Miss Dark Sky? Here Are 5 Top Weather Apps for iPhone

[bradman83]

My biggest complaint about Carrot is that they've let their Mac version languish for ages and the developer keeps saying he'll work on that next. It's not M1 native, it's a $14.99 up-front fee, and it doesn't support widgets from Big Sur and later. Apple adding Weather to macOS and iPadOS is more than good enough for me to cancel my Carrot subscription so I can have a consistent weather app to use across all platforms. Dark Sky was great but Weather has caught up in terms of functionality for the majority of use cases (and it uses the same data sources simply repackaged as WeatherKit). The only thing I'll miss about Carrot is the excellent watchOS app which includes radar.

 

[targa88]

I tend to be a bit weather obsessed... particularly when it comes to rainfall. snow and wind - last but not least barometric.
Sadly it is hard to find accuracy and reliability to cover those. Specifically as it applies to Canada.
Apple Weather sort of...
Weather Network better
YR better but with less detail.
Accuweather - terrible, not to mention that the widget on the watch is terribly slow, widget on the phone does not update unless the app is open - along with excessive battery drain from this particular app.
Weather mate reasonable

 

[Apple_Robert]

Love the concept of Carrot, but I am not paying for basic services. I can use Weather Bug which is almost as good as Dark Sky was and it has so much available free content.

Weather Bug collects a lot of information about the user, that they have no real business collecting. They even state in their privacy policy, that they even collect information about you through third parties. You should reconsider.

 

[_Spinn_]

I’ve been very happy with Apple Weather and MyRadar Pro.

 

[j-a-x]

Beautiful app but unfortunately doesn't work in my country, France .

Thank you!

It turns out my co-developer on this project actually lives in France now, so maybe I can convince him to help me add multi country support...

The original premise of the app was to use a different data source than everyone else that myself and a lot of meteorologists I know preferred (NOAA / National Weather Service forecast data). Using this data source set us apart from other weather apps which used a handful of APIs (but mostly DarkSky's API) that we considered less accurate. The downside of that was it made the app only available in the US. Probably not a great business decision, but I'm still glad the forecast data we use is high quality and unique compared to most other apps.

That said, I'd be happy to implement Apple's new WeatherKit as a user option or default for locations outside the US if I can find the spare time to do it (got a new day job that keeps be busy).

 

[Yptcn]

Thank you!

It turns out my co-developer on this project actually lives in France now, so maybe I can convince him to help me add multi country support...

The original premise of the app was to use a different data source than everyone else that myself and a lot of meteorologists I know preferred (NOAA / National Weather Service forecast data). Using this data source set us apart from other weather apps which used a handful of APIs (but mostly DarkSky's API) that we considered less accurate. The downside of that was it made the app only available in the US. Probably not a great business decision, but I'm still glad the forecast data we use is high quality and unique compared to most other apps.

That said, I'd be happy to implement Apple's new WeatherKit as a user option or default for locations outside the US if I can find the spare time to do it (got a new day job that keeps be busy).

That would indeed be great 👍🏻

 

[shadow puppet]

The Dark Sky is Dead withdrawals are real. Especially during all the recent storms in California. The supposed DS integration into Apple Weather is not working for me.

 

[WeatherWatcher]

I checked the 7 different sources that Carrot uses for its weather forecast by checking the current and next hour weather at my location and seeing if the source was accurate various times each day over a period of 4 days. What I found was actually quite surprising.

For my location in Scotland, of the seven sources, the Dark Sky source was the most accurate – accurately predicting the current and next hour’s weather 67% of the time. The next most accurate was Foreca, who got it right 62% of the time. The two least accurate were Aeris with 33% accuracy, and Apple with 38% accuracy. Considering that Apple has integrated the Dark Sky technology into their weather it looks like they have done a bad job since they are less accurate that Dark Sky by some considerable way.

So my conclusion? If you live in Scotland, or I imagine anywhere else hilly, mountainous, or near an ocean – somewhere with changeable weather (i.e most of the UK, Ireland, and the Nordic Countries) then an app’s claims to have minute to minute accuracy about the weather are wrong. Most cannot even tell you more than 50% of the time what the current weather is, let alone what it will be in an hour, or the next day.

However the best weather sources currently are Dark Sky or Foreca (although these will still get the current weather wrong about a third of the time), both of whom can be accessed through the Carrot weather app. Foreca also have their own app, which is free. I've also heard that the Met Office app is reasonably accurate for UK based users - although I haven't tested that one (yet) as it was not included as a source within Carrot.

 

[WeatherWatcher]

I tried Carrot because it has an option to configure it EXACTLY like Dark Sky. But it was just way too expensive. Sorry but $40 per year is just too much for a weather app.

It's possible to configure Carrot to look like Dark Sky, without paying the most expensive tier. Carrot, by default, push you to their top tier, which in the UK is £30 per year.

If you go into 'settings' in your phone, then your 'apple ID' and then 'subsciptions' you will find Carrot Weather. Select it and you will find other price options, including, in the UK, a 99p per month or £6.99 per year option (Tier 1). This still allows you to configure Carrot to look like Dark Sky, but removes how many weather sources you can select and how frequently you can switch between them.

 

[WeatherWatcher]

Anybody from the UK reading this? A big issue with a lot of these apps is that they use third-rate weather services that don't have the accuracy, knowledge or reputation of the Met Office. Are there any weather apps (aside from the Met Office's own) that use Met Office data? Even the BBC doesn't nowadays.

I'm in the UK and have been looking for other weather apps that use Met Office data - unfortunately I cant find any (other than the Met Office app itself). I've also researched to see which of the 7 data sources that Carrot weather uses is the most accurate for my location (I've posted a more detailed comment on this, but it is waiting for moderator approval - hopefully it will be posted soon) and only two of the sources were able to get the current and next hour weather forecast right more than 50% of the time. These were Dark Sky (which is still providing weather data to Carrot until 31 March 2023) and Foreca, although they both still got it wrong about a third of the time. Apple Weather were one of the worst for accuracy (they were unable to accurately forecast the current and next hour weather two thirds of the time), so they clearly haven't done a good job of integrating Dark Sky! I've done limited testing of the Met Office forecasts so far, but over the last couple of days they have been more accurate than any of the options on Carrot.

 

[polyphenol]

I'm in the UK and have been looking for other weather apps that use Met Office data - unfortunately I cant find any (other than the Met Office app itself). I've also researched to see which of the 7 data sources that Carrot weather uses is the most accurate for my location (I've posted a more detailed comment on this, but it is waiting for moderator approval - hopefully it will be posted soon) and only two of the sources were able to get the current and next hour weather forecast right more than 50% of the time. These were Dark Sky (which is still providing weather data to Carrot until 31 March 2023) and Foreca, although they both still got it wrong about a third of the time. Apple Weather were one of the worst for accuracy (they were unable to accurately forecast the current and next hour weather two thirds of the time), so they clearly haven't done a good job of integrating Dark Sky! I've done limited testing of the Met Office forecasts so far, but over the last couple of days they have been more accurate than any of the options on Carrot.

While disappointed that Apple Weather isn't better than it is, I have found its own alerts (not those passed on from Met Office) are often very accurate. Like rain in 15 minutes really does start between 12 and 18 minutes hence.

But not always! I've had a few which have told me rain is stopping soon - when it isn't currently raining at all.

Where I am, the weather does very often change substantially within very short distances - less than a mile.

Just checking known weather stations in the area and there are fewer than I'd have hoped (but we are not densely populated so not that surprising).

 

[max2]

Simplest app left available and my preferred. It’s all about data AT A GLANCE. I want to be able to open a weather app and see humidity, rain chances, forecast, dew point, all those simple things FAST and without scrolling or clicking through interface options. Of the dozens of apps that I have trialed, only Hello Weather or Carrot even come close.

Yes

 

[mikext]

Simplest app left available and my preferred. It’s all about data AT A GLANCE. I want to be able to open a weather app and see humidity, rain chances, forecast, dew point, all those simple things FAST and without scrolling or clicking through interface options. Of the dozens of apps that I have trialed, only Hello Weather or Carrot even come close.

This. I really like both of these apps, but I'm leaning more in the direction of Hello Weather solely based on the UI. Such a lovely-looking app.

 

[vine-boating]

What's the best weather app for those living in the UK?

 

[BigMcGuire]

This. I really like both of these apps, but I'm leaning more in the direction of Hello Weather solely based on the UI. Such a lovely-looking app.

I really like Hello Weather's UI. The cost is really cheap AND it's available for family members. That's a huge difference.

 

[Vref]

As a pilot,

Windy, it rocks and works well on a solo worn Apple Watch too, great on iPhone and iPad, just can’t say enough



Foreflight, gold standard, but it would be like buying photoshop just to view jpgs if you don’t fly

 

[Yptcn]

One feature I would really like in Weather is the possibility to have C and F showing. Hello Weather has that one very useful for people like me who travel. I always have to go to a different app to translate.