In one sentence. You light a star and say why; other people see it shine, read it and keep you company. Nobody knows it’s yours, and after seven days it is deleted completely, unless you come back to keep it shining.
A universe where each star is a person sharing what weighs on them, what they hope for or what they’re grateful for; sometimes for themselves, sometimes for a loved one or for someone who is gone. There are no accounts, no names and no profiles. Just stars and the company of those who look at them.
You can arrange the stars your own way with the “Arrange” button, in the bar at the bottom (it is also in the menu). Drag each one wherever you like, or put them in order with one tap: most recent first, by what they carry, by who they shine for, yours in the centre or as at the start. Tap “Done” when you finish. Only you see this arrangement, on your device.
At the top right is the moon, in the phase it really is in today. It is a real NASA photograph. If you tap it, it opens large, with the name of its phase and how much of it is lit.
Anyone can read what you write, but nobody knows it’s yours. You can have up to 12 stars shining at once.
Each star shines for seven days. After that it is deleted completely, with everything people told it, and no copy is kept. You can change that like this:
Under “My stars” you can see how long each one has left. If you leave a star in the thanks space, a copy is kept there for 30 days, even after the star in the universe has gone out.
Tap a star to read why it shines. From there you can keep it company with a tap (“Keep it company”) or leave them words from the list. The phrases change with what the star carries: comfort for what weighs, hope for what is hoped for, joy for what is appreciated and remembrance for someone who is gone. You’ll see six; “More phrases” shows the rest. Whoever lit it will see how many times it has been kept company and which phrases they were told, but never by whom. And when you open any star, “What people have left them” unfolds the phrases it has received.
You can keep the same star company again after a minute. Each phrase can be sent to it once, and you can leave each star up to three phrases at a time: if you choose a fourth, the oldest is taken back and the new one goes in, so you can always change.
“Keep someone company” takes you, one by one, through the stars that have had the least company.
If a star says something it shouldn’t, tap “Report”. If several people report it, it is hidden and we review it.
Tap it in the universe, or find it in the menu under “My stars”. You’ll see how long it has been shining, how long it has left, how many times you’ve been kept company and what people have told you. And you can:
If you want to know even when the app is closed, turn on notifications: on your star, “Turn on notifications”, or in the menu, “Notifications”. Your device will let you know when someone keeps it company, at most once every ten minutes. On iPhone the app needs to be installed. You turn them off in the menu.
When you come back, the page tells you how many times you’ve been kept company since your last visit. It also tells you if a star you kept company has given thanks or said how it’s going, and in the menu, “What you have given” keeps count of the company you have given. If you lit it at night, it also tells you how many times you were kept company while you slept.
Whenever you like, on your star, choose one of the six: “Thank you for being with me”, “I have felt less alone”, “Your words have helped me”, “I feel at peace” and, under “More options”, “I won’t forget it” and “Today it’s my turn to keep someone company”. The star turns golden and anyone looking at it will see that. Then you can leave it for 30 days in the thanks space, in the menu, for others to read.
In the menu you’ll find free public helplines in Spain where a person will answer. If what you write talks about ending your life, the page shows them to you when you light the star. The page doesn’t call or alert anyone: you dial the number yourself.
The first time you come in, a window welcomes you and lets you choose the language; that letter is also in Who is behind this. Then two tips point out how to read a star and where to light your own. The rest appear one at a time, on later visits: how to keep one company, where to see the sky on a date, where the moon is, where to see only the sky, how to arrange the stars and where the menu is; and the first time you open your star or someone else’s, another tip explains what you can do. Each tip appears once; “Don’t show again” removes them all.
In the menu, “Install the app” puts it on your home screen. On iPhone, use Safari’s Share button and “Add to Home Screen”.
Each of your stars has “Delete it”. And in the menu, “Delete everything of mine” puts out and deletes all your stars and makes your device forget its code. This cannot be undone.
There are no accounts here. Your stars are recognised by a secret code created at random on your device. If you want to see them on another phone or a computer too, with everything people have left you, and be able to edit or delete them from there:
If you have arranged the stars your own way, the code the button copies carries that arrangement too, and on the other device you’ll see them placed the same way. If you type the code by hand, your stars arrive, but not the arrangement.
Keep the code to yourself: anyone who has it can see, edit and delete your stars. If you already had stars on the other device, the page will ask you before switching, because you will stop seeing them there. The first time you come in, the welcome window reminds you of this too.
No accounts, no names and no cookies. We don’t keep your IP address or anything that says who you are: nobody can know who you are, not even me. Your device keeps a random code so it knows which stars are yours. All the details are in the privacy policy.
It is for people aged 14 and over.
Under the title, a small line tells how many stars have been lit today and how many times people have kept each other company, all together. It is just two numbers for the day, with nothing about anyone. While they are very low, the line doesn’t appear.
On some nights we light stars together, at 21:00 (Spanish time): on 15 October, for the babies who left too soon; on 1 and 2 November, for our loved ones who have died; on 13 November, World Kindness Day, a star for someone; on 16 December, against unwanted loneliness; on 24 December, for those missing from the table; and on 31 December, for what we hope for from the year ahead.
From three days before, a notice appears on the home page. “Light mine” opens your star with what it carries and who it shines for already chosen, and “Add to my calendar” creates an appointment on your device; nothing is saved here. That night, until midnight, the notice says how many stars have been lit for it. If you light yours then, the sheet marks it with a button you can remove; the star only keeps the number of that night. The × closes the notice until the next one.
For a family, friends, a parish, a school, a funeral home or a work team. In the menu, “Create a group constellation”: you choose who you are, what your stars will carry and who they will shine for, from a list; no name is written. You get a link to share on WhatsApp or wherever you like.
Whoever comes in through that link sees the constellation: its stars joined by fine lines and the others, fainter. At the top it says, for example, “Constellation of a family · 12 stars”, and the star they light will be lit inside it (the sheet has a button in case they prefer to light it outside). Each star is still anonymous: nobody knows who lit which. The constellation goes out when its last star goes out; “Leave the constellation” takes you back to everyone’s sky.
Some blog articles carry a link that opens the lighting sheet with what it carries and who it shines for already chosen, for example “What weighs on me” and “For someone who is gone”. You can change it before lighting it.
Notice will be given right here in good time, so that you can save as an image whatever you want to keep. What is written here will not be sold or handed to anyone: it will be deleted.