I have spent years experimenting with ways to photograph the Milky Way and the night sky using only a smartphone.
“Can you really capture the Milky Way and stars with a smartphone?”
Based on my own testing and shooting experience, I can confidently say that the answer is yes. I share my smartphone-only night sky and Milky Way photos on Flickr, and some of these images have been selected for Flickr Explore — something I believe is still quite rare for smartphone astrophotography.
Shot on iPhone 16 Pro
A smartphone-only night sky photo selected for Flickr Explore.
In the field of night sky photography, AI-generated images, photos taken with dedicated cameras, and stock-like images with unclear shooting equipment are becoming increasingly common.
The night sky and Milky Way example photos on this site are real smartphone-captured images, not AI-generated images.
For some of the photos I share on Flickr, EXIF data such as the camera model and shooting settings can also be viewed. EXIF data alone cannot prove every detail of how a photo was taken, but I believe it can serve as one helpful clue that the image was actually captured with a smartphone.
Smartphone astrophotography has a different kind of appeal from shooting with a dedicated camera.
Smartphones are easy to carry, can make use of a relatively deep depth of field, and each model has its own image processing, night mode, and computational photography features. I will continue exploring night sky photography that takes advantage of these smartphone-specific characteristics.
On this site, I publish smartphone astrophotography techniques and detailed guides for different phone models. I also update articles as new devices are released and as camera performance and image processing technology continue to evolve.
I hope this site will be helpful for anyone who wants to try photographing the night sky with a smartphone, or for those who are struggling to capture stars the way they want.
I hope you enjoy experiencing the fun of photographing the night sky with a smartphone.
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