Delaware County dad creates 'ChristmasPrism' app to help users find holiday lights

PHILADELPHIA - Christmas light tours are a fun and safe way to spend time together as a family and are especially popular this year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The hardest part of the whole process is usually finding light displays in your area.

This year, a Delaware County dad came up with a solution – a mobile app.

Michael Kane created the "ChristmasPrism" app to help people in 12 states find homes in their area with elaborate light displays.

Kane, a software engineer, spoke on Good Day Philadelphia Thursday and said he was inspired to create the app after taking his kids on a Christmas light tour and only managing to find a few houses.

The ChristmasPrism app allows users to find elaborate light displays in their area, or submit their own.

The next day, he looked online to see if there were any resources to help find places where he could take the family to look at lights.

Kane says the app took about three weekends for him to make.

"A lot of the neighbors where I live take such pride and effort in their displays," Kane said. "Whether it's just a little bit of lights or big blowups, and they needed a place to show off their efforts."

Michael Kane says he is a self-taught programmer who works as a software engineer in Center City, Philadelphia.

"This is a way to say, 'hey, you know what, we enjoyed it. Thank you so much, you made our day and keep it up,'" Kane added.

The app, which is free to use, allows users to either find houses or submit their own house as a sight to see. Kane says he and his wife have been manually approving submitted houses in as many as 15 states.

"There's no ads. I just want it to be pure. Nothing is driven, it's just community-driven, I hope everybody enjoys it and it will stay that way," Kane said.

For now, the app is only available on iOS devices, but Kane says he hopes to bring it to Android devices soon.

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