Backgrounds & My Sky
What it is. What sits behind your stars — the apps and folders on your sky, your home screen. You have three choices: a flat color, your own image, or the real night sky above you right now. All three live at Settings › background & light › background.
A flat color
Behavior. A row of swatches sets the background color. The default is pure black, which makes stars stand out cleanly. Picking a color also clears any wallpaper image you had set.
Your own image
Behavior. "choose image" opens Android's own picker so you can pin any photo as wallpaper. Nothing is copied or uploaded — Zenith just points at the image you chose. "clear image" removes it.
Dimming. Once an image is set, an image dimming slider appears at Settings › background & light › image dimming. It darkens the wallpaper behind your stars so they stay readable. The default is 0.35, and the slider runs from 0 (no dimming) to 0.9 (heavily darkened).
My Sky — the real night sky (Gold)
What it is. My Sky renders the actual night sky for your location, right now, as your background. Turn on Settings › background & light › my sky — the real stars above you. This is (Gold); turning it on without Gold opens the upgrade screen.
Behavior. 1,322 real stars and all 88 constellations, each in its true place above you. Stars are placed by your location and the sidereal clock — the sky's own time — so they drift as the night turns, just like the real sky overhead. Granting the weather permission gives it true coordinates for where you are; without it, the sky is drawn as seen from the middle of the US. While you're away the sky doesn't turn; when you come back it catches up at once, with no spin.
Move around it. Three fingers move the sky: pinch and spread to zoom, drag to pan, twist to tilt — and a three-finger double tap recenters. The hint under the switch says the same: "three fingers: pinch and spread to zoom · drag to pan · twist to tilt — double tap to recenter."
My sky settings — one page for the whole phone (Gold)
While my sky is on, "my sky settings →" sits under the switch. It opens one page, full screen; Back closes it. Without Gold the page is dimmed and a tap opens the upgrade screen.
One record for every Zenith app. The version and every slider here are the phone's, not the launcher's: change them here and every Zenith app with my sky changes too. The switch itself is the launcher's own — turning my sky on or off here doesn't turn it on or off in another app.
The three versions.
| version | what it draws |
|---|---|
| "classic" | the first my sky: the brightest stars, with the big dipper, orion, cassiopeia, the southern cross and the summer triangle. Where it starts |
| "collection" | all 1,322 real stars, with as many constellations as the slider asks for, best known first |
| "carousel" | all 1,322 real stars; one constellation at a time fades in and out, picked from those wholly on your screen |
The sliders.
| slider | what it does | range | starts at |
|---|---|---|---|
| "constellations" | collection only — how many constellations get their lines: 1 is just the big dipper, 88 is all of them | 1 to 88 | 33 |
| "fade speed" | carousel only — seconds a constellation takes to fade in, and again to fade out | 1 to 10 s | 3 s |
| "display time" | carousel only — seconds it stays fully shown | 1 to 30 s | 6 s |
| "delay time" | carousel only — seconds of sky with no lines before the next one | 0 to 30 s | 5 s |
| "lens angle" | how much sky fits on the screen: 30° is a small patch, 180° is horizon to horizon | 30° to 180° | 145° |
| "vividness" | how bright the stars and their glow are | 20% to 200% | 100% |
| "rotation refresh" | how often the sky turns to match the real sky: constantly, or every 10 s up to 24 h | constantly to 24 h | 1 min |
| "rotation glide" | seconds each turn takes. Hidden while "rotation refresh" is "constantly" | 1 to 30 s | 2 s |
"constantly" uses the most battery; reduce motion makes the sky jump instead of glide.
Settings › about credits where the stars and figures come from: "star positions: Yale Bright Star Catalogue" and "constellation figures: IAU & Sky & Telescope (Sinnott, Fienberg), via d3-celestial by Olaf Frohn (BSD)", with "licenses →".
See also.
The sky — your whole home screen · Personalization — themes, icons & effects · The sky — layout, regions & skies · Zenith Gold — what unlocks in the launcher (Gold)