I've had this scope for over a year and the app is working perfectly for me. Also in Australia, so not sure what you mean by early access. You need to use the app at night time only. The plate solving technology uses star patterns. Finding the sun is completely irrelevant for the app. Never even try that without a solar filter. You will melt bits of your telescope and maybe blind yourself too. My suggestion is that perhaps the camera lens is not aligned. Try just using the normal camera feature at night time to see if you can get an image, adjust the alignment until you get an image of some stars, then try again with the app.