Do You Use It? Apple’s Weather Leads a Wide Array of Popular Alternatives

Tonya and I pay a lot of attention to the weather because of the time we spend running, biking, and participating in other outdoor activities that require planning ahead. I’ve always wondered if we are unusual and normal people aren’t nearly as involved. Who knows about “normal people,” but I do have the ability to ask TidBITS readers, so I prepared a pair of polls.

The first poll asked how people checked the weather on their iPhones, offering the choice of Apple’s default Weather app, a third-party app, or a non-iPhone approach. I was gratified to see that only 2% of respondents didn’t use their iPhones for weather info—at least Tonya and I aren’t outliers among TidBITS readers. The poll also asked respondents to share what third-party apps they used.

After I’d collected and tallied enough suggestions, I built the second poll, which let respondents vote for multiple apps. I kept Apple’s Weather app in the mix because quite a few people reported using it alongside other apps, but the first poll allowed only one answer. This time, Apple’s Weather garnered 75% of the votes, implying that lots of people use it to supplement whatever other app they use.

After that, the top apps were Weather Underground, with 25% of the votes, CARROT Weather with 19%, The Weather Channel with 18%, AccuWeather with 15%, WeatherBug with 13%, and Windy and MyRadar, both with 11%. No other apps drew more than 5% of the votes, which is not to say that there’s anything wrong with them, just that they’re less commonly used by TidBITS readers. Links to all the rest are in the poll itself.

The elephant in the room in any discussion of iPhone weather apps is Dark Sky. Over 10% of the comments lamented the loss of Dark Sky following Apple’s acquisition (see “Dark Sky Fading; iOS 16’s Weather Brightens,” 19 September 2022). TidBITS readers liked Dark Sky a lot, and many feel that Apple’s Weather still lacks the features and interface niceties they appreciated in Dark Sky. Sad, but apart from sending feedback to Apple, there’s nothing to be done about it.

I was astonished at the variety of ways people acquire weather information, and even my second poll fell short in documenting them because I focused on general-purpose weather apps that function anywhere. Once I started to drill into the hundreds of suggestions, I found they clumped into four categories:

• Location-specific apps: Weather is local to each of us, and many people rely on country-specific apps, often those published by national weather offices.
• Focused weather apps: What aspects of the weather you care about varies, and readers recommended apps for astronomers, sailors, and pilots. Plus, millions of people have become far more interested in air quality over the past few months of widespread wildfire smoke, and while most weather apps report on air quality, plenty of people prefer specific apps.
• Weather station apps: A handful of respondents said the apps they preferred were those that reported on data gathered by their personal weather stations.
• Websites: Although apps tailor their interfaces to the iPhone screen and interaction model, some respondents said they prefer particular websites for the quality of their data.

Let’s dive in.

Location-Specific Apps

TidBITS readers hail from around the world, so it shouldn’t be surprising that they recommended numerous apps primarily of interest to iPhone users in particular countries. Australians particularly liked their local apps, but the app I regret not including in the second poll is Yr, published by the Norwegian Meteorological Institute. When I built the poll, I thought it was limited to Europe, but it also offers weather information and forecasts for other parts of the world. Many people spoke glowingly about it, with one person suggesting it was worthwhile partly because its European global weather model has a finer resolution and is better at large-scale weather patterns. Recommended apps by country are as follows, and note that many may work for nearby countries as well.

• Australia: BOM Weather (Australia’s official app), Oz Weather Plus, Rain Parrot, WillyWeather
• Belgium: KMI-IRM
• Canada: WeatherCAN
• France: Météo-France
• Ireland: Met Éireann Weather Ireland
• Italy: iLMeteo
• Netherlands:  Buienradar, Het Weer in Nederland, WeerPlaza
• New Zealand: MetService
• Norway: Yr
• Sweden: Blixtvakt (lightning), SMHI Väder
• United Kingdom: BBC Weather, Met Office Weather Forecast, XCWeather

Focused Weather Apps

While everyone needs a general weather app, those with particular professions or hobbies often turn to focused weather apps.

• Astronomy: Astrospheric, Clear Outside
• Aviation: ForeFlight Mobile EFB
• Sailing: NVS Explorer (iPad), SailFlow, Tide Graph, WindAlert, Windy

Plus, there are weather apps that focus on just a specific aspect of the weather, such as air quality or lightning strikes. Some of these duplicate entries above.

• Air quality: EPA AIRNow, IQAir AirVisual, Local Haze, Paku for PurpleAir
• Lightning: Blixtvakt (Sweden), My Lightning Tracker Pro, WeatherBug
• Storms/Hurricanes: Hurricane Tracker, RadarScope, Storm Radar, Yr
• Tides: NVS Explorer (iPad), Tide Graph
• Wind: PredictWind, SailFlow, WindAlert, Windy

Personal Weather Stations and Apps

Unsurprisingly, some TidBITS readers are so involved in the weather that they run their own personal weather stations.

• Ambient Weather Smart Weather Station
• Davis Professional Weather Stations
• Netatmo Smart Home Weather Station
• Tempest Weather System

A few people also mentioned that they prefer using weather apps that display data from a multitude of personal weather stations.

• SmartMixin Weather
• Weather Mate Pro
• Weather Underground

Websites

As good and convenient as iPhone apps are, many poll respondents still prefer to use websites on their Macs. Weather sites can often provide more expansive views of data and maps, and specialized sites offer information that no one has yet encapsulated in an app.

• AccuWeather
• Air Sports Net Aviation Weather Report and Forecast
• AirNow
• Aviation Weather Center
• AWEKAS (aggregates personal weather stations)
• Citizen Weather Observer Program
• Clime
• DeepZoom (tides)
• Fog Today (San Francisco Bay Area fog)
• Forecast Advisor (rankings of weather services)
• Merry Sky
• Météo France (France)
• National Hurricane Center
• PWSWeather (aggregates personal weather stations)
• Storm Prediction Center
• Tenki.jp (Japan)
• The Weather Channel
• Weather Underground
• Windy
• US National Weather Service

Phew! I hope all these suggestions give you ideas for enhancing your awareness of your local weather conditions.