Readings with LightReadings with Light is now an app. Not one you have to find in a store, make yet another account for and wait to download — the site itself, installed. It gets its own icon on your phone's home screen or on your computer, it opens full-screen with no browser bars around it, and, if you want it to, it can tap you on the shoulder when there is something worth coming back for.
Nothing about your account moves. Your journal, your crystals and your place on the Fool's Journey are exactly where you left them, because it is the same site.
What changes when you install it
- It opens like an app. One tap on the icon, full screen, straight to the cards.
- It can remind you — only if you ask it to. Three reminders, described below, each with its own switch.
- A small number on the icon, on devices that support it, counting the reminders you have not looked at yet. It clears when you open the app.
- It updates itself. When there is a new version you will see a short line at the bottom of the screen with a Refresh button. There is no store update to remember.
The three reminders
A reminder is an interruption, and tarot is something you come to rather than something that should chase you — so there are three, and only three. None of them is about buying anything: no crystals, no offers, no "you left something in your basket".
- The card of the day, at 9:00 in your morning. It is skipped if you have already opened the app that day.
- Your next card on the Fool's Journey, at 9:00 — only while you are walking it, and not once you have turned today's card.
- The moon pull, at 18:00 on the day of a new or full moon. That is twice a month, and the pull is open for that day only.
"Your morning" really is yours. The times follow the clock where you are, so a reminder meant for nine o'clock never reaches you at four in the morning because it was sent from somewhere else.
How to install it
At the bottom of the front page there is an Install the app row with three icons — iPhone & iPad, Android and Windows. Tap yours and it shows the steps. They are here as well.
On an iPhone or iPad, in Safari:
- Tap Share, then Add to Home Screen.
- Open Readings with Light from your home screen.
Open it from that icon rather than from Safari — only the installed version can send reminders, and that needs iOS 16.4 or newer. Apple does not let a website start an install for you, which is why on an iPhone it is two taps in a menu rather than a button.
On Android, in Chrome:
- Tap the menu (⋮), then Install app. If your browser offers it, the Android icon on the front page also gives you an Install button.
- Open Readings with Light from your home screen.
On Windows, in Chrome or Edge:
- Click the install icon at the right-hand end of the address bar — or open the menu (⋮) and choose Install.
- It opens in a window of its own, which you can pin to the taskbar like any other program.
Turning reminders on, off, and back on
The first time you open the installed app it asks once whether you would like reminders. Say yes, or say Not now; either way it does not ask again. And either way you can change your mind: open your journal, tap Settings, and under Your reminders you will find a switch for each of the three, a way to turn everything off on that device and — if you said no at first — a button to turn them on.
Two things worth knowing. Reminders belong to the device: switching them on for your phone does not switch them on for your laptop, so you choose per device. And if your browser has blocked notifications for the site, Settings says so, because only the browser can undo that.
What it does not do
- It is not an offline app. A reading is written for your question, so it needs a connection. Without one you get a short page saying so; nothing you have kept is lost.
- It is not in the App Store or Google Play. That is deliberate: it keeps one account, one balance of crystals and one price list on every device you use.
What we keep
Reminders need a few small facts to work: the address your browser's notification service gives your device, your language and time zone (so a reminder arrives in your morning, in your language), which reminders you chose, and the day you last opened the app (so we do not remind you of a card you have already seen). If you are signed in these are linked to your account; if you are not, only to that device. The messages themselves are encrypted on the way through Apple's, Google's, Mozilla's or Microsoft's notification service, which carries them but cannot read them. The full detail is in About & Privacy, and turning reminders off removes all of it.
Try it
Scroll to the bottom of the front page, tap the icon for your device and follow the two steps. If you want to see what a reminder is like with the least commitment, switch on the card of the day and leave the rest off — you can always add the others later. We wrote about what the journal is for in an earlier post, and it is where all of this lives.