Candle lighting times by location: why exact beats a city list
Most calendars give one time for an entire city. But the sun does not know where the city limits are. Here is why it is worth knowing your exact location.
Why the time varies within an area
The sun passes over the earth at 15 degrees per hour, which means one degree of longitude equals about four minutes. Eighty five kilometers east, at the latitudes of Israel and New York, sunset comes about four minutes earlier. Across a large metropolitan area the difference between the edges can reach several minutes.
A city list therefore gives an approximation. In practice there are other factors as well: hills and mountains that hide the horizon, a valley versus a coast, and more. Calculating for the exact point where you are gives the result closest to the sun you actually see.
What the site does
When you open the site and allow access to your location, your browser gives it your coordinates, and the calculation is done on your device. The site shows the nearest city name and the candle lighting and Shabbat ending times for the coming week, along with a countdown to lighting. If you prefer not to share location, you can choose a city from the list, or go to the page for your city.
The default rules are simple: near Jerusalem, 40 minutes before sunset, anywhere else, 18 minutes, and you can change it.
Privacy
Here is how location is handled, consistent with our privacy policy:
- Your coordinates are used by your browser to calculate the times, and are not sent to us for that purpose.
- Preferences such as language, number of minutes and the last place are stored in your browser's local storage only.
- Only if you choose to turn on reminders do we store your browser's notification address, coordinates, time zone and number of minutes, so we can send a notification before lighting.
- There is no sign up, and we do not ask for a name, phone number or email address.
The full details are on the privacy policy page.
How to use it
- Open candletimes.com on your phone.
- Allow location access, or choose a city.
- Check that the number of minutes matches your custom, and change it if needed.
- Move between the tabs: blessing, Havdalah, times and reminder.
- To set a reminder, choose how long before lighting you want a notification.
You can also share the times with family and friends.
Adding it to your home screen
You can add the site to your home screen so it opens like an app, with no app store and no cost. On an iPhone, open the site in Safari, tap the share button and choose "Add to Home Screen." On Android, in Chrome, open the menu and choose "Install" or "Add to Home screen." From then on the site is one tap away, even on a hurried Friday afternoon.
When to choose a city instead of location
- When you are planning Shabbat in another place, choose the destination city before you travel.
- When the location is imprecise, for example inside a building, choose a city.
- When your community publishes its own calendar, follow that calendar.
Why two phones can differ
Sometimes two phones in the same room show times that differ by a minute. The location of each device is accurate to within a few meters or a few hundred meters, and device clocks are not set identically. The difference is tiny and can be ignored. What matters is that you light before the time.
A note
The calculation is checked against hebcal.com, but it does not replace a local custom or a rabbi's instruction. When they differ, follow your rabbi and your custom.
More guides
- Why candle lighting is 18 minutes before sunset, and how this site calculates
- Candle lighting when traveling, in hotels and across time zones
- How Shabbat candle lighting works: a complete guide