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How to build an astrology app: the parts that take longest
· 96Astro API team · Guides
What you need before launch, where the time really goes, and what to leave to an API.
The chart screen is the easy part. These are the parts that take longer than people expect.
Getting the birth details right
Place search with time zones comes first, because everything depends on it. Offer a search box and not a free text field, and take the local time as written. Decide what happens when someone does not know their birth time, and say so plainly. See birth times and time zones.
Deciding what people come back for
A birth chart gets opened once. People come back for something that changes: a daily horoscope, the panchang, a transit, a dasha that has just changed. Plan one daily reason to open the app before you plan the tenth report.
Languages
Most Indian users do not want English. Decide early, because translated text changes your layouts. Field values should stay as stable identifiers, with the text translated separately.
Costs at scale
Cache what does not change. A birth chart never changes, so store it. A panchang is the same for a date and a city. A daily horoscope is the same for a sign and a day. Caching often removes most of your calls.
How you make money
Paid reports are the most common start: a PDF or an audio report for a topic that matters to someone, such as marriage or career. Consultations pay more but need astrologers.
Trust
Astrology users compare. Someone will open your chart next to the one their family astrologer made, and if the ascendant differs they will assume your app is wrong. Show the ayanamsha and the time zone you used on the chart screen, and let people check their birth details easily. Most complaints turn out to be a wrong birth time or place, and a screen that shows what was used settles them quickly.
Be careful with predictions about health, death and money. Say what the chart shows as a tendency, and do not frighten people.
A sensible first version
- Sign-up, and birth details with place search.
- A chart with planets and a dasha.
- One daily feature.
- One paid report.
The quickstart takes minutes, and building a birth chart app goes further.