How World Noon works
Solar noon, not clock noon
Solar noon is the moment the Sun crosses your local meridian. It changes with longitude and the date, and does not usually happen at 12:00 on a clock. We use a pinned solar model; this is a game, not an astronomical instrument.
The daily catch window
Tap "Catch the light" from 45 seconds before until 45 seconds after solar noon. Choose a city for the calendar day your streak counts on. That city locks until its next midnight; update it when traveling after the lock ends. Device location gives your own solar time; without location, you can catch the chosen city's approximate solar noon. The server checks its own time, not your device clock or browser timezone. Location claims and manual city choices can still be spoofed.
Streaks and confirmation
One catch counts per calendar day in the chosen city. Earlier dates never add another catch; crossing the date line can delay a catch or reset a streak. Your streak only changes after the server confirms the catch; the screen then shows your updated streak. If the connection fails, you see an error with a Retry button and nothing is counted until it succeeds within the window. Catching twice the same day simply confirms you already caught it. Miss a day and the streak starts again; earned history is kept.
Rewards
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Free to play
World Noon is free to play. There are no purchases, paid upgrades or donations. Glow and badges are earned through streak rewards.
Reminders
Fixed-clock reminders and daily 12:00 calendar exports are paused because solar noon changes each day. Old calendar files do not track solar noon; remove those reminders from your calendar. Check the home countdown for the next solar event.
Privacy
You play as an anonymous guest. Your selected city sets your public map dot. Device location is optional and used locally for the countdown. At catch time coordinates are sent privately to the server for the noon check, not stored in catch records. You can hide yourself from the leaderboard. See the privacy notice.