Help center

• Ages 13+
• Up to today's max

1. Tanning timers are for ages 13+. Under 18, sessions are sized gentler. Tap the orange sun at the right end of the tab bar (Start a session) to open pre-flight from any tab.
2. Check What's on your skin? and change it if you need to: Sol sizes today's time around your sunscreen and anything over it. The estimate is not a guarantee of protection from UV damage.
3. Set your minutes: tap the number to type, drag the slider, or use − and +. The dial stops at today's max.
4. Tap Start session. In Before you go out, tick water, and your SPF if you chose one, then tap Let's glow to begin the clock.
5. Flip cues follow the rotation shown on your timer, which may have more than two sides. Already turned over? Tap the flip line in the ring to take the flip early.
6. The bar at the bottom holds End session, Extend (more minutes, up to today's max) and Pause.
7. Tap End session to finish early. At the plan limit, move out of direct sun and tap Finish session; elapsed recording continues until you finish.

1. It comes up after Start session, Log time outside or a Tan anyway start, and in a group's lobby when you're going out.
2. Sol needs Water within reach, and your SPF if you chose one. With no SPF chosen, Sol recommends Put on SPF 30+, or Put on SPF 50+ when your skin or today's UV calls for it: it's optional, and ticking it sizes your time around that SPF.
3. Under Nice to have, tick what applies: any oil, butter or gel you use, Shades and a towel, and Meds double-checked if your skin profile lists sun sensitivity. These never block the start.
4. The line under the button names what's still missing. Once what Sol needs is ticked, the button starts it: Let's glow for a guided session, Start logging for a log.
5. Fewer tips? Profile → Guidance → Just the essentials keeps water and the SPF tick, plus Meds double-checked when it applies.

1. During a guided session, tap Extend in the bar at the bottom.
2. Set the new length: tap the number to type, drag the slider, or use − and +. It goes up to today's max, the same limit as the dial on pre-flight, and comes down if the UV rises or your protection drops.
3. Tap the button that names your new length, for example “Extend to 25 min”, or “Keep 20 min” to leave your plan as it is. Your flips and reminders move with it.
4. With no room left, Extend greys out and reads At today's max. It isn't offered on a log, on Tan anyway, after the planned time, or on a timer Solmate restored after closing.

1. Under the ring, tap the right-hand circle, the one with Change in it, to update what's on your skin.
2. Pick Changed just now (it affects only the time left) or Wasn't really on (it re-credits the time already spent and can end the session there and then). Choose the sunscreen on now; the sheet shows what that does to your time before you tap Update protection.
3. Been in the water or sweating? Tap Swam, Sweated or Toweled off in the same sheet. Your sunscreen is marked due and the Time to reapply card comes up.
4. That card also comes up by itself after two hours in the sun. Put sunscreen back on and tap Done: that restarts your two-hour reapply reminder from right now, without changing your time.
5. The clock keeps running the whole time; a session never pauses for this.

• Adults 18+
• Once per rest day
• Not while skin is tender

1. On a rest day the main button reads Log time outside. Tan anyway sits under it when today allows one: adults only, one per rest day, never while your skin is tender.
2. Tap Tan anyway, read why Sol recommends resting, and tick “Sol recommends resting today. I understand and choose to go out.”
3. Set your minutes: type, slide or use − and +. It opens at Sol's rest-day limit and stops at a normal day's maximum; past the limit, the sentence you tick names your minutes. Any change clears the tick.
4. Tap the start button, for example “Start 5 min timer”, then in Before you go out, tick water, and your SPF if you chose one. It counts down with flips, and Sol calls time.
5. It goes into your history and counts toward your weekly UV, your streak and your Passport. It restarts the rest between sessions, and it never advances your plan or counts toward badges.

• Ages 13+

1. On a rest day the main button reads Log time outside. Use it when you're outside anyway but not tanning. Quick start can start one on any day.
2. Tick water, and your SPF if you chose one, then tap Start logging.
3. It counts up like a stopwatch, with no flips. The ring fills toward your shade reminder, where Sol says Time to head into shade: Finish log ends it, and Keep logging carries on counting.
4. It goes into your history and counts toward your weekly UV, your streak, your Passport and the rest between sessions. It never advances your plan or counts toward badges.
5. Sol keeps reading the UV while Solmate is open on screen. If the phone stays locked, the log can end up saved without a UV dose, and then it adds nothing to your weekly UV.

• Everyone
• Up to 30 days back

1. On Tan, open Tan Diary → History and tap + at the top. It's for time outside that already happened and wasn't timed.
2. Pick when it started: 1 hr ago, This morning, or Pick… for any time in the last 30 days.
3. Set how long, from 1 minute to 12 hours, then tap Save.
4. It's your estimate, with no UV or protection record, so it carries no dose. It shows in your history and counts toward the rest between sessions, but not toward your weekly UV, streak or Passport, and it never advances your plan.
5. For 7 days from the time you enter, Sol notes that your weekly UV estimate is incomplete, and Deepen can't step up.
6. Don't add time that's already in your history.

1. Quick start is for ages 13+. Under 18, sessions are sized gentler. Open Profile → In your sessions → Quick start.
2. Under What it starts, pick Tanning session or Log time outside.
3. For Back Tap, set it up once in your iPhone's Settings: Accessibility → Touch → Back Tap → Double Tap, then pick Solmate Quick start under Shortcuts.
4. On iPhones with an Action button: Settings → Action Button → Shortcut → Solmate Quick start. For Siri, say “Solmate quick start”; there's nothing to set up.
5. The card asks for water, and your SPF if you chose one, then Start. The timer runs on your Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island, and your iPhone may ask you to unlock first. Live Activities need to be on for Solmate.
6. On a rest day the card offers Log time outside, or Tan anyway with its tick. If it can't start, it says why and offers Open Solmate.

1. On Today or Tan, tap Show all under Recent sessions (it appears once you have more than three). On Profile, tap the calendar's Sessions header to open at that month.
2. Sessions are grouped by month, with each month's totals. Tap one to see its details.
3. Filter with the bar at the bottom: Type (guided, Tan anyway, logs or past time), When, Place and Friends. The arrows button sorts Newest first, Oldest first or Longest first.
4. Clear turns the filters off and keeps your sort. Filters also reset when you leave the page.

For ages 13+, Solmate estimates a time from current UV, skin-response answers, protection and recent recorded exposure. It uses an estimate for your skin type, not a measurement of your personal burn threshold. A timer or suggested time does not guarantee that you won't burn or be harmed by UV. Stop for discomfort and follow your clinician's advice.

The most Sol suggests for today at the protection you chose: the top of the dial on pre-flight. It's Sol's estimate for your skin and today's UV, and shorter on a recovery day. Extend and Quick start never go past it. Solmate checks again as you start: if today's max has dropped, the dial comes down to it and a line says why, such as “The UV rose to 7.4, so today's maximum is now 18 min.” Tap Start session again to begin.

It's the orange sun in its own circle at the right end of the tab bar. It opens pre-flight from any tab without leaving it, rest days included. While your own timer or a group room is running it steps aside, and the bar above the tabs takes its place; tap that bar to get back to your timer.

Estimates can differ because of skin-response answers, protection, sun-sensitivity information, recent recorded exposure and current conditions. Your friend's timer is not a recommendation for you. Under 18, sessions are sized gentler.

The live UV index wherever you are, your Fitzpatrick skin type and sun-sensitivity answers, the sunscreen and products you declare, the exposure recorded over the last 7 days, your diary's skin reports, the rest between sessions, and which plan mode and rung you're on. Your goal shade travels with the plan so Sol can talk about your progress toward it, but it doesn't change today's number — the dose is sized to your skin and the sky, not to how tan you're hoping to end up.

Solmate works out UV dose from live UV readings, which it keeps fresh while the app is open on screen. If a timer runs on with the phone locked after its reading runs out, the session is saved without a UV dose, and so is time you add with Log past time. It still counts toward the rest between sessions but adds nothing to your weekly UV. For 7 days after it, Sol notes that your weekly estimate is incomplete, and Deepen can't step up.

No. Tanning estimates, the eligible personal timer and flip alerts do not require Premium. Live UV, the day's outlook, adding friends and nudging them are also free. Premium adds group sessions, Ask Sol, progress scans, every Learn read, custom app icons and a verification badge beside your name. Age and feature-availability rules still apply.

1. For your plan, open Profile → Tan Plan Preferences.
2. Under Plan mode, choose Base, Deepen, or Maintain — each card names the dose it asks for and what evidence, if any, backs it.
3. Set Rest between sessions and a Preferred time of day if you want either; both explain what they actually change on the same screen.
4. Deepen only advances a rung after you log a Great skin report and then finish a guided session — reading the plan doesn't earn it. Logs, Tan anyway and past time never do.

1. On Tan, tap Tan Diary. A minute, tops.
2. Pick how your skin feels — Tender, Okay or Great — then any sun without SPF, the SPF you actually wore, water and a note. Tap Save entry.
3. Tender tells Sol to rest your skin and ease the plan back a step. Okay keeps the plan where it is. Great may let Sol step the plan up.
4. History on the same card opens Diary history: every day by month, with Skin feel and With photos filters. Tap a day for its entry, or one of its sessions.
5. A diary check-in also counts toward your week streak.

These are planning modes for ages 13+, sized gentler under 18. Base uses a fixed fraction of your skin type's estimated burn threshold; Deepen starts from Base and can increase in steps after eligible recorded sessions and skin reports, up to a ceiling Sol sets. Maintain uses a lower fixed fraction. None establishes a safe UV dose or guarantees a particular shade. A Great report is your observation, not medical clearance to increase exposure.

Rest between sessions sets the gap between session starts: Every other day (48 hours), Every third day (72 hours), or Listen to my skin (48 hours, stretching to 72 after a Tender report). It's a floor, not an override: if Sol's own brakes call for more (a spent weekly dose budget or a tender skin report), those win over your choice, never the other way round. Time of day is a window preference, not a dose lever — it moves WHEN Sol proposes a session, never how much UV it asks for. A gentler hour means a longer sit for the same dose; if your preferred window can't reach the dose inside the comfort ceiling, Sol names the day's actual best window instead.

Only the hour it happens at, never the ceiling. A stated preference can move when Sol proposes a session or how much rest sits between two of them, but it can't buy clock time past what the comfort ceiling already refused.

Questions about your own tanning, from what's in your account. With each question Sol gets today's plan and UV, the UV for the next six days, your last week of sessions and diary entries, your goal and the cap on it, when the rest between sessions ends, your weekly UV, your streak, your sunscreen and products, your Passport cities and your badge progress. So you can ask “Can I tan today?”, “When's my best time this week?” or “Why is my goal capped?” Open it from Ask Sol on Today. Ask Sol is for adults 18+ with Premium.

On Tan, tap Learn (“The science behind your plan”). It opens as its own page: filter by Basics, Safety or Aftercare, and tap a read to open it. Every read is part of Premium; without it, you can still see what each one covers. At the end of a read, Ask Sol about this takes the question to Sol.

1. On Tan, open Your progress → Progress details & scan → Start a face scan. Face scans are part of Premium; your day-one photo from setup is free, and photos you've taken stay yours either way.
2. Center your face in soft daylight. For adults, Scan & analyze sends that one photo to OpenAI for a shade estimate; Keep photo only keeps it on this iPhone so you can choose a shade yourself.
3. Review Sol's suggestion, or tap Make it yours to swipe to the closest match, then save the shade. Asking Sol about a kept photo later shows Let Sol take a look? first, with Analyze photo or Choose a shade myself.
4. Review any suggestion before confirming it. A new photo asks permission again. A photo cannot establish Fitzpatrick skin type, and its shade does not automatically change your answers or exposure limits.

Take a face photo, then tap Scan & analyze (or Ask Sol later) for a suggestion from Solmate's existing shades. Face scans are part of Premium; your day-one photo from setup is free. You review the sharing details first and confirm the shade yourself. Lighting and camera settings can affect the result. A photo does not establish skin type or sun sensitivity, and confirming a shade does not change your questionnaire answers or exposure limits.

A photo cannot establish how easily you burn or diagnose a skin condition. Keep your skin-response answers accurate. If something hurts, blisters or worries you, seek medical advice instead of relying on a scan.

Sol’s shade suggestion runs only after you allow sharing that photo. A copy goes through Solmate's server to OpenAI without automatically attaching your questionnaire, notes or chat. You are asked each time. Saving locally does not require analysis. Suggestions can be wrong and are not a diagnosis; see the sharing details and Privacy Policy for processing and retention information. Photo suggestions are for adults 18+.

1. Open Profile → Friends → Add a solmate.
2. Type their username or code, tap Scan a code to scan their QR, or Show my code so they can scan yours. Find friends from Contacts matches people you know.
3. Once someone is found, Add friend and Follow sit side by side: neither needs the other first. Adding sends a request — they have to accept before you're friends. Requests to you wait under Waiting on you, with Accept and Decline.
4. Following shares their passport; if their profile is private, Request to follow waits for their OK. If their requests are off, you can still follow.

1. Open Profile → Friends. Tap 👆 beside a friend, or tap their name to open their page and use Nudge there.
2. A nudge is one tap on the shoulder — no session, no timer. It's free.
3. Once sent, the button reads Nudged and rests until you can nudge that friend again: once every 3 hours.
4. Their page also shows their streak, whether they're out in the sun, their badge, their follower counts and their Passport (Follow to see it). Block or report and Remove from circle are at the bottom.

• Premium for everyone in the room
• Ages 13+; each timer is personal

1. The host and every guest need Solmate Premium. Tap the orange sun, then Tan with friends — or Invite to session on a friend's page.
2. Pick friends and tap Open the lobby. In the lobby, everyone picks Going out (their own timer) or Music and friends (no timer), and ticks what they need.
3. The host taps Open the room once their own list is ticked. Friends who are going out start their own timers.
4. From age 13, each person uses their own guidance, not the host's exposure allowance. Under 18, sessions are sized gentler. Music and friends never starts a timer.
5. The music choices are shared, while Apple Music plays independently on phones with playback access. You can remain in the room in shade after finishing your own timer, or choose Leave group.

Open Profile → Friends → Add a solmate. Type their username or code, tap Scan a code to scan their QR, or Show my code so they can scan yours; Find friends from Contacts matches people you know. Once someone is found, Add friend and Follow are two separate choices. Adding sends a request — they have to accept before you're friends. Following shares their passport and needs no friendship; if their profile is private, Request to follow waits for their OK. If they've turned requests off, you can still follow.

Open Profile → View public profile to see your page as friends do. Friends see your name, photo and username (and your cover photo if you add one, and your badge, with Premium), your streak, your follower counts, and a live dot while you're tanning if Show friends when I'm tanning is on in Privacy. People who follow your passport see its stamps and tallies (for ages 13–17, only friends who follow). Turn on Private profile in Privacy and only friends and followers you approve see your streak, live dot, passport and cover; everyone else sees your name, photo, username and badge, and new followers ask first. Your sessions, photos and history are never shown.

A host invites people into a shared room, where they can get ready and choose music together. The host and every guest need Solmate Premium. To host, tap the orange sun and then Tan with friends, or Invite to session on a friend's page. In the lobby, each person picks Going out (their own timer) or Music and friends (no timer). From age 13, each person uses their own guidance. Under 18, sessions are sized gentler. A host's start does not give everyone the same exposure allowance, and finishing your own timer does not require leaving the room.

The room shares song choices and their order. Each phone plays independently through Apple Music when it has playback access; a catalog-only participant can help choose songs without playing them on that phone. Spotify connection and playback are unavailable.

1. Keep Location on for Solmate, so Sol stamps the city you're really in.
2. Finish a guided session, Tan anyway or Log time outside in a city you haven't tanned in before.
3. Your Tan Passport stamps that city automatically when you tap Done on Session complete.
4. Open the Tan Passport card on Profile any time to see the stamps you've collected.
5. Log past time and Music and friends don't stamp a city.

Your Tan Passport, on Profile: a record of where you've tanned, kept as stamps — one per city, pressed the first time you finish a timer there.

Finish a guided session, Tan anyway or Log time outside in a city that doesn't have a stamp yet. Sol stamps the city it's reading when your timer starts, so keep Location on for the city you're really in. The stamp is pressed when you tap Done on Session complete — there's nothing extra to tap. Log past time and Music and friends don't stamp a city.

1. Open Profile → Music → Playlist to reach Music settings, and Connect Apple Music if you want playback.
2. Pick a Tan playlist. Start music with session plays it as your timer starts; it's on until you turn it off.
3. Apple Music plays inside Solmate with playback access. You can also create a Solmate playlist and choose songs without a playback subscription. Spotify is unavailable for now.
4. Nothing connected just means a session runs without music.

Apple Music, from Profile → Music → Playlist. Listening on your phone requires Apple Music playback access. You can search for songs and save Solmate playlists without a playback subscription. Spotify connection and playback are unavailable for now. With nothing connected, a session can still run without music.

1. Scroll Profile down to Notifications.
2. Switch each kind on or off: flip reminders, UV peak alerts, sunscreen reapply, recovery day, and a trial reminder during a trial. Streak nudges and Friend started tanning stay off until you turn them on.
3. Alert me above UV sets the line for UV peak alerts, and Haptic only makes reapply reminders silent.
4. Check Allow notifications at the top of the group — if iOS permission is off, none of these reach you regardless of your switches here.

The Notifications group on Profile has switches for flip reminders, UV peak alerts, sunscreen reapply and recovery days, plus a trial reminder during a trial. Streak nudges and a friend starting a session stay off until you turn them on. Each needs its relevant conditions: flip cues follow an eligible personal timer's rotation, and trial reminders require a real trial. iOS permission also applies; a switch alone does not guarantee an alert will be delivered.

1. Open Profile → Subscription to see your plan and what it includes.
2. Tap Manage subscription to change or cancel it in Apple's own sheet. Billing stays with your Apple Account.

1. Open Profile and tap Verification badges, under your name.
2. Every full session counts, past ones too: a guided session run to its planned time. Bronze comes at 50, Silver at 100 and Gold at 150.
3. Logs, sessions ended early and Tan anyway don't count, so a badge never rewards skipping a rest day.
4. Badges are a Premium perk: yours shows beside your name on your profile, your public page and friends' lists. Without Premium it's hidden, and your progress is saved.
5. Blue and black checks are given by the Solmate team.

Group sessions, Ask Sol, progress scans, every Learn read, custom app icons and a verification badge beside your name. Adding friends and nudging them are free; the host and every guest need Premium to join a live group session. Tanning timers are for ages 13+. Premium does not change the 18+ rule for Tan anyway, Ask Sol and Sol's photo analysis.

A free trial depends on the selected plan and your Apple Account's eligibility. Check the trial duration, price after the trial and renewal terms shown in Solmate and Apple's purchase sheet before confirming; if no eligible trial is shown, the displayed purchase price applies. Subscriptions renew through the App Store, where you can manage or cancel renewal at any time. Trial reminders depend on your notification settings and do not cancel a subscription.

Open Profile → Legal → Restore purchases; the plan screen has the same button at the bottom. Make sure your iPhone is signed in to the Apple Account that paid. If it still finds nothing, write to us with your App Store receipt.

Refunds are Apple's to give: Apple takes the payment, and Solmate never sees your card. Ask for one at reportaproblem.apple.com.

1. Solmate's minimum account age is 13. Keep your stated age accurate.
2. Tanning timers, Log time outside, Log past time and Quick start are for ages 13+.
3. Under 18, sessions are sized gentler. Passport stamps are available too; badges need Premium.
4. Tan anyway, Ask Sol and photo scans are for adults 18+. You can use other features without sharing anything with an AI service.

Tanning timers are for ages 13+. Tan anyway, Ask Sol and photo scans are for adults 18+. Under 18, sessions are sized gentler. Quick start, outdoor logs and Passport stamps are available from 13; badges need Premium.

1. Open Profile and tap View public profile, under your name.
2. It's your page exactly as a friend sees it, with only what your privacy settings share.
3. What friends see lists each part: your name, photo and username (and your cover photo and badge, when you have them), your streak, a live dot while you're tanning, your passport for followers — and never your sessions, photos or history.
4. Turn on Private profile under Privacy and only friends and followers you approve see your streak, live dot, passport and cover; new followers ask first, under Following and followers. To hide the live dot, turn off Show friends when I'm tanning.

1. Open Profile and tap View public profile, under your name.
2. Tap Add cover photo and pick a photo. Drag to reposition and pinch to zoom, then tap Save.
3. It's the banner across the top of your page, behind your profile photo. Anyone who can see your profile photo sees your cover too, and like your profile photo it's served from a public link, so pick one you're happy to share.
4. To swap it or take it down, tap the pencil on the banner, then Change or Remove.
5. Deleting your account deletes your cover photo too.

1. Ask Sol is for adults 18+ with Premium. The first time you ask Sol anything, it shows what each question sends and what's never sent, and asks your OK.
2. Tap Allow and ask to send the question you tapped, or Not now to send nothing and turn Ask Sol off. Your OK is saved to your account, so a new phone doesn't ask again.
3. Each question goes through Solmate's server to a trusted AI service. The Privacy Policy names it.
4. To change your answer, turn Ask Sol on or off under Privacy on Profile. Off hides Ask Sol and sends nothing until you turn it back on there; What Ask Sol sends shows the list again.

1. Solmate counts how the app is used, like which setup screens people reach and how often sessions start, so Sol can get better. It never sends your photos, chats, location, skin answers, email, name or username.
2. To stop it on this phone, turn off Share usage analytics under Privacy on Profile. It stops at once and stays off on this phone, even after you sign out.

1. Open Profile and tap Delete Account, at the bottom.
2. Read what gets deleted, including sessions, places, friends, your skin profile and conversations with Sol. This can't be undone. The Privacy Policy explains retained safety and operational records; photos separately saved to your camera roll remain there.
3. If you're on Premium, cancel at Apple first — deleting the account here doesn't cancel the subscription or stop the billing.
4. Type DELETE to confirm, then tap Delete my account. There's no confirmation alert after that.

Before your first question, Ask Sol asks your OK and lists what each question sends. Turn it off anytime in Profile → Privacy, and Ask Sol stays hidden until you turn it back on there. Each question sends your message and recent chat through Solmate's server to a trusted AI service, with a snapshot of your Solmate account so Sol can answer about you: your name and questionnaire answers, skin type and sun sensitivity, goal and its cap, sunscreen and products, today's plan, the UV now and for the next six days, the last 7 days of sessions and diary entries (notes included), your streak, weekly UV and rest timing, Passport cities, reminder settings, Premium and badge progress, the place Sol is reading, your time zone and saved places, how many friends you have, and your Notes for Sol. It doesn't send your photos, only how many you have and your latest shade reading. Successful conversations are saved so you can reopen them. The Privacy Policy names the service, and its processing is not a promise of zero retention.

Solmate counts how the app is used so Sol can get better: which setup screens people reach, when sessions start and finish, what happens on the Premium screens, and how often Ask Sol, scans, Learn, friends, rooms and music are used. It never sends your photos, chats, location, skin answers, email, name or username. Until you save your plan they're anonymous; saving your plan ties them to your account ID. An analytics service processes them for us, and the Privacy Policy names it. To stop them on this phone, turn off Share usage analytics in Profile → Privacy.

Your account data: sessions and dose history, your places, trips and passport stamps, friends, followers and any group room you started, your skin profile, profile photo and cover photo, and everything you and Sol have said to each other. It can't be undone. If you're on Premium, deleting the account here does not cancel an Apple subscription — cancel that separately in your Apple Account or you'll keep being charged for an account that no longer exists. Your username also goes back into the pool the moment it finishes. Some safety and operational records may remain as described in the Privacy Policy.

Original progress photos live in Solmate’s storage on your phone. A copy is sent through Solmate's server to OpenAI only when you tap Scan & analyze or Analyze photo for that photo. See our Privacy Policy for provider processing details. Photos you've taken stay yours with or without Premium. Anything you separately save to your camera roll is yours and stays in your library even after account deletion.

New accounts get a short tour after setup: Today's answer card, the start button, Tan, your Passport on Profile and Ask Sol. Skip ends it at any step. To see it again, open Profile → Need help? → Take the tour.

Open Profile → Feedback → Leave a review. It opens Solmate's App Store page, ready for your review.

No. Solmate signs you in with a six-digit code sent to your email, which expires in an hour. The sign-in screen also offers Sign in with Apple.