Tonya and I may be highly weather-involved because of our running, biking, and the outdoor events we organize, but I’m still willing to bet that most people check the weather on their iPhones. Will this week’s poll results prove me right, or are we just weird?
The more interesting question for those like us is, what weather app do you use? Apple’s Weather app has been functional but unimpressive for many years. Although it has improved in the last two releases thanks to Apple’s acquisition of Dark Sky, there are a plethora of competing apps with more features and different interfaces.
If you use some other iPhone app, please tell us what you like about it in the comments and be sure to vote in the follow-up poll that collects the top 20 recommendations so we can see which apps are the most popular.
After Dark Sky went away, I switched to Hello Weather. I like the simple interface, the fact that I can choose different weather-data sources, and the handy watch app and iPhone widget that displays even when my phone is locked.
It doesn’t have the hour-by-hour weather forecast I liked about Dark Sky, but it does enough. And the subscription fee is quite reasonable (I think it was about $13/year).
I’ve been a big CARROT Weather fan ever since it became clear Dark Sky was going to be an ex-parrot. The thing I like most is the interface construction set approach, so I can show just what I want. But it is fairly expensive—we have the family plan so Tonya and Tristan can use it too.
I use Weather a lot every day. Since it gained hourly forecasts (not just temps, but also humidity and precipitation) it became a lot more useful to me. The fact that the precipitation radar simply doesn’t work right is really annoying though.
In addition, I also use MerrySky a lot and I appreciate that it’s web-based and open. It’s basically what I turned to ever since Apple shut down the DarkSky website. I have bookmarks to its pages that show weather at home, at work, where I run, etc.
Finally, since fog here in the Bay is a big deal (yes, it’s fog here that determines what you wear and how much of it), I use this simple but super useful website several times a day too.
Don’t know how to vote. I’d like to like the Apple Weather app, and I prefer its graphics, but, as previous discussions here have covered, the radar is flakey and the hourly predictions seem unreliable. Why isn’t it as good as Dark Sky on the web was? So sometimes I use Weather.com. I’ve tried a number of other apps but I’m not interested enough to spend the $ or invest the time to really plumb their advantages. So, what do I do in the poll?
I use the Apple Weather app on my Apple Watch far more than the iPhone. At least one indicator is a complication on my commonly used faces. Tapping it gives me access to the entire app.
I use Apple Weather, with AirVisual and AirNow for air quality information. Also, until Apple Weather was available on iPadOS, I used the Yahoo Weather app on my iPads.
Sorry - Carrot. A weather app is supposed to tell us the *&%^ weather–not be a work of art that’s unusable at low illumination. DarkSky was brilliant simplicity: One could see at a glance what the weather was going to do (maybe) for the next 7 days, exactly what’s needed for outdoor living. I live on a boat so when DS died, Carrot’s weeklong weather graphs caught my eye and I’ve not looked back.
I am a heavy user of Yr. This summer I stayed at a place where the weather of western Norway fights with the weather of eastern Norway. We used the app to decide where to go fly-fishing every day. It is mainly the wind speed that we want to be as slow as possible. It is free and made by the Norwegian Meteorological Institute. English and Norwegian are language options. You can choose your preferred wind speed, rain and temperature measurement units. Here are two screenshots I took when I was fishing in Montana in 2019.
For those who use Apple’s Weather app alongside other weather apps, my suggestion is to answer with the app that you first gravitate to when checking the weather.
Sounds like the answer would be “some other app” even if it’s Safari with weather.com.
I occasionally launch the weather app. But I keep a Weather widget on my home screen so I can get the most important information with a glance.
I also use Siri a lot. Usually in the morning, when I’m getting dressed, I’ll say “Hey Siri, what’s the weather?” and it will (usually) respond with the day’s forecast.
I used the Weather app for a long time, not really thinking about it. It was strange, though, having to use something else on the iPad. (I know, now coming soon.) Then I read about Weather Strip, which I now use most often because I like the visual presentation. However, it does not have detailed data, so I use Wunderground, which I read in an article was the most accurate (though not by much, as I recall). The Weather app now sits in a folder along with several other weather apps, all rarely used.
I use Carrot, AccuWeather, and Wunderground. Wunderground in particular has a customizable “smart forecast” for cycling and I created one for cross country skiing as well. AccuWeather has “Minutecast” which shows upcoming precipitation for 4 hours, and Carrot does something similar and has a pretty good hourly lookahead for several days. I use Carrot’s weather complication on my Ultra so that 5 hours weather is available at a glance, and I also use a wind speed complication, and also recently added WeatherStrip when I read about it here. I recently added AirNow now that the Canadians are exporting smoke. I rarely use Weather.
I didn’t voter because you don’t have an option for Apple Weather and third party. I use both, probably equally and daily.
Apple Weather has improved over the years but the rain radar is still poor which is why I also use the Australian BOM (Bureau of Meteorology) app.
Similar situation on the Mac - I use both extensively. Like @ace I spend a fair bit of time outdoors so weather checking is commonplace. FWIW, I never check it on my watch.
I’m also a big fan of Yr. I found years ago that it is by far the most accurate in Scotland where the weather can be highly changeable and localised. Aside from accuracy, the way it displays its precipitation prediction is more useful to me than a lot of other weather apps. In general I really like the display – nothing fancy but very clear and quick and easy to scan.
Over the past year I have found myself using Apple Weather more and more as a secondary check. It’s a lot better than it used to be and the next hour rain info is pretty good. It’s irritating how many taps it takes to get to the 24 hour precipitation forecast though. I agree with others that I think this poll should have a ‘third party and Apple’ option as that would be a lot more accurate for my use.
Finally, when I need to know how windy it will be I turn to XCWeather. I think it’s unbeatable for wind, and this is particularly useful when travelling in the Scottish islands in the winter. A basic visual design but again highly effective for quickly seeing and processing the important information.
Since wind is important to me, I checked if I could get XCWeather here in Norway. Sadly, not available in the Norwegian App store.
I forgot to mention that on my watch I use a mix of Yr and Apple. Yr for the weather forecast and wind. Weather for the temperature which is more informative than Yr up at the left corner. The temperature I have found to be highly accurate.
I use Apple Weather because it’s there and it has gotten better.
I do NOT use it for radar. For that I’ve been using MyRadar for years.
Thanks to this thread I’ve downloaded YR and I do like the layout. Wind is important to me as a cyclist.
I downloaded Windy and put their widget on my lock screen simply because it shows temp and wind for a few hours but honestly I can’t really read the tiny print even with my glasses so it’s kind of useless.
I think I’ve tried just about every weather app over the years. I can’t deal with a subscription model and typically don’t like the adds that come when I run the free version so many get deleted quickly.
