Supported series and FAQ

Startlight is a $9.99 iOS app with a Home Screen widget and an Apple Watch app that shows what iRacing session is running now, what’s next, and the time to green. It does not maintain a hand-edited series list — it pulls every official series live from the iRacing Data API, so the coverage you see is whatever iRacing currently publishes.

Which series Startlight covers

Every official iRacing series, in every category. The app fetches the season schedule from the /series/seasons endpoint for the current year and quarter, so oval, road, dirt oval, and dirt road all show up — from Rookie Mazda MX-5 Cup through the A-class GT3 Sprint and the Pro-license series. License level is part of the data, so an R-class Advanced Mazda field and a Pro/WC formula series both appear.

You pick which series to follow on the series-settings screen. The Home Screen widget then cycles through your followed series, and a tap advances to the next one. If a series isn’t listed, it’s almost always a filter — see troubleshooting below.

How it stays current each season

iRacing rolls its weeks at midnight GMT (UTC) on Tuesday, and Startlight keys its schedule cache to exactly that moment. The cache TTL expires at the rollover, so the next fetch returns the new week — week 1 to week 2, or season 4 to season 1 of the next year — with no app update. When iRacing adds a brand-new series for a season, it appears on its own, because the source is the live API rather than a baked-in list.

This is the chore the app removes. Plenty of racers build their own 12-week spreadsheets to track the rotation because the in-sim schedule UI is slow to read. Startlight reads the same data and surfaces only the series you care about. For planning a full season by hand, the iRacing schedule and season planning page covers the rotation; for the timing model the app uses, see time to green.

Install and setup

1. Buy and install Startlight from the App Store ($9.99, one time).
2. Sign in with your iRacing email and password so the app can fetch your account data.
3. Open series settings and choose the series you want to follow.
4. Long-press the Home Screen, tap the plus, search Startlight, and add the widget. It shows the next session for your selected series with a live countdown and a race-phase indicator.
5. To use the Apple Watch app, install it from the Watch app on your phone. The watch mirrors the same schedule synced over WatchConnectivity — it needs the phone app and is not standalone.

Updates and refresh

The widget refreshes through WidgetKit, and iOS controls the exact cadence — it is not a continuous, second-by-second feed. Open the app and pull to refresh any time you want current data immediately. Inside the app, each session walks through practice, qualifying, gridding, then racing, with a live countdown to green so you know whether you have time to step away before the session starts.

Privacy

Your iRacing email and password are stored on-device in the iOS Keychain. Your customer ID is used to fetch your personal data from iRacing. Usage analytics are anonymous, and the app does not sell or share your data. The full policy is in the app and was last updated January 4, 2026; questions go to paul@denya.dev. Startlight is not directed at children under 13.

Troubleshooting

• A series isn’t showing. Check your follow list and any category or minimum-license filter. The official-only view hides non-official sessions; widen the filter and it should appear.
• The widget looks stale. WidgetKit decides refresh timing, so open the app and pull to refresh to force current data, then the widget catches up on its next timeline update.
• The watch isn’t syncing. Open the phone app to trigger a re-sync over WatchConnectivity. The watch pulls from the phone, not directly from iRacing.
• The time looks wrong. The schedule is anchored to UTC and the weekly rollover is midnight GMT Tuesday. Confirm your device timezone is set correctly so the countdown matches your local clock.
• My app icon didn’t change with the weather. Icon switching among the day, evening, night, clear, and rain variants is manual in Settings. Pick the one you want.

FAQ quick answers

• Do I need an active iRacing subscription? Yes. Startlight reads your account and the live schedule, so you sign in with your iRacing credentials.
• Does it cover oval and road? Both, plus dirt — every official category iRacing publishes.
• Is the Apple Watch app standalone? No. It mirrors the phone over WatchConnectivity and requires the phone app.
• Is it a subscription? No. It’s a one-time $9.99 purchase.

New to the app? Start with the Startlight overview.