Apple Weather is still not on par with Dark Sky in my opinion

Lee_Bo

Well-known member
Apr 6, 2016
6,060
300
68
Visit site
I’ve been using Carrot Weather for a while but I think I’m in the market for a new app. Problem I use the Infograph modular face on my watch and some weather apps don’t have an icon for that particular face.

The hunt continues.
 

Thud Hardsmack

Trusted Member
Jan 24, 2016
76
0
0
Visit site
My experience with Dark Sky remains where it is superior for short-term and very local. The IBM (Weather Channel) data in the default weather app is often better than Dark Sky for a days out forecast.

People interested in this topic might appreciate the Forecast Advisor site that measures and ranks popular weather data firms and apps.

Dark Sky was once really good. The year before Apple purchased it they started going noticeably downhill, but still wasn't actually bad. Though compared to the Weather Channel-powered native weather app, they're coming up short in my area at least.

29A9A72C-EBD3-4F9A-98BE-ED0B5C05303E.png
 

imwjl

Well-known member
Apr 26, 2011
1,399
12
38
Visit site
Dark Sky was once really good. The year before Apple purchased it they started going noticeably downhill, but still wasn't actually bad. Though compared to the Weather Channel-powered native weather app, they're coming up short in my area at least.

View attachment 132029

This is very interesting. Thanks for sharing this! I am disappointed with DarkSky as well.

I'm not convinced the Apple purchase has anything to do with it. Some weather apps are better in some areas. The Forecast Advisor site can show that. Before the Apple purchase Dar Sky was not as good as a general app for some places I frequent but it was and still is tremendous for hyper local matters and especially via using your phone's barometer.

From a long time in trail work, ski area work and and outdoor programs/events management I know I'm not alone in the awareness of how good Dark Sky is with the hyper local aspect.

Where we have two homes and do frequent travel my personal experience has been close to what Forecast Advisor has shown for years. My ski work and volunteering includes a retired and active meteorology and climate data visualization pro each. The pros and far more obsessed than I am have these same conclusions.

Overall the weather apps seem mature. There are some sites I wish were mobile friendly if not in apps. Some great apps continue to add and improve their layers such as Ventusky.

It is all very entertaining to me as I realize I no longer watch a barometer in my own home or make phone calls to people far away for such info.

:)
 

Thud Hardsmack

Trusted Member
Jan 24, 2016
76
0
0
Visit site
I'm not convinced the Apple purchase has anything to do with it. Some weather apps are better in some areas. The Forecast Advisor site can show that. Before the Apple purchase Dar Sky was not as good as a general app for some places I frequent but it was and still is tremendous for hyper local matters and especially via using your phone's barometer.

From a long time in trail work, ski area work and and outdoor programs/events management I know I'm not alone in the awareness of how good Dark Sky is with the hyper local aspect.

Where we have two homes and do frequent travel my personal experience has been close to what Forecast Advisor has shown for years. My ski work and volunteering includes a retired and active meteorology and climate data visualization pro each. The pros and far more obsessed than I am have these same conclusions.

Overall the weather apps seem mature. There are some sites I wish were mobile friendly if not in apps. Some great apps continue to add and improve their layers such as Ventusky.

It is all very entertaining to me as I realize I no longer watch a barometer in my own home or make phone calls to people far away for such info.

:)

No the Apple purchase had nothing to do with their forecasting, I was just using that as a time reference. My area is fairly bad at weather prediction, which is why I usually run around with at least 4 weather apps installed. One of them could actually be correct. Dark Sky started out being shockingly good, but deteriorated over time. I get the best idea of what's coming if I combine local forecasters's predictions with The Weather Channel and Radarscope.
 

Wotchered

Well-known member
Oct 29, 2013
3,152
88
48
Visit site
No I don’t think the apple purchase affected the app (maybe ongoing development )
Dark Sky was not much use in the beginning in SE England.
 

imwjl

Well-known member
Apr 26, 2011
1,399
12
38
Visit site
This all started before the now reality of version 16.0.3 and bug fixes. Even with 16.0.2 I was on a MTB ride with a friend noticing Apple standard and Dark Sky had possible short-term rain predictions other apps did not have. Under a tree with his few Android apps and my iPhone, Dark Sky showed the likely over in minutes best but I'm more ready to move on.

We already understand some new hardware and software features are yet to be released so it might be we get weather app improvements by new year day. As said I'm ready to move on, and can't see tilting windmills over this.
 

Lee_Bo

Well-known member
Apr 6, 2016
6,060
300
68
Visit site
Carrot Weather posted this:

b900668ed9bd182ef397051ce90b6ef8.jpg
 

Annie_M

Moderator
Mar 2, 2016
21,781
752
113
Visit site
Now that Dark Sky is gone, I have started using both Apple's Weather App (which is greatly improved since my last post in this thread) and the Clime-NOAA app. I also use a local tv station's weather app.
 

Just_Me_D

Ambassador Team Leader, Senior Moderator
Moderator
Jan 8, 2012
59,707
632
113
Visit site
Now that Dark Sky is gone, I have started using both Apple's Weather App (which is greatly improved since my last post in this thread) and the Clime-NOAA app. I also use a local tv station's weather app.

I’ve tried several times to use local TV weather apps, but the inundation of ads drive me insane. I end up deleting the app the same day. I just can’t deal with all the ads.
 

Lee_Bo

Well-known member
Apr 6, 2016
6,060
300
68
Visit site
Now that Dark Sky is gone, I have started using both Apple's Weather App (which is greatly improved since my last post in this thread) and the Clime-NOAA app. I also use a local tv station's weather app.

While I’m still holding on to Carrot, I also have Clime. The only “issue” I have with a lime right now is they don’t make complications with two of the watch faces I use.
 

ksassy

Well-known member
Mar 9, 2017
1,134
108
63
Visit site
Now that Dark Sky is gone, I have started using both Apple's Weather App (which is greatly improved since my last post in this thread) and the Clime-NOAA app. I also use a local tv station's weather app.

Well after trying out several weather apps over the past few months (AccuWeather, eWeather HD, MyRadar Weather, Foreca, and Weather Underground) I finally settled on WeatherBug for accurate precipitation notifications in my area and use Apple Weather as a backup to cross reference. While Apple Weather has improved I still miss Dark Sky’s simplicity at a glance.
 

doogald

Trusted Member
Oct 23, 2012
2,740
74
48
Visit site
Well after trying out several weather apps over the past few months (AccuWeather, eWeather HD, MyRadar Weather, Foreca, and Weather Underground) I finally settled on WeatherBug for accurate precipitation notifications in my area and use Apple Weather as a backup to cross reference. While Apple Weather has improved I still miss Dark Sky’s simplicity at a glance.

For me one of the things that I always liked about Dark Sky is the lack of scraping of private user data. These weather apps can see exactly where we are all of the time (as they are most useful when we give them precise location data all of the time, not just when they are in the background.) For me I will only use an app with a decent app privacy record in the App Store. So far I'm going between Carrot (which I think is just too expensive, but has a lot of great data) and Hello Weather. Both have decent app privacy. In my opinion, Weather Underground, Weatherbug, and a lot of weather apps in the App Store are just making a lot of money selling to ad networks the location patterns that we have. It's just a step too far in my opinion.
 

o4liberty

Well-known member
Aug 20, 2013
1,419
112
63
Visit site
I have been using weather bug from day one and have tried so many others and always ended back with weather bug. I think it's the best weather app out there.
 

doogald

Trusted Member
Oct 23, 2012
2,740
74
48
Visit site
I have been using weather bug from day one and have tried so many others and always ended back with weather bug. I think it's the best weather app out there.

Except the app privacy policy. The app tracks you, with plenty of data linked to you, including location - and allowing a weather app to follow your location is pretty useful really. I just can't use an app like that for weather.

I'm trying to decide whether to keep my Carrot Weather subscription, or just use the stock weather app, which is generally more than good enough.
 

Just_Me_D

Ambassador Team Leader, Senior Moderator
Moderator
Jan 8, 2012
59,707
632
113
Visit site
My ongoing issue with the native Weather app is the “next hour” radar map rarely shows the precipitation, and it drives me insane.

With that being said, if I switch to the 12-hour radar map, the precipitation shows.
 

Wotchered

Well-known member
Oct 29, 2013
3,152
88
48
Visit site
My ongoing issue with the native Weather app is the “next hour” radar map rarely shows the precipitation, and it drives me insane.

With that being said, if I switch to the 12-hour radar map, the precipitation shows.

How accurate is it, within 10-20 minutes of an event ?