When it comes to weather apps, I’ve found it tough to find the right one. They’re either overflowing with incomprehensible data that drags down your day as you try to decipher it all or are so light on detail that you come out of the experience no wiser than when you went in. OK, I might be exaggerating a little, but it can certainly be a frustrating experience.

However, I recently came across a contender called Weather Up, and it might just be the solution to my woes. It’s early days yet, but I’ve been finding it’s much more informative than other weather apps I’ve tried in the past. And one of the reasons for that is its superb iOS widget and Apple Watch complications.

The developer has made use of Apple’s interactive widgets framework (which requires iOS 17 or later), which means you can tap the iOS widget to get more information without having to open that app itself. That presents less of an interruption to your day, and when all you need to do is quickly glance at the next hour’s forecast, it’s a perfect bite-sized chunk of weather data.

What’s even more impressive is how much data Weather Up crams into its Apple Watch complication without making it a jumble of confusing facts and figures. Through clever use of color, fonts, and icons, Weather Up makes it very straightforward to understand upcoming forecasts without needing to squint at a tiny screen or try to work out exactly what it’s telling you. That’s a refreshing change and shows the app really understands the info people look for with a quick glimpse.

Since I’ve started using Weather Up, I’ve found it’s been a breath of fresh air. Instead of having to delve into the app as I’ve had to do with other weather apps, I can just pull up its widget or complication and I know everything I need to within seconds. That makes it the perfect companion when you’re about to head out the door and need to know the outlook before you leave.

How to use Weather Up

Weather Up is well-designed and presents data in a very digestible way, which makes getting started easy.

1. Open Weather Up. You’ll see your location in a box at the bottom of the app
2. Tap this box to bring up a list of pre-loaded locations. Tap Add to insert a new one into the list or select Edit to remove some entries
3. Now tap a location in the list. You’ll see an hourly forecast, complete with temperatures, cloud cover, the chance of rain, and more. You can adjust this from an hourly forecast to a nine-day one using the toggles at the bottom of the box
4. Tap the layer button in the top-right to choose from different overlays, including rain, cloud, humidity, and temperature. If an overlay indicates that it is animated, press the play button in the top-left to see how the situation changes in 10-minute intervals
5. If you go to Settings > Event Forecasts, you can add your calendar events to Weather Up. That way you’ll know whether you’re likely to get drenched for that upcoming picnic in the park

Get started with Weather Up’s iOS widget

Weather Up’s iOS widget is one of its strongest elements, as it really makes good use of iOS’s interactive widgets functionality.

1. Long press on your iOS Home Screen until your app icons start to jiggle, then tap the + button and find Weather Up in the list. Tap the app name, then tap Add Widget. Now, allow the widget to use your location so it can get accurate weather data
2. By default, the Weather Up widget shows a forecast for the next few days, with data for rain chances and temperatures. But here’s the clever bit: tap a day in the schedule and the widget will update with a more detailed look at that specific 24-hour period, with an easy-to-read graph showing everything you need to know at a glance
3. Tap the widget again to return to the multi-day forecast or tap the rightward arrow in the bottom-right corner to move forward in time
4. If you long-press the widget and select Edit Widget, you’ll be able to change its location, its forecast source, and whether it shows rain legends

Try the Apple Watch complications

If you have one of the best Apple Watchs, you’ll get even more out of Weather Up thanks to its handy complication. This adds a little widget to your Apple Watch face with a quick (and constantly updated) view of the weather where you are or at another chosen location. While it means you don’t need to open the app on your Watch, you can tap it to get more info if you wish.

1. Press and hold your Apple Watch screen and select a Watch face that has a rectangular complication (like the Modular face, for instance), as Weather Up only supports this complication for now
2. Tap Edit, then swipe right until you see each complication area outlined in faint white. Tap the rectangular complication, then choose Weather Up from the list.
3. If you haven’t opened Weather Up on your Watch before, it will need to initialize, which means you’ll also need to open the app on your iPhone. Once that’s done, you’ll see a list of Weather Up complications. Pick one, then press your Digital Crown twice to save the new complication arrangement
4. Now to use the complication. By default, you’ll see a chart with the temperature and weather conditions plotted over the next roughly 24-hour period. Tap the complication to get weather-specific for your chosen location, with the upcoming outlook listed for the next few days
5. Tap a date in the list and you’ll see an hourly breakdown for that day, with everything rendered in a clear and color-coded way

What you need to know

• Apple announced iPadOS 16 earlier today.
• The company revealed that the Weather app is finally coming to the iPad.
• The app has been on the iPhone since it was originally released.

Earlier today, Apple announced iPadOS 16 during its WWDC 2022 keynote and with it an overdue app for the iPad.

The latest version of iPadOS features Stage Manager to better organize your windows like the Mac and the Freeform app to easily collaborate with your friends and coworkers on a limitless canvas.

In addition Freeform, there is another app that is making its triumphant and long-overdue debut on iPad: Weather. With iPadOS 16, the Weather app is finally making the jump from the iPhone, which it has been on since the iPhone was invented, to the iPad.

The Weather app on the iPad, besides taking advantage of the larger display, will feature the same experience and features as users enjoy on the iPhone.

We have all been waiting for this day. A day when the Weather app is accessible on more than a widget on the iPad. And today is that day! Or July. Or in the fall. You know, whenever you install iPadOS 16 on your iPad.

A few years ago, a popular weather app called Dark Sky was acquired by Apple. Like many acquisitions by Apple, these services get integrated into Apple's native apps to improve the overall experience for Apple users. With Dark Sky, Apple gained a lot of cool and smart features for its native Weather app, including weather maps and precipitation notifications.

These new Weather app features came with iOS 15. With next-hour precipitation notifications, you will get alerted whenever rain, snow, hail, or sleet is about to start or stop. However, you'll only find these notifications in the U.S., U.K., and Ireland.

Here's how to set up real-time precipitation notifications in the Weather app on your current iPhone.

How to turn on precipitation notifications in the Weather app

So, do you want to be alerted if rain or snow is coming your way in the next hour? Here's how to set up next-hour precipitation notifications in the Weather app for your current iPhone, such as the iPhone 13 Pro.

1. Open the Weather app.
2. Tap the List icon. This is located in the bottom right corner and looks like a bulleted list.
3. Tap on the ••• icon.

4. Tap on Notifications.
5. Toggle the status switches to the green on position for the locations you want to get a notification. This can be your current location or a set region from your location list.
6. Tap Done.

You'll now be alerted of upcoming precipitation as specified. Unfortunately, the feature is only available in the U.S., Ireland, and the U.K. again.

How to turn on location services for the Weather app

If you don't have location services turned on for the Weather app, you'll see the toggle for My Location greyed out when trying to turn on precipitation notifications. This is easily rectified in the Settings app.

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Scroll down and tap on Privacy.
3. Tap on Location Services.

4. Scroll down and tap on Weather.
5. Tap on Always.

Location services are now on for the Weather app. Note that you need to select the Always option if you want the Weather app to be able to provide notifications about your current location.

How to turn on notifications for the Weather app

Of course, to receive precipitation alerts, you'll need to let the Weather app notify you. If you have notifications turned off for the Weather app, you'll be prompted to turn them back on in Settings when following the above steps to turn on rain and snow alerts.

If you need a little extra help, here's how to manually turn on notifications for the Weather app.

1. Open Settings.
2. Tap on Notifications.
3. Scroll down and tap on Weather

4. Toggle the status switch next to Allow Notifications to on. You'll then be able to customize the way that notifications appear with options for alert style, delivery timeframe, Lock Screen appearance, and more.

After following these steps, you should now be able to follow the initial steps in this guide when attempting to turn on precipitation alerts in the Weather app.

Always be in the know

With precipitation alerts, Apple's Weather app is now one of the best iPhone tools for knowing when bad weather is coming your way.

The new alerts might give you enough time to get some cover if you're out and about or change up the attire you were going to wear before you head out. It's a handy update to the Weather app, and if you're in a supported location, I highly recommend you turn it on.

Updated May 2022: These steps are still current in the latest version of iOS 15.

Spring is in the air, as you may already know because of your constant allergies. Or if you're living in Southern California like me, then you may have wildfire season to worry about in the near future. Regardless, air quality is important to your health, so the cleaner and fresher air you breathe in, the better.

But how can you prepare yourself for the onset of seasonal allergies or ashy skies? Well, you can start by checking the air quality index (AQI) of where you live or work before going outside. This can be done on your best iPhone, like the iPhone 13 Pro, and even on your current Apple Watch. There are various apps that help you get the AQI info you need, and Apple even has that information built into the Weather app. And you can take things a step further by making sure you have a great air purifier at home.

Here are a few different ways to check the air quality index where you live, work, or will be traveling to.

Apps to check AQI

One of the easiest ways to check the AQI around you is with an app. Fortunately, there are plenty of third-party app options available on the App Store, but here are a few of our favorites.

Plume Labs provides real-time AQI and pollution level data for your neighborhood, as well as any other area in the world. The app has a sleek interface that is easy on the eyes while providing you with all of the information you want to know. Plume includes live maps that let you know what areas to avoid, and you can even see a forecast of what the AQI is going to be for the next four days so that you can plan accordingly. You can even get street-level detail in Plume, and the app can notify you of optimal AQI conditions for outdoor activities, such as taking a walk or exercising. While Plume works best if you create an account, you can use the app as a guest too.

AirVisual is another excellent option to consider for checking the air quality index. AirVisual gathers information from over 10,000 locations thanks to a global network of government monitoring stations and AirVisual's own validated sensors. Because of the data sources, you can view historical, real-time, and forecasted AQI data, and get details on key pollutants in the area. There's a seven-day AQI forecast so that you can plan your outdoor activities ahead of time for optimal air.

If you have an AirVisual air monitor, you can even check your indoor air quality readings, get recommendations, and control your monitor settings right from the app. AirVisual also provides important information for those who fall under the sensitive group, and there are educational resources to help you build your understanding of PM2.5 and other air pollutants while learning how to best deal with air pollution.

Another one of our favorite apps for how to check air quality index is BreezoMeter. This is another app with a slick interface that is easy to use, and it also gives you alerts on fires and pollen levels in the area. BreezoMeter uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to provide you with the most accurate real-time, street-level AQI, and pollen data. When you use BreezoMeter, you can also get air quality-based health recommendations and a five-day forecast so you can plan outdoor activities. There are also notifications when changes occur, so you're always up-to-date.

Use your iPhone and Apple Watch to check air quality index

While Apple doesn't have a native air quality index app, it does provide that information in the native Weather app. And the Apple Watch has an Air Quality Index complication that you can add to your favorite watch face, so the data is always a glance away on your wrist.

1. Launch the Weather app on your iPhone.
2. Scroll down to view air quality data for your area.

Sometimes the AQI will appear above the forecast instead. This may be due to unhealthy AQI conditions, or other unique circumstances.

1. Launch the Watch app on your iPhone.
2. Select the watch face you want to add the AQI complication on.
3. Tap the complication you want to change.

4. Scroll down to the Weather options, then select AQI.

As long as the AQI complication is on your watch face, it should automatically update throughout the day.

Websites that show AQI maps and forecasts

If you would prefer not to download an app just to check the air quality index, then there are several different websites that you can check. On these sites, you'll need to give the website permission to use your location, or just input information like your zip code, city, or state for a general scope.

• AirNow.gov
• World's Air Pollution
• Air Pollution in World
• BreezoMeter
• IQAir AirVisual

At-home air quality monitors

When it comes to air quality, it's not just about what's outdoors — it's about what's indoors, too. That's why any home can benefit from the best air quality monitors for allergy sufferers, and there are even HomeKit air quality sensors too.

If there's an air quality monitor inside the home, it helps you identify pollutants and allergens. Once you've identified those issues, then you can figure out ways to get rid of or minimize them, which leads to cleaner air and better overall health, both in the short and long term.

We recommend a monitor like the Airthings Wave Plus, which not only measures air quality, but other things like temperature, humidity, CO2, and more. You'll be surprised at some of the info that this little gizmo can tell you!

Air filtering devices

Having an air quality monitor is one thing, but how do you get rid of the bad stuff in the air inside of your home? The answer is simple: use an air filter/purifying device. With an air purifier, all the bad stuff in the air is filtered out, so you're left breathing in the fresh, clean air, leading to an improvement in overall health.

There are a lot of air purifiers out on the market, though, so make sure to check out some of our recommendations on best air purifiers or even some of the best smart Wi-Fi air purifiers if you need something extra. We reviewed the Molekule purifier and can highly recommend it, but the price is slightly on the high side, so it's not for everyone.

Breathe in fresh, clean air

If you've been wondering how to check the air quality index for where you live, these are the best ways to do it. And don't forget to check out an indoor air quality monitor and air purifier, too, for optimal living.

Updated May 2022: Updated for iOS 15.

If you're looking for the best weather app, you're in luck. There are hundreds of weather apps in the App Store and no shortage of options. But with so much choice, how do you find the best weather app for your iPhone?

Weather apps are a very popular category in the App Store and one of the best iPhone apps we recommend downloading if you have a new iPhone, like the new iPhone 14 or iPhone 14 Pro. 

Sure, Apple's built-in weather app is a great option with nice graphics, animations, and useful hourly forecasting. However, each person has a different idea of what makes a great weather app. Some want simplicity, while others want a wider selection of data that you might not find in Apple's offering. With that in mind, we've selected the best weather apps across a variety of styles. There's something for everyone here.

The best weather apps for iPhone: our top picks

RadarScope

Radarscope is for serious weather enthusiasts. It provides native data rendering of reflective, velocity, dual-polarization, echo tops, accumulation, and more from any NEXRAD or TDWR radar in the U.S., Guam, and Puerto Rico. Radar layers include severe weather warnings, lightning alerts, and a variety of storm trackers. The monthly Pro level includes additional data sets, like real-time lightning alerts, extended loops, and more. Members of the Spotter Network and AllisonHouse can log in with their membership for additional exclusive information.

Hurricane by American Red Cross

The Red Cross has a series of disaster preparedness apps that cover forces of nature like earthquakes, tornadoes, and wildfires. The Hurricane app is great for those living in places prone to hurricanes, or for people with loved ones living in the range of those areas. It doesn't tell you what the current temperature is, but it will alert you when a hurricane or high-wind storm is headed your way. It also has a very useful toolkit that can activate a flashlight or strobe light on your device, sound a loud alarm to signal your location, and send an automatic text message to loved ones that you are safe. It has direct connectivity to the NOAA weather radio reports and extensive information on what to do to prepare for a hurricane, as well as what to do when one hits and how to deal with the aftermath.

The Weather Channel

The Weather Channel, while still providing a simplified interface, brings a few additional details to the weather-watching party. You'll get the daily, hourly, and 15-day forecast, as well as wind speed, humidity, and UV index. Plus, find out the weather-related road conditions and watch local forecast videos on the latest iPad. The Weather Channel specializes in gathering bite-sized weather-related news stories so you can find out about local and national storms, scientific discoveries, and nature videos.

WeatherBug

For people that suffer from allergies, WeatherBug is a great source of news on the subject. In addition to providing daily, hourly, and 10-day forecasts, it details the pollen index for the day, including which allergy triggers are predominant. It also has a fantastic connected-home feature that lets you connect your Nest, Honeywell, or SmartThings hub for a detailed analysis of your energy consumption. Even if you don't have a smart thermostat, you can figure your daily costs based on weather conditions, average electricity and gas costs, and what your HVAC is set to.

Weather Underground

The Weather Underground has a very personalized interface in a number of ways. For example, the data is generated and uploaded by nearly 200,000 personal weather stations run by weather enthusiasts. You can also report on your local sky conditions as well as hazards like power outages or flash floods from inside the app. The detail cards are customizable — so if you live in an area that rarely sees hurricanes or tropical storms, you can remove that card from your list, for example. Some additional cool features include a real-time report from the station closest to your location and user-submitted photos of weather conditions in your area and around the globe.

CARROT Weather

CARROT brings you the weather, but with a spiteful twist. Cast as a human-hating artificial intelligence, with such comments as "I hope you get a sunburn," and "Your heating bill is going to bankrupt you," you'll always get a laugh out of your CARROT weather report. Plus, the more you use CARROT Weather, the more you will unlock secret locations, like Mount Doom and a certain Outer Rim Moisture Farm. Did I mention that Carrot can now appear right in your living room thanks to AR? Don't tap its ocular sensor or you might regret it.

Weather Live

Weather Live is a beautifully designed app with real-time weather condition background images. It offers relatively detailed data for daily, hourly, and 7-day forecasts, but what makes this app stand out is the highly customizable display. You can choose from four different layouts, each providing simple or complex details. You can also set which data is displayed in which order for each layout. So, if you live somewhere with a lot of rainfall, you may want the precipitation parameter on top. If you like to watch the sunset, put that time higher up in your layout. Plus, every morning, you'll get a daily report notification with the current condition and its relativity to yesterday's weather.

How to find the right iPhone weather app for you

It's hard to say which is the best weather app for iPhone as we all use apps in different ways, especially those dedicated to giving you an upcoming weather forecast for the day or week ahead. 

With that in mind, this list provides some of the most useful weather apps, and they all have special offerings to fit different needs. For example, we suggest RadarScope for the most serious weather enthusiasts who appreciate lots of data. While Weather Live may be more suitable for those who just want to see simple facts and interesting visuals. 

All of the apps we've selected should work with all iPhone models, but it's always worth double checking before you get your heart set on one. 

If you're setting up a new iPad instead, like the iPad Pro with M2, and need to know the best apps or just want an app refresh, then we also recommend you take a look at our best drawing apps for iPad, best iPad apps for new owners and best note-taking apps for iPad guides.

Updated March 2023: Updated for the most recent versions of apps and latest compatibility requirements. 

What you need to know

• CARROT Weather 5.3 is now available for download.
• Users can film their own weather reports, use new Smart Layouts, and more.

Fans of the popular CARROT Weather app have a new update to download and this one adds a cool new feature for creating your own weather reports on the fly. Other improvements include new Smart Layouts and more.

Now available for download from the App Store, the CARROT Weather 5.3 update's big headline feature is undoubtedly the ability to film your own weather reports. You can use a script that the app automatically generates for you or create your own, but the results are always going to look great. Users can create screenshots rather than videos if they'd prefer, too

Arguably more useful, the new Smart Layouts are CARROT's way of surfacing the right weather information at the right time, like information about precipitation when it's raining, for example.

That's not all, either. New air quality data is included, as is a bunch of new achievements for users to hunt down if that's their kind of thing.

Other improvements include:

• The Current Observations section can now show active weather alert titles.
• The weather alerts screen will now show a list of active alerts if more than one weather alert is active.
• The "next day" summary now focuses more on upcoming changes to weather conditions.
• Added a "compact height" option for the Current Observations section.
• Added a "weather condition" data point for the Current Observations section.
• Added a "next 3 hours" timeframe for cards.
• Improved the feels like temperature calculations for Environment Canada.

Is it any wonder CARROT Weather is one of the best iPhone apps around?

All of this and more can be had in the CARROT Weather 5.3 update — available from the App Store now. The app is a free download with an optional subscription service available.

What you need to know

• Apple's Weather app won't tell you when it is legitimately 69 degrees outside.
• The issue appears to be spotty across different versions of iOS.

Apple's Weather app won't tell you when it's 69 degrees.

As reported by The Verge, Apple's Weather app seems to have a curious problem where it will not show you when it is legimately 69 degrees out. Instead, the app will say it is 70 degrees outside, even if that is not the case.

It's currently unclear as to why the Weather app does this. While some suspect it is Apple's attempt to curb any 69-related humor, a more plausible explanation has surfaced on Twiiter. According to some, it could be that Apple is converting temperatures from Celsius to Fahrenheit which would explain the discrepancy.

The report goes on to note that phones running older versions of iOS, as well as the upcoming iOS 15, do not appear to have this issue.

The Verge says that they have reached out for comment from Apple but have yet to receive a response.

What you need to know

• Apple has released version 6.8.6 of the Dark Sky Weather app.
• The update includes enhanced support for VoiceOver and more frequent updates for the Apple Watch complication.

Apple has released a new update to the Dark Sky app on iOS with some notable improvements.

Version 6.8.6 of the Dark Sky Weather app improves support for VoiceOver, enhances the Apple Watch complication experience, and more:

• Improved VoiceOver support
• Complications on Apple Watch update more frequently
• Addresses an issue that could prevent the moon phase from updating
• Stability and performance improvements

The last update to the Dark Sky app was in November of 2020 when Apple originally added an Apple Watch complication to the app. The app hadn't been updated for about seven months before that.

Apple acquired Dark Sky Weather back in March of 2020. While the company originally planned to shut down the API that many other apps used to incorporate weather on July 1, 2021, it was recently revealed that the company delayed that change until the end of 2022.

Apple has already begun to incorporate features from Dark Sky into its own Weather app on iOS, including more localized weather reports and weather maps that are set to come as part of iOS 15 in the fall.

If you want to enjoy Dark Sky Weather on an Apple Watch, check out our list of the Best Apple Watch 2021.

What you need to know

• Apple is bringing new features to the Weather app in the United Kingdom.
• Next-hour precipitation, one of the features gained through the Dark Sky acquisition, is one such feature.

Update, February 1 (8:00 pm ET): It appears the update is available to users on the current public release of iOS 14.

Update, February 1 (9:00 pm ET): The feature appears to be available to users in Ireland as well.

When Apple announced its acquisition of the Dark Sky weather app, some of the features of the app quickly popped up in the stock Weather app on the iPhone, including more localized weather predictions, next-hour precipitation information, and more detailed air quality metrics.

One feature that United States users have been enjoying for a while now seems to be coming to the United Kingdom. Spotted by Shaun Jenks on Twitter, the new iOS 14.5 developer beta now shows the next-hour precipitation for U.K. users, just like it has for users in the U.S.

Keep in mind that these features are currently only available to developers. It will be a bit before they are released to the public, and it is currently unclear exactly when that will be. Apple could also remove features before iOS 14.5 is released to the public, but it seems unlikely they would do so with a feature so basic and anticipated.

The iOS 14.5 developer beta also includes a number of new features, such as unlocking an iPhone with your Apple Watch when wearing a face mask, support for the new Xbox and Playstation controllers, and dual-SIM 5G support for the iPhone 12 lineup.

Update, February 1 (8:00 pm ET) — It appears the update is available to users on the current public release of iOS 14.

Other users in the United Kingdom are reporting access to the new Weather app features while on the current public release of iOS 14. It appears that the new features, while happening to go live on the same day of the iOS 14.5 developer beta, are most likely a server-side update that are not tied to the beta.

Update, February 1 (9:00 pm ET) — The feature appears to be available to users in Ireland as well.

According to a new report from MacRumors, users in Ireland are also reporting that next-hour precipitation is available in the Weather app.

When Apple's acquisition of Dark Sky was first announced, I was initially delighted. Being a Canadian, I never got to use Dark Sky daily, but I was always envious of the hyper-localized weather data it provided. Hearing that Apple has purchased Dark Sky immediately made me think of how much better the Apple Weather app could become, perhaps even as early as iOS 14, and I'm not the only one.

It didn't take long for someone to come up with a really cool concept for what a new and improved weather app could look like now that Dark Sky has joined the Apple ranks.

It looks great, and I, for one, would be ecstatic for Apple to do this. The idea that the Apple Weather app could become this localized across the world is a wonderful thing — but there are two sides to every story.

Why Dark Sky getting bought by Apple is bad

Firstly, the Android app is shutting down on July 1, 2020. As someone who hasn't used Android since Jelly Bean was the newest version, this doesn't affect me, but I know it will affect a lot of people. This isn't the first time Apple has bought an app or a service rolled it into iOS and then stopped support — Texture is a perfect example.

The "Netflix-style" magazine app was bought up and then rolled into iOS in the form of Apple News+, the Android app and iOS app were both shut down, and subscriptions were canceled and refunded where appropriate. Now, it's easy to shrug your shoulders, throw up your hands, and say something about how there are other weather apps, but it's not that simple.

Lots of really great weather apps use Dark Sky's API — essentially the data Dark Sky collects — and the end of 2021 that API will no longer be accessible. That's a huge blow to great apps like CARROT and Appy weather, and while they have ample time to find replaceable API to use, what they do end up using my not be as good or as detailed. This move has the potential to make a lot of apps a lot less appealing or useful to users.

Anything can happen

It's not all doom and gloom; lots can happen with the acquisition. It could be as simple as Apple's Weather app getting a huge makeover and pushing worldwide, which would be great, but doesn't solve the API issue. Maybe, just maybe, Apple will release its API once it has Dark Sky incorporated into iOS, and developers will be able to use that data. That would require Apple to loosen some restrictions on its "walled garden" approach to iOS a little bit, but we have seen Apple being willing to remove some barriers in recent years.

Of course, some people are speculating that Apple could launch an "Apple Weather+" subscription that would give you access to more weather data and give you the hyper-localized updates that Dark Sky used to provide. I'm certainly less thrilled about that idea, and it's way too early to speculate that this is a move Apple would make, but anything can happen.

For now, if you use Dark Sky and have an Android phone, there are still a lot of weather apps you can use instead. Only time will tell what will happen to the apps that run off the Dark Sky API, but one thing's for sure, Dark Sky will be missed by lots of people.

What you need to know

• Apple has purchased Dark Sky.
• The iOS app will remain unaffected for the time being.
• The Android app is no longer available for download and will shut down on July 1, 2020.

Dark Sky is an immensely popular weather app for local weather, and in a blog post released today, Dark Sky announced it's joining Apple.

Dark Sky's hyper-local forecasts have been available on iOS and Android for years now, but with this recent acquisition, there are changes afoot.

The iOS app will remain unaffected for now and continue to be available for download; however, the Android app will not be so lucky.

The company also announced that the website forecasts, maps, and embeds will continue until July 1, 2020, as well; however, the website will remain active "beyond that time" for API and iOS app support.

As for its API service, which it provides to plently of users and developers alike, it will end at the end of next year.

It will be interesting to see how Apple incorporates Dark Sky into its services and just how many changes we may see to the Apple Weather app. Frankly, the Apple Weather app is pretty lackluster, and I hope this acquisition sparks a new redesign and increased features on future iOS builds.

What you need to know

• Bjango has been working on a new weather app.
• Snowflake Weather is from the team behind iStat Menus.
• It uses weather data from multiple sources.

Bjango is a name that will be familiar to Mac users thanks to the excellent iStat Menus. Now the same developer has turned its hand to the weather, with Snowflake Weather now available for iPhone and iPad. There's an Apple Watch app, too.

The idea behind Snowflake Weather is simple. It provides a powerful look at the weather via a nice, simple interface. And that weather data is accurate, too, because it's being pulled from multiple sources.

Snowflake Weather is available from the App Store for $4.99, giving you a standard set of features that includes no ads whatsoever. That's always welcome.

• Incredibly comprehensive weather data.
• iPhone and iPad app.
• Apple Watch app.
• Apple Watch complications.
• Today Widget.
• Siri Shortcuts.
• 4 weather providers.
• 4 themes and automatic day/night theme switching.
• No ads, no analytics, and no creepy tracking.

But there's also Snowflake Plus that gets you access to additional features and maps. It costs $4.99 per year or $0.99 per month, so it's obviously best to stump up the money now. You'll get plenty for your money, too.

• Multiple weather providers.
• 4 themes with automatic theme switching.
• 6 icons.
• 15 day forecast when using TWC.
• Animated rain and snow radar map layer.
• Clouds map layer with animation.
• Combined radar and clouds map layer.
• Wind Speed map layer.
• Temperature map layer.
• Dew Point map layer.
• Pressure map layer.
• Humidity map layer.
• 24 hour rainfall map layer.
• 24 hour snowfall map layer.
• Animated forecast rain and snow radar map layer.
• Animated forecast cloud map layer.
• Customize what's shown in current conditions.
• Hide rows in current conditions.
• Switch to a compact version of current conditions.
• Today Widget: Customize what's shown in current conditions.
• Apple Watch: 15 day forecast when using TWC.
• Apple Watch: Customize what's shown in current conditions.
• Apple Watch: Customize what's shown in hourly forecasts.
• Apple Watch: Background data to keep complications up-to-date.

You can find more information about Snowflake Weather, including its privacy policy, on the Bjango website.

What you need to know

• Weather Line 2 is now available in the App Store.
• It's free with a subscription model.
• The update includes puts the best radar, rain, and forecasting data in one place.

Update - It looks like the App Store is taking some time propogating the update. If you're still seing Weather Line v1.9.10, hang tight.

Weather Line is already one of the most loved weather apps on the App Store and now it has a sequel. This isn't just a spit and polish release though, with lots to make the update worthwhile.

At the top of that list is what Weather Line calls Super Forecast. It takes the best sources of radar, forecasting, and rain data and then puts them all into one app. Gone are the days of switching between weather apps just to work out whether it's going to rain in one and check the temperature in another.

Frequent travellers will love the new Travel Assist feature, too. The app will make a better job than ever of working out whether you're at home or on the move. No more having your weather app think your "Home' is two different places!

Other features include the obligatory support for iOS 13's Dark Mode as well as 17 unique themes. There are four different dark themes, because why not? Oh, and for the ultimate in Home screen management Weather Line 2 has 50 – count 'em, 50 – different app icons for you to choose from.

Rounding things out are the 10-day and 48-hour forecasts as well as monthly averages so you can make more informed decisions when travelling. And because Weather Line 2 uses Dark Sky data you'll be told before it rains while you're there.

You can download the new Weather Line 2 update from the App Store. It's a free download, but to unlock all of the features and remove the ads you'll need to either subscribe or pay for the $44.99 lifetime in-app purchase.

The Apple Watch can show a lot of really nifty pieces of information on its clock face, which is great for seeing important data at a glance. But when it comes to setting your weather, stock, and default world clock to show on the watch face, it can be hard to figure out how — and where — to do it. Here's the easiest way to make sure the data you want is showing up on your Apple Watch.

• How to set a default weather location on the Apple Watch
• How to set a default stock on Apple Watch
• How to set a default world clock on the Apple Watch

How to set a default weather location on the Apple Watch

The Apple Watch works in tandem with your iPhone apps to display the information you want; as such, you first need to set up some weather options in the Weather app on your iPhone.

In order to use the Weather app with your Apple Watch, make sure it's downloaded onto your iPhone.

1. Make sure you have the location(s) you want set up in the Weather app on your iPhone.
   • How to set up weather locations on your iPhone
2. Open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone.
3. Tap My Watch at the bottom.
4. Tap Weather.
5. Tap Default City.
6. Tap the Current Location to use that as your default. Otherwise, choose a default location from the locations on the list. (You can change the list in the Weather app on your iPhone.)

How to set a default stock on Apple Watch

In order to use the Stocks app with your Apple Watch, make sure it's downloaded onto your iPhone.

1. Make sure you have the stock(s) you want set up in the Stocks app on your iPhone.
   • How to set up stocks on your iPhone
2. Open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone.
3. Tap My Watch at the bottom.
4. Tap Stocks.
5. Tap to choose between Current Price, Points Change, Percentage Change, and Market Cap for the complication.
6. Tap on Default Stock to choose the stock that will appear in your Stocks complication. You can choose to mirror the first stock listed in the Stocks app on your iPhone or from any other stock on that list.

How to set a default world clock on the Apple Watch

By default, the World Clock will display all the cities you added in the order you added them. You can rearrange the order of the list at any time. It's a good way of keeping the times you truly care about the most visible.

1. Launch the Clock app from your Home screen.
2. Tap on the World Clock tab. It's the globe in the bottom left corner of your screen.
3. Tap on the Edit button. It's in the top left corner of your screen.

4. Tap and hold the Reorder button on the city you want to move. It's the three horizontal lines on the right side of the screen.
5. Drag your finger up or down to your desired spot in the list.
6. Let go of the screen.
7. Tap on the Done button. It's in the top left corner of your screen.

You're Apple Watch will now display the top World Clock in your list.

Updated March 2019: Updated for watchOS 5 and iOS 12. Serenity Caldwell contributed to a previous version of this article.

Everyone's favorite snarky weather app, CARROT Weather, has just received a significant v4.12 update, and it brings in some big new changes, especially on the iPad. This has always been one of our top weather apps because of the beautifully designed interface, informative data, sarcastic AI personality, and a lot of customization options. Today's update makes the app better than ever.

What's new in CARROT Weather 4.12

Here are all of the changes that version 4.12 of CARROT Weather brings in store for users.

The iPad has much larger screen estate, so it only makes sense that it gets its own interface that takes advantage of the larger screen space. CARROT Weather 4.12 brings a brand new iPad design that makes better use of the space. It includes Split Screen and Slide Over multitasking modes, so you can make sure you know the weather at all times of the day as you use your iPad, and there are also keyboard shortcuts to make your life easier.

Tier 3 subscribers will also enjoy automatic foreground refreshes on the iPad. This means if you have a spare iPad laying around the house, you can turn it into an always-on, wall-mounted weather display.

If you have a Tier 2 membership, you'll be able to get custom notifications for Air Quality Index. This will alert you when things like pollution will affect your breathing, which could be a matter of life or death for some people. Stay in the know!

The new update also brings in iCloud syncing and restoring for your app settings, saved locations, weather stations, achievements, and secret locations between all of your devices. Just make sure that you're logged in to the same iCloud account on each device for this to properly work.

This new feature also lets you restore all 150+ app settings from individual device backups during the initial setup of the app, or you can do it manually via the iCloud screen in CARROT's settings menu.

Both the severe weather alert and hurricane tracker notifications have been redesigned. Both of these will now show more useful information in their respective rich notification views, such as hurricane category levels, whether you're in the immediately affected area, and more. If you depend on severe weather alerts, then this is a useful feature to have.

The new and improved severe weather notifications require a Tier 1 membership.

For those who live in hurricane-prone areas, viewing the hurricane's path is a very handy feature to have. CARROT Weather's latest update allows you to tap on a hurricane's path or individual storm cell on a weather map, you'll get more details about it.

This feature requires a Tier 2 membership.

CARROT Weather 4.12 also brings in many other improvements and bug fixes. You also get two brand new achievements and a new secret location to track down.

One of our favorite weather apps

CARROT Weather has been one of my primary weather apps for quite some time now. I've always loved the interface and design, and CARROT itself is a hilarious AI that packs in quite a punch in terms of snark and sarcasm. There's so much to like about CARROT Weather, and this update has made the app even more useful.

CARROT Weather itself is a $5 download on the App Store. However, while you can use the app freely with that $5, you can also subscribe to one of the three-tiered memberships for even more features, but all of these are completely optional.

Tier 1 unlocks notifications, additional data sources, and Apple Watch background updates and costs $1 a month or $5 a year. Tier 2 gets everything in Tier 1 as well as additional map layers, custom notifications, and additional data sources for Apple Watch users. Tier 2 costs $2.50 a month or $12 a year. Tier 3 gets all features of Tier 1 and Tier 2, plus rain, lightning, and storm cell notifications (where available) and costs $8 a month or $25 a year.

The reason for the membership pricing is because the Apple Watch complication updates every 30 minutes, and the data supplier that CARROT Weather is using charges a small amount for each request of data, and this quickly adds up when an Apple Watch requests 48 updates a day. Without the complication, the average person using the Apple Watch app will only refresh it once or twice a day compared to someone using the complication.

Still, the membership pricing is all optional and not required to use the app at all. We still think CARROT Weather is one of the better weather apps available, and well worth the initial $5 price tag.

$5 - Download Now

With Apple Watch, the current temperature, precipitation, sunrise/sunset, and other weather-related information is a just a few taps on your wrist away. Thanks to Siri and the wearable device's Weather app, you can get more detailed information about any city in the world, and any day in the next week, with just a word or a few taps. Here's how!

• How to check the weather on your Apple Watch with complications
• How to check the weather on your Apple Watch with Siri
• How to check the weather on your Apple Watch with the app
• How to download a third-party weather app on Apple Watch in watchOS 6 (beta)

How to check the weather on your Apple Watch with complications

You can set up your Apple Watch's clock face to show you a wealth of weather information. That way, any time you glance at your wrist, you'll be updated.

1. Pick a clock face that allows for a good quantity of complications. (Utility is good for analog, Modular for digital.)
   • How to change the clock face on your Apple Watch
2. Customize the clock face to show local weather, temperature, as well as sunrise/sunset and moon phases if they're of value to you.
   • How to customize complications on your Apple Watch
3. To change the location of the weather shown in the complication, use the Apple Watch for iPhone app.
   • How to change the default weather location on your Apple Watch
4. Tap any weather complication to launch the Weather app.

How to check the weather on your Apple Watch with Siri

The fastest way to check the weather on your Apple Watch is to ask Siri, the built-in virtual personal assistant. You can ask for the weather in any city, for either the same day or the coming week.

1. Bring your Apple Watch towards your mouth and say "Hey Siri", or press and hold the Digital Crown to activate Siri.
2. Ask for the weather information that interests you. For example, "What's the weather?" "What's the weather in Cupertino?" "What's the weather in Cupertino next week?" or even, "Will I need a jacket tomorrow?"

How to check the weather on your Apple Watch with the app

The Weather app shows you current condition (day or night and what time the transition occurs), the percentage chance or rain, and the temperature. It defaults to your local city but also shows any additional cities you have set up in your Weather app for iPhone.

1. Press the Digital Crown to go to the Home screen. (Or just say, "Hey Siri, open weather".)
2. Tap the Weather icon to launch the Weather app.
3. Swipe to see the weather in any additional cities you have set up.

4. Tap the screen to cycle between condition, rain percentage, and temperature.

5. Or press firmly to see all the options at once.

6. To change the locations and order of locations on your Apple Watch, change them in the Weather app on your iPhone.
   • How to add, remove, and reorder locations in Weather for iPhone

How to download a third-party weather app on Apple Watch in watchOS 6 (currently in beta)

In watchOS 6, the App Store is arriving directly on Apple Watch. Because of this, you can begin downloading apps right from your wrist.

Apple occasionally offers updates to iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, tvOS, and macOS as closed developer previews or public betas. While the betas contain new features, they also contain pre-release bugs that can prevent the normal use of your iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV, or Mac, and are not intended for everyday use on a primary device. That's why we strongly recommend staying away from developer previews unless you need them for software development, and using the public betas with caution. If you depend on your devices, wait for the final release.

1. Tap on the Digital Crown on your Apple Watch.
2. Select the App Store app.

3. Tap Search box.
4. Using Dictation or Scribble to search for weather.
5. Tap Get next to the third-party weather app to download. Add password, if necessary.

Looking for a new Apple Watch band?

Here are two great Apple Watch bands worth checking out:

Metal replacement band ($20 at Amazon)

If you want a dressier band for your Apple Watch, this one's dynamite. It comes in black or silver, with a clasp closure that's easy to put on and take off. The best part is that you can remove links if it's a tad too big. Only available for the 42mm and 44mm Apple Watch.

Stainless steel and resin bracelet ($28 at Amazon)

These stainless steel bands put a twist on the traditional metal link band with a strip of resin down the center as an accent. If you're looking for a metal band that makes more of a statement, then these are what you're looking for. Available for the 38mm and 40mm Apple Watches.

Any questions?

Do you have any questions about finding weather information on Apple Watch? Let us know below.

Updated July 2019: Updated for the latest version of watchOS.

Everyone's spiteful, vindictive, and human-hating weather robot, CARROT, got a big update today that includes some wonderful new notification features.

Premium Club Membership

CARROT has had a premium membership for a while now that gives you access to different features and options depending on which membership you had. There are currently three different tiers for Premium Club Members

"To make things easier on your puny brains, I've renamed the two existing membership tiers: Premium is now Tier 1, and Ultrapremium is now Tier 2. This is just a name change - nothing is being taken away from these tiers. The all-new Tier 3 includes a few super-advanced and super-costly features."

Lightning Strike Notifications

The new lightning strike notifications can help warn you of one coming, or nearby storms, that could be a risk to your safety.

• Get notified after a lightning bolt strikes nearby.
• Tier 3 membership required.
• US and Canada only.

Precipitation Notifications

Rain and snow alerts have been modified to function without an Apple Watch for the new Tier 3 member.

• You can finally receive rain and snow alerts without an Apple Watch or a Mac!
• Tier 3 membership required for these server-side notifications (but I'm hoping to open them up to lower tiers in the future if my servers hold up).
• Tier 1 and Tier 2 members with Apple Watches still get rain alerts just as they always have.
• US, UK, and southern Canada only.

Storm Cell Notifications

The last big notification update revolves around storm cells, and now CARROT will notify you of when storm cells are headed your way, which can bring really dangerous weather into an area quickly.

• Storm cells can bring heavy rain, high winds, lightning, hail, tornadoes, and killer clowns. Good thing I figured out how to alert you when these cells are approaching your current location.
• Tier 3 membership required.
• US only.

More updates

There are some more update on custom and astronomy notifications as well as some bug fixes and more goodies. Be sure to check out CARROT Weather on the App Store for a full list of changes.

One of the best weather apps around!

CARROT brings you the weather, but with a spiteful twist. Cast as a human-hating artificial intelligence, with such comments as "I hope you get a sunburn," and "Your heating bill is going to bankrupt you," you'll always get a laugh out of your CARROT weather report. Plus, the more you use CARROT Weather, the more you will unlock secret locations, like Mount Doom and a certain Outer Rim Moisture Farm. Did I mention that Carrot can now appear right in your living room thanks to AR? Don't tap its ocular sensor or you might regret it.

$4.99 — Download Now

While nothing really beats checking the weather than taking a step outside, weather apps are quite useful for getting the forecast for the rest of the week, or even for a different area if you're traveling. Weather Atlas, by Contrast, was a great little weather app that provided accurate forecast info, and Friday, it received a huge overhaul to usability, design and even a new name. Say hello to Weather Up.

The biggest new feature in Weather Up is the Event Forecast. Once you grant Weather Up access to your calendar, Weather Up displays the forecast for your upcoming events. This feature is particularly useful for outdoor events, such as your kid's soccer practice, BBQs, and other activities. It's also convenient to see what the weather is going to be like before you start driving out there.

Keep in mind that you will need a subscription to Weather Up Pro to unlock the Event Forecast feature. A subscription runs $9.99/year or $1.99/month, and also removes ads and supports continued development.

Along with the Event Forecast, there are a ton of other overall improvements. In fact, most of the app was rewritten from the ground up to create a more intuitive and gesture-based interface that meshes incredibly well with the iPhone X, XS, and XS Max. If you used Weather Atlas before, then the changes are immediate when you open Weather Up, but you'll see that it's definitely for the better.

With the new design comes new weather icons. The developer claims that they look good enough to "brighten your day," and we'll admit that they do look nice. In fact, they have also opened up a shop where you can purchase Weather Up gear, if you'd like to wear your favorite cute weather icon.

The mapping in Weather Up is another strong point. You get the standard radar and cloud layer overlay, but there's also temperature, humidity, and precipitation accumulation. For those who live in extreme weather areas, there are warning layers for thunderstorms, tornadoes, and even hurricanes. No matter what weather you live in, Weather Up helps you get prepared.

We've been fans of Contrast's apps for a while now, and Weather Atlas was a great option for getting our forecasts. We're happy to see Weather Up bring a gorgeous new gesture-based interface and the Event Forecast feature is fantastic.

Are you using Weather Up, or do you prefer a different weather app? Let us know in the comments!

Free - Download Now

CARROT Weather is a unique forecast app that offers you a side of snark with your weather updates. Drawing from highly accurate sources, CARROT Weather offers you a look ahead at the week's weather, including detailed breakdowns of current conditions. With version 4.0, you can customize CARROT Weather to the nth degree, creating a forecast experience just for you.

Here's everything you need to know about CARROT Weather.

What's new with CARROT Weather?

Today, CARROT for iOS was updated with a few new features and bug fixes, bringing the app to version 4.7.2.

The coolest addition is probably Hurricane Tracker Notifications, a Premium Club exclusive. If you're a member of the Premium Club subscription tier and you live in North or Central America, you'll now be able to receive updates about the movement of hurricanes in your area and what category they are:

With this update, CARROT is also changing the way you receive and interact with certain notifications. For instance, now when you get your Daily Report notification, CARROT will "overwrite any old ones" so that you don't have a Notification Center full of Daily Reports. And, if you live in the U.S., you can tap severe weather notification to open them directly in the CARROT app. CARROT 4.7.2 also offers a better iPad landscape layout, eliminates a few annoying bugs, and gives you the option to show temperatures in Fahrenheit and Celsius side-by-side in both hourly and daily view.

The update is rolling out to all iOS devices starting today.

Attention, humans: version 4.7 of CARROT has officially arrived, allowing access to even more weather data (and more fun) in your desolate city than ever before. In addition to tons of new dialogue, performance improvements, and bug fixes, here are all the incredibly cool new features your foul-mouthed robot friend has cooked up for you:

• Overhauled weather maps: CARROT 4.7 offers a completely overhauled weather map system with 15 — yes, 15 — map layers. That means you can basically use CARROT to be a one-[insert preferred gender here] storm tracking team, whether you're trying to chase the tornadoes or avoid them. (I personally advise that you avoid them.) With CARROT 4.7, you can view future radar, tropical storms, lightning strikes, and more. Note that some map layers and other new features do require an Ultrapremium Club subscription because weather map data is, and I quote, "very expensive." However, if you're really into weather, it's actually kind of a steal at $9.99/year.
• New secret locations: If you're one of the individuals into CARROT's secret locations mini-game within the app, get excited: CARROT 4.7 offers 10 brand spankin' new missions that will take you to KGB headquarters in Moscow, the giant stone heads in Easter Island, and beyond.
• New hint system for the secret locations mini-game: Struggle with using your inferior meat brain to solve CARROT's tricky puzzles? CARROT 4.7 also includes a new hint system to make things a little easier for you. But only a little.
• Forecast sharing: We've all been there: CARROT says something insulting and hilarious about the weather, and you desperately want to share it with your friends or followers on social media. However, it's not the best idea to broadcast your exact location wherever you go. Thankfully, CARROT 4.7 has solved this problem with it's new forecast sharing mode. Now, whenever CARROT reminds you that clouds are mother nature's version of Pictionary, you can redact your location and take a screenshot. Viva privacy! CARROT has also added a few new sharing services like Instagram.

So, what are you waiting for, meatbag? Update and then check the weather! You never know when global warming is going to hit you with another scorcher.

CARROT Weather has hit version 4.0, and with that milestone, the app is bringing several changes and new features to its experience. First up, there's a completely redesigned user interface. Now when you open CARROT Weather, the top half of the screen will tell you the current weather, while the bottom half will give you both an hour-by-hour forecast of temperatures and conditions, as well as the forecast for the next several days.

Another big change has arrived for Premium Club members: customization for pretty much every piece of data you see in CARROT Weather. If you subscribe to the $2.49 a year Premium Club, you can now choose between Dark Sky and Weather Underground as your data source, and customize what your Current, Hourly, and Daily weather readouts look like line by line. There are also a number of options available for the Apple Watch app.

CARROT Weather 4.0 also comes with more secret locations, the ability to change the app's personality modes, improved weather radar, and the ability to pinpoint your exact location on a map.

What is CARROT Weather?

From Developer Grailr, CARROT Weather is a weather and forecasting app for iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch that shows you your current weather conditions, as well as highly-detailed forecasts for the next seven days. It also features colorful illustrations to reflect the current weather, along with a healthy dose of snark to give weather reporting a little more personality.

The iOS app also comes with an iMessage app that lets you send weather forecasts to your friends.

What makes CARROT Weather stand out?

It's really the personality of the app, tailored to your specific weather conditions. The app features thousands of lines of dialogue, along with colorful scenery and characters that react to the weather. CARROT Weather delivers responses to new conditions, and now, with version 4.0, you have more control over those responses.

In version 4.0, you have access to a personality slider for CARROT Weather, which gives you five personality options:

• Professional: In this mode, CARROT Weather delivers no snark, only announcing weather conditions.
• Friendly: CARROT Weather will behave itself, offering a friendly personality.
• Snarky: This mode gives you a little more cheek and sarcasm, but doesn't ever try to kill you.
• Homicidal: Don't be surprised if CARROT Weather tries to get you to launch yourself into the Sun.
• Overkill: Like homicidal, but with more swearing.

In addition to personality types, you can also elect whether to have CARROT Weather's voice and sounds turned on or off.

CARROT Weather also likes to have fun with its Secret Locations. These are little challenges that the app gives you that help you find certain landmarks, such as the White House, the Pyramids, and even the Moon.

Where does CARROT Weather get its data?

Up until now Dark Sky, which offers highly-localized weather forecasts, was the sole data provider for CARROT Weather. But in its latest update, Premium Club members can now switch between Dark Sky and Weather Underground as their data source for weather information.

Does it have an Apple Watch app?

There is indeed an Apple Watch App, which uses the same data sources as the iPhone app. However, in order to use Weather Underground as a source on the Apple Watch, you'll need to join the $9.99 a year Ultrapremium Club due to the higher costs of Weather Underground data and the fact that both data sources need to be downloaded with every weather update.

What is the Premium Club?

The Premium Club offers access to many of the advanced features of CARROT Weather. For $0.49 per month or $2.49 per year, Premium Club offers access to the new customization options for the iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch apps, as well as the ability to choose your weather data source. Premium Club also gives you more layers to use on the Radar screen.

An additional tier, Ultrapremium, costs $1.49 per month ($9.99 per year) and lets you choose data sources for CARROT Weather on your Apple Watch.

How much does CARROT Weather cost?

You can grab CARROT Weather from the App Store for $3.99.

• $3.99 - Download Now

Questions?

If you have any more questions about CARROT Weather, be sure to ask in the comments.

CARROT Weather has been one of the top weather apps for years, and it seems each update the developers put out, the better it gets.

Today, CARROT released a new update (version 4.5) with a few really cool upgrades that should make the all of humans very happy; here's a quick rundown of all the changes.

$4.99 - Download Now

What's new with CARROT Weather

As CARROT would say itself "listen up meatbags; here's the scoop."

Achievements: That's right, now not only will CARROT taunt you on the daily, the robot has 32 different challenges — such as "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow" that you can unlock. You can also choose to ignore them, but don't be surprised if CARROT gives you an earful.

Alternate App Icons: My personal favorite part of the update, CARROT now will give you some options of different app icons to use for CARROT Weather, so you can personalize how your version looks on your Home Screen.

More Secret Locations: Hunting for the secret locations in the CARROT Weather app is fun and now the secret locations have a whole new dedicated section in the app. They added even more locations to find, so get out there and start hunting!

Of course, CARROT Weather also made a few improvements under the hood, checked the tires, and filled up the tank with gas, etc. If you want to see the full list for yourself head over the App Store

CARROT does updates right

I mentioned before, the development team behind CARROT Weather has been incredible and making the app better and better with each update it releases. Whether it's big or small changes, each update is cause for celebration. Just look at how much Serenity Caldwell about the last CARROT update.

CARROT Weather is a fantastic app through and through, so if you're in the mood for a weather app, make sure you check it out!

$4.99 - Download Now

Weather Line is one of those fantastically minimalist apps that make checking the weather forecast a real treat. Most of the screen encompasses a visual graph of the current and upcoming conditions with bits of stats at the bottom. You can quickly scan the graph for the day, week, and even monthly average weather conditions.

Off Coast recently updated Weather Line with a few additional features to iPhone X and the Plus line of iPhones. The extra screen space makes it possible to add rain and cloud cover data so you can get a bit more detailed info without interfering with the simplicity of the screen.

The point of Weather Line is to present everything you need to know on one screen. No scrolling, no swiping, no tapping. It's all presented right on your iPhone screen so you can get all of the data at a glance.

There's also a nice Lock screen widget that gives you that same beautiful graph right on your Lock screen. You can keep it simple with a straight line showing the hourly forecast, or Show More to see the full graph.

Weather Line is powered by Dark Sky, which is a fan favorite with the iMore Crew. It is known for its pinpoint accuracy for predicting up-to-the-minute weather conditions. If you're going for a walk in 15 minutes, you'll know whether to expect a bit of rainfall on your walk.

Weather Line costs $3.99 and is available in the App Store for iPhones running iOS 10 and later.

• Download now

Apple Watch apps are not great advocates for their product. In fact, most of them aren't even good citizens on their product — while doing research for my annual "Best Apple Watch apps" list (coming to an iMore near you next week!), I stopped mid-writing to pen a second article about all the not-so-great apps showcased on the platform. It's a surprising amount, and many of them are from fairly respected developers on the iPhone.

I'm telling you now: Those developers should take a good, hard look at Carrot Weather. Brian Mueller and his evil snarky AI genius CARROT have created a masterpiece in the app's new Apple Watch component. It's an easily-readable weather app with all the snark of its iPhone companion, and it does so while still offering tons of data to interested users without being slow, buggy, or constantly crashing.

Carrot Weather - Download now

Supercharging the update

Even before its redesign, Carrot Weather's Apple Watch app was decent — along with Just Press Record, it was one of the few third-party watch apps I actively recommended to friends picking up a new Apple Watch.

But this update has made a few crucial changes that elevate the app from good to great. It's faster, taking advantage of all the API goodies and CPU power the Series 3 Apple Watch can provide. That means faster load times for weather along with secondary screens like forecast data and radar — though the latter still suffers a bit on initial load due to actively downloading imagery from the internet.

As a result of building a fully-compatible watchOS 4 app, Carrot also incorporates the operating system's latest features — like the speaker. Yes, Carrot's snarky weather flavor-text can now be read aloud to you if you so choose; it's already brought me a slew of delighted public reactions (something we've been at a loss for as of late with all of the drama happening in the world).

And it's beautiful. The design is a hyper-minimalist version of Carrot's iPhone app, with smart font choices to make at-a-glance weather readings fast and simple (like thicker numbers for hotter weather, and thinner numbers for colder weather). Colors are bright and used effectively. There aren't any impossibly-tiny buttons to mash your finger into on a 38mm watch.

Carrot is also one of the only watch applications I've seen that offers both customizable complications and app display inside its parent iPhone app: There are four completely empty slots you can customize for the watch app, which can display things like the temperature in Celsius, highs and lows, wind speed, precipitation, barometrics, and more. You can also choose to customize your weather flavortext (from Snark to far more practical options) as well as the length of your extended forecast (though Carrot does note that the longer the extended forecast, the longer the app's load time).

It's a smart way to ensure everyone gets what they need out of their watch's weather app without having to hide too much data under menus and tapping and Force Touch gestures. I applaud Mueller for the move — it's one I hope to see many more watch app developers embracing.

One of the few features hidden under a Force Press is the optional radar feature, available only with an Ultrapremium subscription ($9.99/year); the cost is primarily data-based, as the feature pulls information from Weather Underground rather than Dark Sky, and the former service is quite a bit pricier to include in an app.

As I mention above, radar does take a bit longer to load than anything else on the Apple Watch app, but it's worth it to view an easy-to-read 30-minute map on your wrist. I've tried quite a number of weather apps on my watch, and none attempt radar so gracefully as Carrot Weather (and, quite frankly, none of them really work).

AccuWeather, a popular climate and forecast app for iOS, has been caught sharing the private location information of its users with revealmobile .com, a data monetization company.

Will Strafach, writing on Medium:

The AccuWeather application for iOS requests location access under the premise of providing users localized severe weather alerts, critical updates, and faster launch time. Granting access to location information will also cause the application to send the following bits of information off to "revealmobile.com":

• Your precise GPS coordinates, including current speed and altitude.
• The name and "BSSID" of the Wi-Fi router you are currently connected to, which can be used for geolocation through various online services.
• Whether your device has bluetooth turned on or off.

During a testing period of 36 hours, specifically while the AccuWeather application was not in the foreground, my test iPhone (located on a desk in an office building) sent the above information to RevealMobile a total of 16 times, occuring roughly once every few hours.

Read the whole thing, then decide what will happen first: you deleting AccuWeather or Apple dropping the hammer on them.

Update: Accuweather issues non-response response

I don't even want to quote from what Accuweather posted as a non-response response. It dodges the issues with a classic "we did nothing wrong and if we did we didn't know!" non-defense defense. Shame.

John Gruber has thoroughly torn it apart on Daring Fireball if you want to dive deeper.

And if you didn't delete it before, you'll probably want to now.

The Weather app for iPhone can show you a list of cities, along with local times and temperatures, which makes it incredibly easy to glance at a wide range of information. In addition to the weather for your current location, you can also add additional locations based on city name, postal or zip code, or airport code. You can arrange all the cities in exactly the order you want, and you can even remove ones you no longer want.

Here's how!

• How to add locations to Weather for iPhone
• How to remove locations from Weather for iPhone
• How to rearrange locations in the Weather app for iPhone
• How to change from celsius to fahrenheit in Weather for iPhone

How to add locations to Weather for iPhone

The Weather app for iPhone will automatically keep track of the climate and temperature in your current location, if you allow it. However, you can also add any other locations you might want to keep track of. Whether you're traveling or simply have family, friends, or colleagues around the world, you easily keep all the information you want, all available at a glance.

1. Launch the Weather app from the Home screen of your iPhone.
2. Tap the List button at the bottom right (or pinch to compress down to the list view).
3. Tap the + button at the bottom right.

4. Type in the name of the city, zip or postal code, or airport code.
5. Tap on the desired city from the search results.

How to remove locations from Weather for iPhone

1. Launch the Weather app from the Home screen of your iPhone.
2. Tap the List button at the bottom right (or pinch to compress down to the list view).

3. Swipe from right to left on top of the location you want to remove to reveal the Delete button
4. Tap the Delete button

How to rearrange locations in the Weather app for iPhone

1. Launch the Weather app from the Home screen of your iPhone.
2. Tap the List button at the bottom right (or pinch to compress down to the list view).
3. Touch and hold the weather location you'd like to move up or down in the list.

4. Drag the weather location to the position you'd like it to be in
5. Release your finger to reorder the weather location.

Repeat this process for each item you'd like to move up or down in the list.

How to change from Celsius to Fahrenheit in Weather for iPhone

1. Launch the Weather app from the Home screen of your iPhone.
2. Tap the List button at the bottom right (or pinch to compress down to the list view).

3. Tap the °C / °F button at the bottom left.
4. Tap the °C / °F button at the bottom left again to toggle back.

In addition to checking weather information using the app, you can also ask Siri for the most important forecast and temperature information.

Any questions about Weather?

If you have any questions about the built-in Weather app for iPhone, drop them in the comments below!

The Weather Channel has updated its app for iPhone and iPad, bringing a refreshed look and interface across the app and adding several new features. These include a new, six-minute video all about weather, 15-day forecasts, and support for 3D Touch quick actions.

Here's the list of everything that's changed in The Weather Channel 7.0:

• Dynamic Home Screen: Changes based on your current location, weather, and time of day, so you get your current conditions plus the weather info you need most.
• Morning Show: Watch "The Lift," a 6-minute show that's exclusive to your app. Join Al Roker, Ari Sarsalari and Domenica Davis as they cover breaking weather, cool science, and amazing nature clips. Available on your home screen weekdays from 6-11 a.m.
• Remove in-app ads: We love that our sponsors allow us to bring you The Weather Channel app for free but, for those of you who want an ad-free version, it is here! For a $3.99 in-app purchase, you get 1 year of The Weather Channel app without ads. Go to your settings menu to purchase.
• 15-day forecasts: We are always pursuing the perfect forecast, and the science just got better. Introducing 15-day forecasts that you can rely on.
• Apple "Quick Actions:" On 3D touch supported devices (iPhone 6s and iPhone6s+), press deeply on The Weather Channel App icon from your home screen, and you'll see a fun surprise!
• Flu and Pollen reports: Know the flu and pollen levels near you--just tap on the health module for details.

Download The Weather Channel 7.0 from the App Store now.

• Free - Download Now

Popular smack-talking weather app, CARROT Weather, has been updated with support foriOS 9 and watchOS 2. Coming in this update is support for 3D Touch quick actions, for those of you getting your hands on an iPhone 6s this week, along with the addition of complications on Apple Watch with watchOS 2. Here's the full breakdown of what's new in CARROT Weather:

• Apple Watch Complication: Now all you have to do is raise your wrist to check the weather! My watch face complication not only tells you what the weather's like right now, but also how it's going to change over the next few hours. Upgrade to premium to unlock hourly updates, rain prediction, and a second "bonus" complication that displays wind data. (Requires watchOS 2.)
• 3D Touch Quick Actions: I'm all about efficiency, so now you can force press my app icon from the Home screen to quickly search for a new location or bring up one of your saved locations. (Requires iPhone 6s or iPhone 6s Plus.)
• 2 New Secret Locations: Because I'm a generous weatherbot, I'll give you a hint for each. The first can only be unlocked using my time travel feature while the second is a city in North Takoma.

CARROT Weather also now includes handoff support, so you can browse the weather on one device and pick up where you left off on another. If you'd like to check out the complications on your Apple Watch and hunt for the new secret locations, you can hit up the App Store link below to grab the latest update to CARROT Weather.

• $3.99 - Download Now

Formerly available only for iPhone and iPad, WeatherPro has made the jump to the desktop today with a version of Mac. It features a similar layout to the iPad version, and grants easy access to your favorite locations. You can also sync your favorites with your WeatherPro account.

The app gives you two methods of checking the weather quickly. The menu bar item will drop down from your Mac's menu bar and show the current conditions in your area. The Notification Center widget shows those, as well as the high and low temperatures for the next three days.

The app comes with a seven-day forecast. WeatherPro offers in-app purchases for the Premium version, which will give you an extended 14-day forecast and all layers of the map preview. You can pay $1.99 for a three-month subscription, or $5.99 for 12 months.

You can grab WeatherPro from the Mac App Store now.

• $2.99 - Download Now

WeatherPro, MeteoGroup's weather application for iOS, has been updated with key new features for iPad and iPhone. The new 3.0 and 3.8 versions are available for download for the iPad and iPhone, respectively.

WeatherPro for iPad gains the ability to add multiple "personal weather stations," devices from Netatmo that register weather and air quality conditions, including humidity, temp, CO2, acoustic comfort and barometric pressure.

The iPhone version adds lockscreen support, so you can check weather conditions from your notification list when the phone is locked. The new iPhone version also enables you to turn off the parallax effect - a 3D embellishment that some users find a bit disconcerting.

WeatherPro for iPhone:

• $2.99 - Buy now

WeatherPro for iPad:

• $3.99 - Buy now

Weather Line is an impeccably designed, delightfully crafted weather app that comes from another one of those director, developers, designer trios that seems to be working so wonderfully well lately. The director for Weather Line, Ryan Jones, was gracious enough to expound on why the world needed another weather app, what iOS 7 allowed them to do with it, and what his role entailed.

First up, what made you want to make Weather Line? What did Weather Line bring the table that no other weather app captured for you before?

What, if anything, did iOS 7 allow you to do that previous versions of iOS wouldn't?

How did you like being an app director?

Thanks Ryan! The thoughtfulness is obvious in the app!

You can find Weather Line in the App Store.

• $2.99 - Download Now

Anyone familiar with Android may well have come across LevelUp Studio. They are responsible for the excellent Twitter client Plume and the extremely popular Beautiful Widgets. Excellent apps for Android users, and now they have brought at least part of Beautiful Widgets to iOS with their new weather application; Bright Weather for iPhone.

We're not short of weather applications on iOS, but I for one will happily welcome talented developers from other platforms into the iOS fold. It's a crowded space, but there's still room for a good application to stand out. So, is Bright Weather worth a look? Let's find out.

Bright Weather pulls in its data from Accuweather, but the UI is all their own. The main view is packed with information, yet doesn't feel at all cluttered. That's due in part to the large weather animation that sits front and center. That's where your current weather conditions are found: current temperature, daily highs and lows, the RealFeel and what sort of weather you're experiencing that day. Clouds float effortlessly behind all of this, and if you're lucky enough not to be in a dreary part of the UK, maybe even some sun.

Top of the display is your current location and time, along with the time since your last refresh. Down the bottom is a weekly forecast highlight. The menus for Bright Weather are all tucked away in a slide-out bar on the left hand side. Very Android like, but fits perfectly with the design of the app. It keeps everything tucked out of sight until you need it, and I like that. Inside the menu you'll find the settings, along with all the more specialised weather information.

One of these categories is an hourly breakdown of conditions for your location, for the current day. You get a temperature, a general conditions, and a windspeed. Another category that's interesting, is Lifestyle. This one gives you indicators on how suitable the weather is for a range of pursuits from mowing the lawn right up to going Skiing. Luckily, as you'll see here, I didn't much fancy going to the beach today as it's not great out. That and it's a 35 mile drive. If you're into seeing the moon phases, you're catered for too.

Settings are well catered for in Bright Weather. As you'd want, you can alter the units, clock, wind speed units, turn on the animations and set it to refresh on start. Nothing out of the ordinary, but all the important stuff is covered off. You can also manage your locations under a separate menu item, and removing one takes nothing more than a swipe and a tap.

So, what else is there to know? Well, Bright Weather is a free download from the App Store, with an optional in-app purchase of $0.99 to remove the ads. There's currently no iPad version, though the developer has confirmed to us that one is in the works, most likely as an update to the main app with a universal solution. A couple of the menu options, like 'More Info' take you out of the app and into Safari to the Accuweather website. The information is good to have, but its a disjointing experience to be taken away from the main app and into Safari to access it.

The Good

• Well designed, good looking UI
• Fast refresh upon opening the app
• Lifestyle category a nice touch for quick glance information
• Animations are nice!

The Bad

• Leaving the app to go into Safari for some information
• Current lack of iPad support

The Bottom Line

Bright Weather is an excellent start at developing for iOS from a well respected Android developer. Bright Weather is great to look at, quick at getting you the latest information and free to download. The ads don't really get in the way too much, but I liked it enough to pay to get rid pretty early on. The lack of iPad support is a tad frustrating, but we know that it's coming, so it's an inconvienience at the moment and nothing more. It'll look fantastic on the iPad when it arrives. Leaving the app to go into Safari is more frustrating though, and I do wish there was a better way of handling the information it takes you away to get.

It's a really nice app, and I've been thinking whether it'll replace my current go-to, Yahoo! Weather. It's quite possible, you get the same sort of information delivered in a slightly different, but still beautiful in its own right sort of way. I really hope LevelUp is here to develop for iOS for the long haul, we could see some great things from them.

• Free - Download Now

After the Twitter for iPhone app comparison last week, my friend and Iterate podcast co-host Seth Clifford remarked that weather apps were the new hotness when it came to interface playgrounds for iOS designers. So, I jumped into the App Store, downloaded 26 popular weather apps, added Apple's built-in iOS weather app, and grabbed all their screens.

They tend to fall into two main categories -- informationally dense, and informationally minimalist. Some apps put everything, including a forecast for your kitchen sink, right on the main screen so you can soak in as much as you want at a glance. Others hide away everything but the essentials, and either let you dig deeper when you want to, or eschew complexity entirely. What's clear is that there are a ton of different takes. Some use buttons, some use gestures. Some are static, others dynamic. Some try to match weather with mood, others prefer a dashboard look. Some go for a full-on digital look, while others stick to more real-world analogs. In many cases, the diversity is as thoughtful as it is impressive.

Here, in order, from top left to bottom right, are:

1. iOS 6 Weather (built-in), Today Weather, WeatherNeue
2. Check the Weather, Weather 2X, Solar
3. The Weather Channel, Haze, AccuWeather
4. Weather HD, Partly Cloudy, Weather Live
5. Weather Underground, Weather Bug, Blue
6. Dark Sky, eWeather HD, [Daily Weather+](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/daily-weather?at=10l3Vy&ct=UUimUdUnU17468 /id528065804?mt=8&at=10l3Vy&ct=d_im)
7. Pocket Weather Australia, WeatherPro, Fahrenheit (or Celsius
8. Degrees Canada, Weather Dial, Thermo
9. [Weather+](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/weather?at=10l3Vy&ct=UUimUdUnU17468 /id403692190?mt=8&at=10l3Vy&ct=d_im), Living Earth, swackett X

Of course, the weather screen proper is only one aspect of a weather app, and doesn't cover features like radar, videos, etc. Consider this comparison a starting point. For more on the individual apps, check out our weather app review series.

Still, look over the designs above and let me know what you think. Which weather apps do you use, and are they the same ones that appeal to you most in the comparison above? Any of the weather screens attractive enough they encourage you check out an alternative app?

While weather apps like Weather 2x, Dark Sky, and Today Weather may not be the hardcore weather apps that some people want, they're just about perfect for lovers of minimalism who prefer something simpler, more elegant, and more glance-able. But which one does the best with the least? And which one will be best for you?

Weather 2x vs. Dark Sky vs. Today Weather: User interface & design

Weather 2x's interface is designed around showing you current information right off the bat. After launching the app you'll be shown the current conditions for your location. You'll be shown the location, time, temperature, and current weather state such as sunny, overcast, rainy, snowing, or whatever description is appropriate.

The rest of Weather 2x is based on a system of simple gestures. To quickly view a 5-day forecast, just slide up from the bottom of the screen. You can then scroll back and forth to see what the weather will be like for the next 5 days. You'll be shown a graphical animation of expected conditions as well as the high and low for that given day. Nothing more and nothing less.

From the main screen of Weather 2x you can also swipe to the left to reveal an hourly forecast. This also can extend out 5 days. You'll see hourly increments by time with an animation of the expected conditions and the predicted temperature. You'll also see a clock icon in the upper right hand corner. All this does is bring you back to the current time and conditions when you tap on it.

Just like you swipe to the left to view an hourly forecast, swiping right will reveal the settings panel for Weather 2x. From here you can edit settings such as switching to metric measurements to turning off sound effects. The main menu allows you to add locations by tapping the plus sign and searching. To switch different locations just swipe to the right and then select the area you'd like to see the weather for. You can also delete locations easily by tapping the edit button. You'll then see a black X appear next to each location. Just tap it to delete any location.

There is only one more setting on the main screen of Weather 2x and it's a share button. From here you can easily share weather conditions via Facebook, Twitter, or email. The main graphical image of Weather 2x will be include as well as some information on the conditions where appropriate.

Dark Sky takes a slightly different approach than Weather 2x when it comes to presenting data. Upon launching Dark Sky you'll notice that you have a graph along the top of the screen. This is a chart that will show expected precipitation over the next hour or so. If the forecast is uncertain, the graph will wobble (move slightly) indicating the forecast isn't 100% certain.

The premise of Dark Sky is to tell you conditions as they are right now and what you can expect over the next hour or so. From the main screen you can easily see what the current condition is and what is expected over the next hour. This information is always readily available to you after launching Dark Sky. The main screen does, however, give you easy access to some other important information such as the forecast for the full day. Just slide up the Full Day tab that sits beneath the information on the next hour and you'll be given a forecast for the entire day. This will include the next 3 hours, an afternoon summary, an evening summary, and an overnight summary. Next to each section you'll see data that includes high/low temperatures and a condition such as rain, snow, or sunny.

Dark Sky makes it rather easy to change locations or view weather in a different area. Along the bottom of the screen there is a bar that allows you to change locations. You can enter a zip code, address, or any other location you'd like. To return to your current location, just tap on the location arrow and you'll be taken back to weather information about your current location.

If you want to view radar maps, you can do so by simply tapping on the radar button in the upper right hand corner of the main screen. The radar maps in Dark Sky are absolutely gorgeous. Just like the chart on the main screen for precipitation, you can view this as well inside radar. Dragging your finger along the precipitation slider will change the map accordingly. You can also go back in time several hours so if you're interested in seeing past storm systems or weather conditions, you can just slide your finger backwards about 5 to 6 hours.

Today Weather starts off by asking you to add any locations you'd like. From here you'll be taken to a main screen that shows a summary for all the areas you've programmed into Today Weather. Tapping into any one of them will bring up a gorgeously laid out view of current conditions. At the top you'll see the location, time, temperature, and what it actually feels like outside. Underneath that you can view conditions for the entire day as well as an extended forecast in 4 hour increments for the remainder of the day.

Swiping to the left in Weather Today will present you with an extended 3 day forecast that is broken down in hourly increments. You'll also be given sunset and sunrise data within the forecast breakdown. From the main screen you can also swipe to the right in order to see an extended forecast for the next 7 days. The graph is absolutely stunning and shows information in a rather ingenious way. At a glance you can see high and low temperatures for each day with a summary of weather expectations at the very top.

Once inside any location you can swipe up and down in order to view different locations. The gesture works on both the current condition and extended forecast pages. Along the top of Weather Today you'll also see any weather warning indicated by a warning triangle in the upper right hand corner. Tapping on it allows you to view any warnings that are active for that location.

When it comes to user interface and design, Weather Today is probably the most gorgeous weather app we've ever seen. The functionality is there as is the visual representations to go with it.

Weather 2x vs. Dark Sky vs. Today Weather: Current weather conditions

The current weather condition section of Weather 2x is very minimal and aims to show you what the current weather is at a simple glance. The background image is supposed to represent what the current conditions are outside. On top of that you'll see the location, temperature, and time. That's it. Nothing more and nothing less.

Dark Sky's current forecast screen is far different than both Weather 2x and Today Weather. The top section of the main screen is strictly dedicated to tracking current precipitation conditions. There is nothing to interact with within the chart, it will just actively update given precipitation expectations. Underneath that you'll only see info for what is happening right now and what is happening in the next hour. The thing about Dark Sky is that it aims to give you very accurate information up to the minute. So instead of just showing you a summary of what may happen within that hour, you'll see more detailed information. If it's going to rain for 7 minutes in the next hour, that's what Dark Sky will tell you. As that time approaches, Dark Sky will become more and more exact.

Today Weather shows a brief overview of what the current conditions are within any location. Along the top you'll simply see a breakdown of temperature, location, feels like, and any warnings that may be in effect at the current time. Underneath that you'll also see an overview of the day including high and low temps as well as a graphical representation of what you should see for that day. Next to that you'll be given the likely percentage for precipitation as well as wind speed. The only other thing displayed for the current forecast is the 4 hour breakdown on expected conditions for that day.

Today Weather also has a map view like Dark Sky. From the current condition screen you can tap on the maps icon in the lower left hand corner to see current radar conditions for your area. While it is functional and shows weather variations in different areas, it's not interactive and only gives you the ability to show what the weather is like radar wise at that current moment.

When it comes to current conditions, both Weather Today and Dark Sky provide a great deal of information at a quick glance. If wind speed and high/low temps are more important to you, Weather Today is the only option that'll give you that at a quick glance. If you want more information on precipitation and have active updates on what's happening right now, Dark Sky will be the better choice.

Weather 2x vs. Dark Sky vs. Today Weather: Forecasts

The forecast section of Weather 2x is located in the bottom half of the main screen. You can access it at any time by swiping upwards on the screen. You'll then be presented with a 5 day overview of expected weather conditions. There is nothing additional to tap into or to view. You can view high and low temperatures for each day as well as a graphical representation of what kind of weather is expected.

To access hourly forecasts inside of Weather 2x, you can slide left with your finger across the screen to bring out the hourly forecast menu. Here you'll see a breakdown of the forecast in hourly increments. This will include the time, a picture of the expected condition, and the expected temperature. You'll be given the same time frame as the extended forecast under hourly which is 5 days.

Weather Today's forecast screen is accessed by swiping to the right from the main current condition screen. The one great thing about Weather Today is that it easily allows you to switch locations from either the current weather or the forecast screen. All you have to do is swipe up or down in order to view extended forecasts or current conditions.

Unlike Weather 2x and Dark Sky which show you forecasts in a plain list view, Weather Today shows forecast data in a pretty amazing graph format. You can see temperature variations represented by bars in columns as well as a picture animation of what the day should be like. The forecast will extend out a total of 7 days from today's date. At the top of the graph you'll also see the percent chance for precipitation.

Swiping right from the main screen of Weather Today also shows hourly forecasts. This data will also include sunrise and sunset information. Much like the extended forecast screen you'll see chance for precipitation, expected temperatures, and a picture representation of the conditions for that hour.

When it comes to forecasts, Weather Today's intuitive and new way of presenting forecast information is not only visually pleasing but presents data in a way that just can't be matched by either Dark Sky or Weather 2x.

Weather 2x vs. Dark Sky vs. Today Weather: Additional features

Weather 2x doesn't have any additional features to speak of minus the ability to sync to iCloud across versions of the app on other devices. If you're looking for a simple app that just shows current conditions, Weather 2x will do that but not much beyond that.

Dark Sky's killer feature is the precipitation indicators and the radar maps. They're both implemented extremely well and work just as described. The radar maps are absolutely stunning and it's nice to see controllable ones as even most advanced apps require you to press a play button that you can't stop at a certain time.

Dark Sky is also the only app that offers actual push notifications. You can customize them by tapping the notify button at the very top left of Dark Sky's main screen. The notifications will work for whenever it is going to rain or snow at your current location. You can also adjust when you don't want to be notified depending on time of the day.

Weather Today offers alerts inside the app about sever weather conditions. Anytime there are severe conditions present or coming up you'll see an alert triangle in the upper left hand corner of the app. Just tapping on it will give you information on the severe weather conditions and any public advisories concerning them.

As far as additional features, Dark Sky and Weather Today have a few but considering these are minimalist weather apps, you shouldn't expect a ton.

Tie between Dark Sky and Weather Today.

Weather 2x vs. Dark Sky vs. Today Weather: Pricing

When it comes to pricing Weather 2x, Dark Sky, and Today Weather are all pretty close so we'd imagine it won't be an issue for many. Currently Weather 2x will come in at the lowest price point of $0.99. There are no additional in-app purchases. Today Weather will cost you a little bit more at $1.99 but for the visual design alone, it's worth it. Dark Sky is priced the highest at $3.99 but if you live in a climate where there's lots of rain and you want to know when you're going to have a few clear hours, it's well worth the money.

Tie between all three. None are extremely expensive and all are reasonable for what features they give you.

Weather 2x vs. Dark Sky vs. Today Weather: The bottom line

Weather 2x, Dark Sky, and Today Weather are all gorgeous weather apps with minimalist, meaningful interfaces that present just enough data to be glance-able, and do it beautifully.

Dark Sky is good if you really need up to the minute information on rainy days. In other words, if you live in Seattle or another area that receives high rainfall each year, do not pass go, pick up Dark Sky and don't look back.

Weather 2x is barebones and provides only the information about current conditions and a short forecast. If that's all you need, it's the best choice.

Today Weather is hands down the absolute best choice if you need more than 5 days forecast time, and it's our current favorite weather app for minimalists.

• Weather 2x - $0.99 - Download Now
• Dark Sky - $3.99 - Download Now
• Today Weather - $1.99 - Download Now

Whether you live in an area with frequent or volatile climate changes that you absolutely have to keep on top of, or you're just a geek for a good weather app, there are several great choices for the iPhone. The Weather Channel Max, AccuWeather, and Weather Live all go above and beyond to provide everything a hardcore weather app user needs. But which one is best for you?

The Weather Channel Max vs. AccuWeather vs. Weather Live: User interface & design

The Weather Channel Max app utilizes a tabbed navigation along the bottom that lets you browse the different sections of the app. The main tab will be your weather tab which is located right in the middle of the navigation menu. The rest of the tabs support maps, videos, social, and in season. Each section of The Weather Channel app has a sub menu where necessary. If there are sub topics, you'll find them right above the main navigation.

The main weather tab is where most people will spend their time and contains a sub-menu that lets you toggle between several time constraints such as now, hourly, 36 hour, and 10-day forecasts. You also have a drop down that allows you to view data such as wind, humidity, UV info, and more.

Along the top you've got a search option to search for locations and an info button. The info button allows you to edit saved locations and change the background of the main screen. This is something relatively new to The Weather Channel iPhone app. You can choose any image you want as your background and weather will overlay on top of it. It's a neat feature that adds to the graphical appeal of the app. Info is where you will also find notification settings.

AccuWeather for iPhone's main layout is somewhat similar to The Weather Channel but not quite as busy. Along the bottom you've got tabs for today's weather, forecasts, maps, video, and more. Under the today tab you'll see a brief overview of the current weather conditions. It is divided into two main sections. The top shows the current temperature and RealFeel. Swiping back and forth allows you to view hourly forecasts for today. On the bottom portion you've got information like humidity, visibility, UV indexes, and more.

The forecast tab will give you a list view of the next 15 days. You can tap on any of them to view more detailed information on weather for that day. Maps will then show you a map of the location you have AccuWeather set to. You can click the play button at the top in order to view 20 minutes of radar. There is also an info button at the top that allows you to change some settings inside radar.

Returning to the main page you'll notice ads along the top. AccuWeather has chosen to only offer a free version of their app that is ad-supported. You can, however, hop into settings under the more tab and remove ads for a one time in-app purchase fee. The ads are not quite as obtrusive as The Weather Channel's free version but they're still quite annoying.

Weather Live approaches viewing weather data in a completely different way than both The Weather Channel and AccuWeather. The entire theme of Weather Live is based on widgets. This will be very appealing to some users and not to others who prefer a standard layout like AccuWeather and The Weather Channel both offer. The first noticeable difference is that you can set a badge for temperature. That means you'll never have to open Weather Live to view the current temperature.

The main screen of Weather Live allows you to view basic statistics about the current weather conditions such as the temperature, what it feels like, expected minimum and maximums, humidity, precipitation, and more. It is mainly the same information that you'd get from AccuWeather and The Weather Channel. The widgets in Weather Live are user customizable and will present you with the information that's most important to you.

You can tap on settings in the upper right hand corner to edit widgets and the general layout of Weather Live. Once inside settings you can change the metrics for temperature, windspeed, and more. Along the bottom you can toggle between display and layout. Tapping on layout will bring up widget options. Here you can choose between more robust widgets and more skimmed down ones.

Weather Live takes it one step further and allows you to also customize what data is presented on those widgets. You can choose four details to show up on the main widget. Things such as sunrise, sunset, precipitation, wind pressure, and humidity are all options. While the layout is gorgeous, the down side is the amount of information that is presented. You'll have to make some choices, and for many users, that may not be something they want to compromise.

Weather Live hands down has the best layout of all three apps but The Weather Channel and AccuWeather provide more information. Between the two, AccuWeather presents data in a much more accessible and user friendly way. It'll come down to weather graphical appeal or accessing information quickly is more important to you.

Tie between AccuWeather and Weather Live.

The Weather Channel Max vs. AccuWeather vs. Weather Live: Conditions, forecasts, and radar features

The Weather Channel presents current conditions via the weather tab as soon as you open the app. The main sub menu serves to show you the current temperature, what it feels like and what the highs and lows are for the day. Underneath this information you can toggle the drop down menu to see information such as wind conditions, humidity, UV index, dew points, visibility, sunrise & sunset, and pressure.

If you want to see more detailed information as the day goes on you can choose between the hourly, 36 hour, and 10 day sub menu tabs. Hourly will show the temperature by hour as well as precipitation and wind speed. There is also a little drop down tab next to each hour that allows you to expand into 15 minute increments.

The 36 hour forecast will give paragraph conditions about expected weather conditions divided into today, tonight, and tomorrow. This information includes temperatures, any expected precipitation, wind speeds, and the percentage of rain.

The last section is the 10 day forecast. This section functions almost exactly the same as the hourly tab. Just like with hourly, you can expand each day to show a more descriptive summary including expected wind, humidity, sunrise, and sunset for that day.

Returning back to the main tabs of The Weather Channel you can view the maps tab in order to see live radar maps. You'll see the addition of a few more buttons below the actual map. The one off to the far right serves as a toggle between fullscreen view. The next button over which appears to be a layers icon allows you to edit radar views. You can change to look at radar, clouds, a combination of both, temperature maps, and more. You can also choose to have points of interest labeled on radar maps such as cities, schools, airports, parks, lakes, and golf courses. There are also a couple more view options to play with such as opacity, GPS, and map types.

AccuWeather gives you a lot of information on the main screen concerning current and forecasted conditions without overwhelming you. The top portion will show you the actual temperature and RealFeel as well as a description of current conditions. Swiping the top portion to the left will reveal hourly forecasts for today. Tapping on any hour will change the bottom information section to the corresponding time.

The bottom portion of the today screen in AccuWeather shows you common stats such as humidity, visibility, sunrise and sunset, pressure, dew points, and UV indexes.

The next section of AccuWeather focuses on long term forecasts. You can view up to 15 days of future forecasts. On the far right of each day you can toggle the moon and sun icons to see conditions for day or night on that particular day. Tapping on the main portion of the forecast for any given day will give you detailed information about expected weather conditions for that day. You'll be given information such as RealFeel, wind, rain, ice, and snow.

If maps are important to you, AccuWeather also has a tab dedicated to only maps. You can see past weather conditions for about 25 minutes up to current for any area. There are also settings to change the radar type from US radar to US satellite to world satellite. You can also change some basic features such as radar opacity and map keys. If you'd like to add your contact's locations to the map, you can do that as well.

Weather Live allows you to customize what data is shown on the widgets as well as what widgets are shown. You have several options to choose from such as humidity, precipitation, sunrise, sunset, visibility, pressure, dew points, wind chill, moonrise, and moonset. The catch here is that you can only choose four out of these options at any given time. That means that you'll have to pick the four that are most important to you. AccuWeather and The Weather Channel do not make you choose between them.

The top widget of Weather Live does have some static information that can not be changed. You're given the time, current temperature, what it feels like outside, and minimum and maximum temperatures. You'll also see wind temperature by default. The bottom widget can be changed to show different information but by default you'll see forecasts. You can view up to 8 days of forecasted information at a time with Weather Live. They are pulling their data from AccuWeather by default but you can switch data to pull from world weather online as well.

The current temperature can be displayed as a badge icon on the Weather Live app icon if you choose so. If that isn't something you care for, you can, of course, turn it off within settings. If you're looking for radar maps, you won't find them. This may be a deal breaker for some but if you're only looking for forecasts and current information, it'll always be within a few taps inside Weather Live.

When it comes to viewing conditions and forecasts, I've always found AccuWeather to be the most accurate and the easiest to find my way around. The Weather Channel does a good job of laying out content but AccuWeather makes it easier to access. Weather Live's lack of radar and maps makes it less useable when it comes to informational purposes.

The Weather Channel Max vs. AccuWeather vs. Weather Live: Additional features

The Weather Channel offers a social tab that allows you to view the Weather Channel's twitter feed from inside the app. You can also upload your own photos or tweet your current weather conditions. The iWitness button shows thumbnails of user photos. You can view categories inside of them to sort by types of images.

The In Season feature of The Weather Channel app for iPhone allows you to view active storms and updates on them. You can also view pollen alerts and information for your area and in other areas of the country. The Weather Channel app supports information on the three main kinds of pollen: tree, weed, and grass. You'll see a small map showing problem areas and underneath that you'll see updates on pollen alerts for your selected area.

Under the more tab in AccuWeather for iPhone you'll see a Lifestyle section. Here you can see risk factors for current types of weather in your area such as arthritis, asthma, common cold, flu, migraine, and more. Along the top you'll notice a few tabs for environment such as health, outdoor, and cold. The outdoor tab shows information based on activities that people typically perform such as going outside to the beach, barbecuing, and more. The last tab allows you to view sporting activities and guidance on whether the current conditions are conducive to each.

Underneath the LifeStyle section you also have a news section. All of the news will obviously be weather related. Tapping into any article will open up an in-app browser with the article attached. Other than that, you've only got settings and location options to tweak and play with.

When it comes to additional features, Weather Live doesn't have any aside from the ability to change around widgets. There are no reports for different activities or health risks.

AccuWeather and The Weather Channel both provide additional information and news regarding the weather but AccuWeather has a lot more information to offer than what The Weather Channel does.

The Weather Channel Max vs. AccuWeather vs. Weather Live: Alerts & notifications

The Weather Channel app lets you configure push notification alerts for two kinds of events. You'll need to add locations to the settings menu before you have the ability to select alerts. Once you've done that you can set alerts for different locations for both pollen levels and severe weather. If you live in an area that is known for quick fluctuations in weather or tropical storms, severe weather alerts are a must. On the same token, if you live in a household with someone with allergies, pollen alerts are a great way to make sure allergies and other health issues are kept under control.

AccuWeather offers the ability to receive local notifications for your area. They aren't too specific as to what those notifications really are. The app description states that push notifications will work for severe weather. I haven't received any updates as of late but we haven't had any severe weather since the middle of the summer. If any of you have experience with AccuWeather's push notification services, please let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Weather Live allows you to set alerts for severe weather and when the temperature dips below zero. There isn't much to configure in the way of what kind of alerts you want. The only other feature is the badge option for current temperature.

For alerts, all three offer notifications for severe weather but The Weather Channel is the only one offering pollen alert notifications. This may be important to people that have allergies themselves or a person living with them that does.

The Weather Channel Max vs. AccuWeather vs. Weather Live: Pricing

The Weather Channel, AccuWeather, and Weather Live all offer free versions of their apps but they'll all either be limited or come with advertisements. The Weather Channel's best offering is The Weather Channel Max which currently comes in at $3.99. This removes all advertisements and gives you a few additional features. AccuWeather only has one version of their app which is free but it is ad-supported. You can remove the ads for a one time in-app purchase fee of $1.99. Weather Live also offers a free version called Weather but it's skimmed down feature wise from the full version which will cost you $1.99.

There is a $2 difference between The Weather Channel Max and both of the other options. For most, that won't be a deal breaker and price won't be an issue or a deciding factor.

The Weather Channel Max vs. AccuWeather vs. Weather Live: The bottom line

Weather Live's lack of radar maps will rule it out for many users.

The Weather Channel Max is best if you have allergy issues and need pollen alerts.

AccuWeather, however, has a better lay out and is currently our favorite, full feature weather app for the iPhone.

• The Weather Channel Max - $3.99 - Download Now
• AccuWeather - Free - Download Now
• Weather Live - $1.99 - Download Now

Savvy Apps, the geniuses behind Agenda Calendar and Buzz Contacts, have released a new type of app for them -- a weather app called Today Weather. Although weather apps aren't a genre that Savvy Apps is known for, they've done a great job with Today. It's simplistic, informative, and unique.

Today Weather consists of three different levels: the "Zoomed" level that allows you to edit your locations, the "Dashboard" that shows the main weather information at all your locations at once, and "Location" that has detailed weather information for the selected location including the 3-day and hourly forecasts, the high and lows, humidity level, windspeed, and more. To move up the levels, you simply tap the little arrow in the lower left corner.

From the Location level, you can swipe left and right to see even more. Swiping to the right will reveal the basic forecast over the next week. This isn't your typical forecast, however, as it is displayed as a bar graph where each bar represents both the high and low for the day. Swiping to the left from the main Location view will display the hourly forecast over the next 36 hours. Swiping up or down will navigate through your different locations.

If there is an alert for the location you're viewing, there will be an exclamation point next to the location's name. Tapping it will reveal detailed information about the alert. Also, the little map icon at the bottom left of the Location view will flip the screen around to reveal a map with a precipitation radar.

I've used a lot of weather apps in my time and Savvy App's Today Weather is a unique take on the popular category. Today Weather is definitely meant for the minimalists as it doesn't include detailed maps or multiple radars, and for those minimalists, Today is an excellent choice. I frequently have readers approaching me during their search for a weather app that displays the current weather conditions of multiple locations at once, and now I have the perfect app to recommend to them.

• $1.99 - Download now

Check the Weather is a great weather app for the iPhone that has an elegant, minimalist design yet offers advanced forecast details including current conditions, hazardous weather alerts, and hourly and extended forecasts. For users within the United States it also shows a live doppler weather radar map and Dark Sky powered short term precipitation forecasts.

The main screen of Check the Weather displays the current temperature, an icon that represents the current conditions, a line graph of the temperature forecast for the next 15 hours or so, and a three day forecast that includes the high, low, and icon that represents the weather conditions. At the bottom of the screen, you'll see the time of next sunrise and sunset and in icon that represents the state of the moon (full moon, half moon, crescent). All this information is displayed in a very uncluttered matter and looks clean.

If you swipe up the screen, Check the Weather will reveal a live doppler weather map. You can pinch and zoom on the map and navigate around by swiping and scrolling. The map looks great and performs great.

Just like you can swipe up to pull up the radar map, you can swipe left to view a 14-day forecast or swipe right to reveal a 16-hour forecast. The daily forecast will show the day of the week, an icon to represent the conditions, the high and low, and for the first 7 days, the chance for precipitation. The hourly forecast display the temperature, chance for perception, and an icon that represents the conditions.

The good

• Elegant design
• Line graph to represent forecast
• Live doppler weather map
• 14-day forecast (3-day forecast on main screen)
• 16-hour forecast
• Swipe down, left, or right to reveal the different screens of Check the Weather
• Save unlimited locations
• Option for 24-hour time
• Fahrenheit and Celsius support

The bad

• Hourly forecasts don't begin until 3 hours from the current time
• Sometimes the radar doesn't load. Killing the app and reloading usually fixes it.

The bottom line

Check the Weather is a fantastic weather app that will appeal to both the minimalists and those who want a little extra like radars. The only radar included with Check the Weather is a live doppler, but I believe this helps contribute the uncluttered feel of the app. The folks at Cross Forward Consulting did a fabulous job at creating a beautiful, clean, and informative weather app for the iPhone.

$1.99 - Download Now

Weather 2x is an iPhone and iPad app that will make even the worst of weather conditions look amazing -- especially on the iPhone 5's new display. The information provided by Weather 2x includes the current condition and a 5-day forecast that can be broken up into 3-hour intervals. Weather 2x does not include in-depth details about the weather, like radars, but rather focuses on bringing the most important information to you in an elegant and beautiful package.

The main screen of Weather 2x will show a photo that represents the current weather conditions at the location you are viewing. These photos are absolutely stunning and really make Weather 2x a joy to look at. Elegantly placed over the photo, you'll see the current temperature, city, time, and a small description about the current weather, like "Clear/Sunny" or "Cloudy". If you tap the screen once, the little description will be replaced with a row of new information: precipitation, visibility, humidity, pressure level details, and wind speed and direction.

A double-tap to the screen will bring up the 5-day forecast. On the iPhone, the forecast will slide up from the bottom, and on the iPad, it will part open a section of the bottom of the screen to reveal itself. On the iPhone, you can also slide the screen up, instead of double-tapping, to bring up the 5-day forecast if you prefer. For each day, Weather 2x will show an icon that represents the weather and the anticipated high and low.

To see the forecast over the next 5 days in 3-hour intervals, slide the screen over to the left for a scrollable list. For each interval, you'll see an icon and the forecasted temperature.

If you slide the screen to right, you'll see a list of all the places you've saved and all their current weather conditions. To delete a city, hold your finger down on it to put it in "jiggly" mode, then hit the x to delete. You can also rearrange your locations when they're in jiggly mode.

The Settings screen is where you go to switch to the metric system or 24-hour time as well as enable sound effects, iCloud sync, local weather, and the time.

The good

• Stunning weather visuals featuring subtle animations
• Track, manage and maintain unlimited weather locations around the globe
• Current weather conditions
• 5 day weather forecast
• Hourly weather forecast breakdown
• Extended weather information including Precipitation, Visibility, Humidity, and Pressure level details, and wind speed and direction
• Fahrenheit or Celsius
• View current weather conditions for multiple cities
• Gesture driven interface
• Sync preferences and weather locations via iCloud
• "Local Weather" feature - automatically updates based on current location
• Share weather conditions via Twitter or Email

The bad

• Some users report that the temperature can be 5-10 degrees off

The bottom line

Weather 2x is an absolutely gorgeous weather app for both the iPhone and iPad -- the best I've seen. The included gestures are perfect and intuitive and the information is displayed and organized in a very elegant manner. If you're in the market for a beautiful weather app for your iPhone or iPad or both (with iCloud sync!), do not pass this one up.

$0.99 - Download Now

Solar: Weather is a unique weather app for the iPhone that offers a one-of-a-kind interactive UI and experience. Instead of simply displaying the weather forecast for you, Solar: Weather will display different information based on gestures. For example, swiping up with scroll through the 24-hr forecast, swiping down will display the 3 day forecast, and swiping left/right will switch between locations. It's actually very fun to use.

The iTunes description for Solar: Weather actually sums it up rather nicely, so instead of trying to find a clever way of restating it, I'm just going to share it here:

This description should immediately tell if you Solar is for you or not. If you need a weather app that clearly displays specific information (like the forecast for 2p) in a traditional format, then Solar is not for you. If you're a sucker to unique, clever UI's that are exciting to use, then keep reading.

The main screen of Solar is a simple gradient of colors that represent the time of day and weather conditions. The bottom of the screen displays the location and the upper right corner displays the time, date, conditions (like "clear"), and temperature. One of the fun details about this screen is that if you don't touch it, the colors will subtly pulsate to add slight movement to the background.

If you swipe down, the 3 day forecast will slide down from the top of the screen. Each day includes the day of the week, high and low, and an icon that represents that day's conditions.

The really fun gesture is swiping up. As you swipe up (I recommend you do this slowly), a little analog clock will display in the up right hand corner that represent the current time you are looking up. The digital clock display will also adjust as your scroll. If you scroll slow enough, you can look at every single minute over the next 24 hours hours. As you scroll through time, the temperature will adjust to the forecast and the background colors will also change to match the time/condition. This gesture is extremely cool and somewhat mesmerizing to use because of the analog clock and changing background.

The pinch-to-zoom gesture will let you view up to four different locations at a time. You can swipe through multiple pages of locations and hold your finger down on one to edit their arrangement or delete one.

The good

• Beautiful
• Interactive
• 3 day forecast
• 24 hour forecast
• View four locations at once
• Swipe between locations

The bad

• Not the most efficient way to view a 24 hour forecast

The bottom line

Solar: Weather is a really fun weather app. It's one of the coolest ones I've seen for the iPhone, yet. Too often I see developers strive to create a "unique" app, but end up with a confusing (albeit, unique) mess. Not so with Solar. The folks at Hollr did a killer job with Solar : Weather, and although it's definitely not for everyone, it's awesome for many.

$0.99 - Download Now

Magical Weather isn't feature heavy, but it looks great, provides 24-hr and 6-day forecasts, and includes beautiful background animations to help you tell your rain from your shine. Unlike the iPhone and iPad, the iPad doesn't include a stock weather app. Apple reportedly didn't think weather looked good on the bigger screen. Magical Weather is one of a very small handful of App Store apps that shows Apple they were wrong. But is Magical Weather the right weather app for you?

Magical Weather is by Apple Design Award winning developer Sophia Teutschler of Sophiestication, whose catalog includes X-Trail, Articles, Groceries, and Cover Sutra, among others. All of her apps share two things in common -- they're incredibly focused, and they're delightfully realized. Magical Weather is no exception.

The home screen of Magical Weather displays up to nine thumbnails, each representing a different location. Each thumbnail displays the current temperature, an icon that represents the conditions (like a raincloud for rain), and the background is an image that also describes the current conditions.

When viewing the weather for a city, the background is more than just a photograph -- it's an animation that represents the current conditions at that location. For example, if there's a thunderstorm, the background will include moving clouds and rain with an occasional lightning bolt (yes, it took me a million attempts to time my screenshot just perfectly to get the above screenshot).

On the righthand side, you will see up to two columns of information. The top of the first column gives the temperature, today's high and low, humidity, chance of rain, atmospheric pressure, wind speed, change from yesterday, and the UV index. Underneath this cluster of information is a 6-day forecast.

The second column is a 24 hour forecast that can be scrolled through. For each hour, Magical Weather provides the anticipated temperature and chance of rain.

To hide the 24-hr forecast simply swipe to the right. With only one column displayed, swiping it down will hide the 6-day forecast, letting you enjoy the background animations in all their glory.

The good

• Pretty
• 6-day and 24-hour forecasts
• Gives all the general, basic information
• Both landscape and portrait support

The bad

• Limited in features

The bottom line

Although Magical Weather isn't the most feature-filled weather app in the App Store, it's a pretty app that will be enjoyed by users looking for something that can also play the role of a docking app. When your iPad is not in use, leaving your iPad docked on your desk with Magical Weather is a great way to enjoy your iPad even though you aren't directly interacting with it.

Note: Magical Weather is currently on sale at 50% off for a limited time.

$0.99 - Download Now

The Weather Channel for iPhone is the most popular alternative to Apple's built-in Weather app and it recently received a complete makeover. It still has all the great features of the previous design, but the new UI is much more beautiful and user friendly.

The main screen of the Weather Channel displays the location (with zip code) and the temperature in a nice big font. In smaller letters underneath the temperature, you'll find what the temperature "feels like" and the high and lows for the day. If you tap the + sign, you'll find more detailed information for wind, humidity, UV index, dew point, visibility, pressure, and sunrise and sunset times.

The background of the home screen will change depending on the time of day and current weather conditions. You can also customize it with your own photo.

In addition to the current conditions, The Weather Channel also has tabs for the hourly, 36 hour, and 10 day forecasts.

The other sections in The Weather Channel are Map, Video, Social and In Season.

The Map tab lets you layer radar, clouds, radar/clouds, temperature, feels like, 24-hr rainfall, 24-hour snowfall, and UV index over the map. There is a key at the top so you know what the colors on the map represent.

The Video section is filled with must-see, local, and world videos as well as videos that are on TV.

The Social tab lets you read tweets about the weather both nearby and regionally. You can also check out photos taken by other Weather Channel users in the iWitness section.

From the In Season tab, you can check pollen, hurricane, and tide forecasts. The pollen and hurricane forecasts include maps and diagrams and are very informative. The marine section breaks the down sea, waves, wind, and high tide information into a nice, easy-to-read 2-day forecast broken down into separate morning, afternoon, even, and night sections.

The good

• Much better design than before
• Current, hourly, 36-hour, and 10-day forecasts
• View maps of clouds, radar, and more
• Videos
• Read tweets about the weather
• View photos taken of the weather
• Check pollen, hurricane, and tide forecasts

The bad

• Ads are annoying. I would gladly purchase an upgrade that removed them.

The bottom line

The Weather Channel for iPhone was always a good weather app, but now it's a great alternative to Apple's built-in Weather app. The new UI is much better -- both on the eyes and to use.

Free - Download Now

I'm not going to lie, settling on one single app to label as "the best" weather app for iPad wasn't easy. On one hand I had a collection of feature-packed apps that provided every little detail about the weather, including videos and interactive forecasts. On the other hand, I had a group of apps that didn't necessarily have as many features, but were beautiful, easy to use, and fit the needs of most people. After reminding myself that I was looking for best, not most feature-filled, it was easy for me to give Living Earth for iPad the title.

Living earth is a simple yet gorgeous weather app. In the background, you'll see the earth. If you wish, you can have it spin slowly around its axis with the tap of the button. You can also pinch to zoom in and out of the globe and swipe to rotate it. As the earth rotates, you'll discover that Living Earth shades the half of the earth that is not currently being hit by sun. You can also center the globe on your current location.

In the upper righthand corner, you'll see an icon that represents the current conditions and the current temperature, the high and low for the day, and sunset and sunrise times. If you tap this area of the screen, a new section will pop up below it and give you some more details about the weather, and a 10 day forecast.

The info at the top of this section includes the humidity percentage and wind speed. Tapping any of the days in the 10-day forecast Will break down the forecast into 2-hour intervals.

In the upper righthand corner you'll find the time and date. Tapping it will make it bigger.

In the bottom right corner, you'll see the name of the city you are currently viewing information about. Tapping on the name will pop up a list of big cities in the world that you can switch to. This list is customizable.

In the lower lefthand corner, you'll find five, dimly lit buttons: location, settings, camera, rotation, and alarm. The settings will be where you go to choose units of measure and toggles for live clouds, sunrise times, bright night clouds, gestures and more.

The camera button is essentially a way to share a screenshot of your current screen with Facebook, Twitter, or your Camera Roll.

The alarm clock is what makes Living Earth more than just a weather app. You can also use it to wake you up in the morning! Even though it's not Living Earth's primary function, it is still a great alarm clock. You can have set up custom interval times (much like Apple's Clock app for iPhone), choose between 7 different piano and harp sounds, or even wake up to your own music. The snooze intervals are between 2-30 minutes. The only really disadvantage to this alarm clock, is that you can not set up multiple alarm. Just one.

The Good

• Gorgeous
• 10 day forecast with 2-hour interval breakdowns
• Alarm clock
• Interactive earth
• Fahrenheit and Celsius

The Bad

• Can only set one alarm

The bottom line

Living Earth for iPad is a stunning weather and clock app for the iPad. It may not have be jam packed with ever feature imaginable, but it does its intended job both flawlessly and beautifully.

$1.99 - Download Now

Time Warner has just updated its TWC TV app and it is now fully compatible with the iPhone and iPod touch. Since its launch back in March 2011, it has been an iPad only app, but not any longer. If you are a Time Warner Cable subscriber, you can now watch live TV, manage your DVR and change channels on your set-top box on your iPhone and iPod touch.

• Interactive program guide (IPG) – up to 7 days of listings. View detailed show descriptions including box art. Option to display “HD only” or “favorites only” by creating a favorite channel list.
• Search – search for programming by title or episode name and filter results by genre
• Set-top box tuning – tap on a network logo or “watch on TV” button within the program description to tune compatible set-top boxes directly to the channel
• DVR management – schedule one-time and series recordings on compatible DVRs directly from the IPG. Tap on the “DVR” button to see a list of all upcoming recordings and make changes or cancel recordings

Time Warner has a massive line up of available channels and is currently listing over 196; although it does state not all of them may be available depending on your location. The TWC TV app is available form the App Store as a free download although you do need to be a Time Warner cable subscriber to view any live TV. The update also makes it a universal binary so one app works across iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

• App Store link

Have an app you’d love to see featured on iMore? Email us at iosapps@imore.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.

Every week a few of us from team iMore will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Talkatone - @Alli_Flowers

I was so excited this week - I was going to pick CloudOn. But it was pulled from the App Store within hours of my installing it. Big bummer!

So my number two choice this week is Talkatone, a free app that works with your GoogleVoice account. Talkatone leverages some of the most useful features from GV and brings them to your iPad.

Yes, with Talkatone, you can make and receive calls directly on Your iPad. If you were hesitant to start using GV, this is a good reason to start, and if you were using it before, this will help you take advantage of all the features and get even more use from it.

You can text and talk using your WiFi connection (or data if you have a 3G iPad). So your iPad finally really becomes a big iPhone! You do, of course, have to use the speakerphone when using Talkatone on your iPad. And in case I neglected to mention this before, you can use Talkatone on your iPhone too. (It's just cooler on the iPad!)

While Talkatone is free, there are several tiers of in-app purchases that will allow you to do things like add multiple Google accounts. This is something that I particularly like since you can't use the same phone number for multiple GV accounts, so only one of my accounts ever rings/texts through - the others always go to voicemail/email.

This is a great, GREAT utility for any GV user.

• Free - App Store link

Emit - @sethclifford

Rene and I are both huge fans of Air Video [$2.99 - App Store link] for streaming all manner of differently formatted (read: non-iTunes) visual content around our homes. It's a fantastic app, and can handle almost anything you can throw at it. Except using it with non-iOS devices. Since I also have a few other things I like to toy around with (most recently the Kindle Fire), I was looking for a similar solution that would work across multiple devices. I found it in Emit.

Emit is very similar to Air Video in that it relies on a streaming component loaded onto a Mac/PC and then outputs video to your mobile device. The big difference here is that it also works with Android devices, and soon Windows Phone 7 devices too. The server software can run on Mac OS X, Windows or Linux, so it's as equal-opportunity as you're going to get right now. I downloaded the free server app and the Amazon Appstore version of the mobile app as well as the universal iOS app to test out.

Interface-wise, it's pretty barebones. Not exactly the kind of eye candy we're often accustomed to on iOS. But when it comes to watching videos, quite frankly, I'll put up with a lot less in terms of app design if it does the one thing I want it to do (stream my videos however and wherever I choose) successfully. Emit got that part right. Videos over my home wi-fi network on both iOS and the Kindle Fire were streamed very smoothly and I didn't run into any connection issues. I've yet to set up the internet access (to watch videos away from home), and I'm hoping that it's a similarly good experience.

Whoa, hold up... just realized something else. One additional really cool feature is that there is also a built-in web app at the app's site that allows you to watch videos right in the browser! That's pretty awesome. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to have to go and try this out. If you've got a lot of different content to watch, and more than just iOS devices on which to do it, give it a look. There's a free version available on Android too if you're not sure about ponying up right away.

• $1.99 - App Store link
• $3.54 - Android Market link
• $3.50 - Amazon Appstore link

iCloud Backup – @chrisoldroyd

Not going for an app this week but the backup feature of iCloud. I try and backup my iPhone 4S every night when I plug it in to charge so my backup file is always reasonably up to date. Today, I went to the Apple Store to try and get a replacement iPhone 4S as mine was behaving a little strangely.

Everything went well as usual at the Apple Store and I got my new iPhone. This time instead of taking it home to sync with iTunes I just input my iCloud information and used the Apple Store WiFi connection. Half an hour later I was all set up with a new iPhone that had everything that the old one did. All of my apps installed and all in the correct folders. All of my text messages, emails, contacts, you name it. It just worked!

The only negative was my music, I have iTunes Match and all my music is stored on iTunes in the Cloud. To get that back I had to download everything again manually. That is not the Apple way and I expect that to be automated very soon too.

Zombieville USA 2 - @skeetobite

My pick of the week is the sequel to one of my favorite causal games of all times – Zombieville USA 2. Zombieville USA 2 brings back the same basic game play (side scrolling action, killing zombies) but adds a few unique twists from the first game to make it an entirely new experience. Zombieville USA 2 allows you to have three weapons at a time (with different buttons controlling each one), and there are plenty of weapons to choose from. You can also upgrade weapons, as well as upgrading skills with the money you earn. The side scrolling action has been expanded somewhat, so allow a 3-d movement. Lastly, and perhaps most important of all, you can now have multiplayer action! Two people can team up to shoot, stab, blow up, and obliterate zombies before they have a chance to eat your brains!

• $0.99 - App Store link

2012 International CES App - @iMuggle

With CES upon us, I've been looking for a good way to browse through all the different exhibits and events at CES to figure out which ones I want to check out. Then comes the organizing them part. While I have most of my stuff in iCal, the official app allows me to add tracks easily and share them with other friends that are attending.

Besides just adding tracks you can view maps, photos, videos, and even see who is tweeting about CES. It's a great way to actively stay up to date with what's going on around you. I plan to really test it out this week while in Vegas.

• Free - App Store Link

AccuWeather for iPhone - @bla1ze

Yeah, it's a weather app. There is a lot of weather apps in the iTunes App Store, many are free and many are paid. AccuWeather for iPhone is a free, ad supported app with a lot of features and a few, you'd not really expect from a simple weather app but are included in this one:

• iCloud Support - Settings and saved locations sync to AccuWeather apps through iCloud.
• Notification Center Support - View today’s forecast in the Notification Center drop-down.
• Calendar Integration - View 15-day forecasts in your calendar.
• Social Sharing - Share weather information with friends and family through Facebook, Twitter and email messages.
• View Contacts on weather maps – Place contacts of your choice on the radar weather display and “pin” them on the map to see current conditions for that contact.

Normally, I tend to not bother with Weather apps because well, I find it easier to look out the window but with the added features of AccuWeather for iPhone, I've learned to enjoy both -- looking out the window and checking in the app to see a longer forecast.

• Free - App Store link

Google Translate - @andrewwray

Want to know how to say something in another language on-the-fly? Well, Google Translate won't do exactly that, but it comes pretty darn close. Just speak what you need translated and tap 'GO' and, well, it'll translate your input into whatever language you desire! You can even have it speak the phrase aloud to you to help make sure you're saying it correctly.

Google Translate has some other really great options as well. For starters, you can star specific phrases for quick reference, change the language input selection (Chinese, English and Spanish are all supported with regional variations included) or type out your phrase instead of using voice input if you're so inclined.

If you've been trying to learn a new language, or even if you're heading on a trip to another country, then it's almost guaranteed that Google Translate will come in quite handy! Google Translate is available for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch as a universal binary app.

• Free - App Store Link

Triple Entendre - @llofte

Triple Entendre is a very difficult riddle game and I am so addicted! I've literally lost sleep over it. It's hard to really say much about it in terms of a description, except that each level contains clues and photos for either the answer or question to the riddle. You cannot progress until you get the answer right.

Most of these levels are extremely difficult and will likely drive you mad. However, we've got a thread in the forums dedicated to offering hints to fellow players. So go pick up the app and join in! If you think you can handle it - that is.

• $0.99 for full version - App Store link
• Free for lite version - App Store link

Tripit - @reneritchie

So begins a the annual cycle of trade shows, with CES 2012, pretty much the biggest, baddest one of them all, starting the year off with a bang. Since it's far from home and I'm far from organized, I need every little app and accessory I can to get me through it.

If you haven't already, go watch or listen to Georgia and Phil Nickinson's fantastic ZENandTECH episode this week for a ton of useful tips and picks for frequent travelers, because I'm only going to echo one of them here -- Tripit.

Tripit is a web service with a universal app for iPhone and iPad that helps take the tedium and trepidation out of travel. You make a reservation for a flight or a hotel, Tripit takes it in, breaks it down, and gives you back a humanized agenda that clean on the surface but jam packed with details just a tap away. You can either manually forward confirmation emails to Tripit or set it up to monitor your Gmail address for instant updates (enter security vs. convenience argument here).

There are social networking features, so I can see where, for example, where friends and co-workers are going, and if you pay for a pro membership, which I do, you can create an inner circle for those closest to you so they automatically have all your travel info at hand. Tripit Pro will also email and/or SMS you any changes to flight schedules, gates, etc. which pretty much makes it worth it's weight in gold. (If binary bits had weight, that is.)

If you or those around you travel frequently or even occasionally, get Tripit.

• $3.99 - App Store link

Tell us your pick, enter to win a $10 iTunes gift certificate!

Those were our picks, iMore Nation, so now it's your turn! Tell us your pick of the week below. Give us the name of your favorite app, site, or accessory, and tell us why it made your life more productive, more informed, more entertaining, or just plain more fun. We'll pick one of you and send you a shiny $10 iTunes gift certificate so you can start stocking up for future picks! Contest starts now and ends next Friday, January 13 at 12pm PT.

So what are you waiting for? Jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Lock Screen Weather is a clever app that allows you to display local weather information and graphics on the iPhone Lock screen without requiring a jailbreak.

• Current weather conditions on your Lock Screen
• Optional five-day weather forecast displayed below current weather
• Tens of thousands of cities around the world supported
• Current weather and forecasts updated automatically and according to where you are (optional)
• Background sounds captured right in the nature (optional)
• Both Fahrenheit (℉) and Celsius (℃) scales supported
• Originally designed graphic assets reflecting every significant weather change

The way it works is by playing a silent track through the iPod app, then using the album art for the track to display the weather based on locations you set within the app settings. Because of the dynamic abilities of how album art is displayed in the iPod app, and subsequently shown whenever you lock your iPhone or iPod touch, this app essentially tricks the iPhone into displaying updated Lock screen weather without breaking any of Apple's strict developer guidelines.

The only drawback is, whenever you have the app running to display weather on the Lock screen, you won't be able to listen to any music from the iPod app (or any other App Store app that uses audio output or album art, such as Pandora). This is, however, a very adept workaround and gets the job done without the need to jailbreak and install apps like IntelliscreenX.

• $0.99 -- App Store Link

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Having trouble finding what you need in the app store? Send us an email to news@tipb.com and let us know what you’re looking for, and we’ll do our best to find you just the right App for That!

The Weather Channel Forum Review by cjvitek (For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum!

Okay, I am sort of a weather junkie. I didn't used to be, but when I moved to Florida (with hurricanes), and the weather was directly related to my research activities, I became a little but of a junkie. Not as bad as some, but definitely more than most.

That's why I was a little disappointed with the iPhone default weather application. Sure, it gave you temperatures...but what if I wanted more! I tried the Weatherbug program, and that was okay...but I still found myself going to the Weather Underground site often. Then I found The Weather Channel program.

Read on for the review, after the jump!

The Weather Channel program has just about most types of weather information you could want. So let's go through what it offers.

First, you can customize your locations. I don't know if there is a limit to how many locations you can include, but I added five with no problem.

When you access the weather data, the screens are divided into "weather", "explore map", "video", "severe", and "more". They are navigated by hitting tabs at the bottom of the screen. The weather tab is the first you see, and you can get current conditions, hourly, 36 hour, and 10 day reports. The current conditions data includes temperature, cloud cover, "feels like" temperature, wind, humidity, UV index, and visibility. The only thing lacking are the sunrise and sunset times.

The hourly screen reports the anticipated changes on an hour by hour basis. Rather than just settle for a 60% chance of rain, you can determine when it is supposed to rain, and plan your activities accordingly. The 36 hour forecast if just that - what it will be like for the next day and a half. And the 10 day forecast is a long term look at the weather (temperature and precipitation).

The Explore map tab allows you to look at a radar map of the area. However, you are not limited to just radar - you can also look at cloud cover, radar AND clouds, temperature, "feel like" temperature, 24 hour rainfall/snowfall, and UV index. You can include cities, schools, parks, golf courses, or lakes on the map.

The video tab gives you a short (about 2 to 3 minutes) local video forecast - basically what is played on The Weather Channel station on TV. The severe tab gives you any severe weather forecasts, and the "more" tab is a help screen, an about screen, and links you to more videos (worldwide weather).

All in all, a pretty full featured weather program.

I am not sure how it would do with out of the ordinary weather items - hurricane tracking, for example. Presumably a hurricane warning would show up, but I don't know if you would have detailed access to the prediction cones, anticipated landfall, strength data, etc. I am don't know if it shows you the cycle of the moon (I looked last night, but I was tired and now I can't remember). But for a casual weather junkie, or people who just are really looking for detailed information for event planning, this application covers most of the bases. It would also be nice to be able to customize a screen to show the information you want specifically.

Of course, you are still relying on the report of the weather man, but that is another issue entirely.

Pros:

• Very complete data set,
• easy interface

Cons:

• Information can almost be TOO much

Conclusion

All in all, if you want a complete weather program, this is one of the best I have seen. And to top it off, it is free.

[The Weather Channel is available from the iTunes App Store, though some may need to search for the "international" version. iSigh.]

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