About Playa Watch

This app is not affiliated, endorsed, or verified by Burning Man Project.

What this is

The laptop half of Playa Watch. Browse the full 2026 program on a big screen and plan your burn; the Apple Watch app carries the plan onto the playa, where it works with no phone, no signal and no internet. An iPhone/iPad app covers in-camper planning and syncs to the watch over Bluetooth.

Location releases are enforced

Camp locations are not shown before Aug 23, 2026 00:00 PDT, and art locations not before Aug 30, 2026 00:00 PDT — the official release times. Every surface that could reveal a location routes through one policy module that fails closed. Data is stored before then; it just isn't displayed.

Safety

Storm Mode on the watch is a convenience, not a life-safety system. GPS and compass degrade in severe conditions; in a whiteout, stopping and waiting is often safest. Official severe-weather alerts come from the National Weather Service. Any wind or dust notice this app computes is a clearly labeled estimate — nothing here detects an approaching dust storm.

Credits & privacy

Event data © Burning Man Project, used under their API terms. City geometry from the official Burning Man GIS data. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0); alerts by NOAA/NWS. Free, no ads, no tracking. People and notes you create in the apps stay on your devices.