a starting point. The Pixel's RAW files have excellent detail and process well in Lightroom Mobile.

Other Android phones

Most mid-range and flagship Android phones from Huawei, OnePlus, Xiaomi, and Sony have Pro/Manual modes. The settings are the same regardless of brand:

  • ISO 800–1600
  • Shutter speed 5–8 seconds
  • RAW format if available
  • Widest lens (not zoomed in)
  • Tripod

The difference between phones is primarily in sensor size, lens quality, and noise reduction processing. A OnePlus 12 Pro or Xiaomi 14 Ultra will outperform a mid-range phone significantly, but both will be outperformed by an iPhone 16 Pro or Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra due to the larger sensors and better computational processing.

When phones work and when they don't

Here's an honest assessment of phone aurora capability by aurora activity level:

  • Kp 0–1 (faint glow on horizon): Phones will struggle. The aurora may be too dim even for night mode to register. You might see a faint grey-green in a very long Night Sight exposure, but it won't look like aurora.
  • Kp 2–3 (overhead aurora, slow movement): Possible with the best phones (iPhone 16 Pro, Samsung S25 Ultra) in Pro/Expert RAW mode. Results will be grainy but recognisably aurora. Night mode may show the colour; manual RAW will be cleaner.
  • Kp 4–5 (active aurora, some movement): Good results from flagship phones. Night mode works well when aurora is slow. Manual mode (5–8 s) freezes moderate movement. This is the sweet spot for phone aurora photography.
  • Kp 6+ (fast substorm displays): The aurora is bright enough that phones can capture it easily, but speed is the challenge. Drop shutter to 2–3 seconds and raise ISO to 3200 to freeze fast movement. Results will be noisy but dynamic.

Composition tips for phone aurora photos

The same composition principles that apply to camera aurora photography apply to phones — but phones have one advantage: the ultra-wide lens on modern phones (0.5x on iPhone, 0.6x on Samsung) takes in a wider field of view than most camera wide-angle lenses without a dedicated ultra-wide attachment. This makes it easier to include both the aurora and an interesting foreground in a single frame.

  • Use the ultra-wide lens (0.5x or 0.6x) for maximum sky coverage. Avoid zooming in.
  • Include a foreground: a snow-covered lakeside, a dock, a mountain silhouette, a illuminated tent.
  • Use Portrait mode for a different effect: bokeh behind your subject with aurora behind. Works well with a person as the foreground.
  • Tap to set exposure on the aurora, not the brightest point in the frame. iPhone's exposure dot allows you to lock both focus and exposure.

Processing your aurora phone shots

Phone RAW files from aurora shoots benefit significantly from processing in Lightroom Mobile (free tier is sufficient):

  • Reduce noise: Lightroom's AI Denoise works on mobile RAW files and dramatically cleans up high-ISO phone shots. Apply at 60–80 strength.
  • Lift exposure slightly and recover shadows to reveal foreground detail.
  • Adjust white balance to 4000 K if the image looks too orange or too blue.
  • Reduce saturation of greens by 10–15% — phone green processing often over-saturates aurora to an unrealistic neon tone.
  • Add a slight S-curve for contrast.

Snapseed (free) is an alternative to Lightroom with a simpler interface. The selective tool and healing brush are useful for cleaning up hot pixels that appear in long phone exposures.

Phone aurora vs camera: honest comparison

What a dedicated camera with a fast wide lens gives you that a phone cannot match:

  • Freezing fast aurora: A camera at f/2.0, ISO 3200, 3 seconds captures a fast substorm cleanly. A phone at ISO 3200, 3 seconds shows significant noise and limited detail.
  • Dynamic range: Camera RAW has 12–14 stops of dynamic range; phone RAW has 10–12 stops. The aurora's bright centre vs dark sky contrast is better handled by cameras.
  • Print quality: Camera images at 24–45 megapixels with clean ISO 1600 processing are suitable for large prints. Phone aurora photos are excellent for screens but start showing limitations at A3 print size.
  • Faint aurora: A camera with f/1.8 aperture collects roughly 6x more light than a phone in the same 8 seconds. Faint aurora that registers as green on a camera appears grey-white on a phone.

What a phone gives you over a camera:

  • Instant sharing — aurora on your phone is on Instagram before the display ends
  • Ultra-wide lens standard on most flagships (cameras require a dedicated ultra-wide lens costing €200+)
  • Lighter and easier to carry for spontaneous aurora moments
  • Good enough results for most social media use cases