The Best Weather App for IPhone
There are a huge number of weather app options on the iPhone, and you’ll find a ton that caters to different needs depending on what you want. That being said, one is brighter than the rest, and Dark Sky is one of the best full-featured weather apps in the App Store.
Dark sky
Platform: iPhone Price: $ 3.99 Download Page
Functions
- Available for iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch
- Hyperlocal weather forecasts based on your exact location
- Per-minute, hourly and weekly forecasts
- Complete radar view with smooth animation
- Fully customizable push notifications
- Today widget to quickly check the weather
Where is it best
It’s a little tricky to justify paying for something as simple as a weather app, but Dark Sky is really worth it. Dark Sky once suffered from a lack of features, but recent updates have made it a fully featured weather app that is still easy to use. Open the app and you will immediately see what is important: the current weather and the forecast for the next hour. You can then dig a little deeper to find hourly and weekly forecasts, and take a look at the radar for your area. You can also set up custom notifications to get alerts when rain is likely in the next hour, a daily summary, severe weather alerts, or your own custom alerts for things like if the temperature drops below freezing or if you need sunscreen.
Where it fails
There’s nothing to complain about with Dark Sky. Sure, it costs $ 4, but you get a reliable weather app that is constantly updated and has many features. Since it uses your exact location, forecasts are a little shaky at times, but this does not happen more often than with any other forecasting tool. It is also only available in the US, UK and Ireland, which leaves a lot of potential users out of the loop.
Competition
There are tons of great iPhone weather apps that suit different needs. Want a complete Doppler radar? Of course it is doable. Prefer something minimal? You have options. Want to only be notified of bad weather? Yes, that also exists. These are all worth checking out to see if they suit your specific needs.
If you don’t like Dark Sky, Yahoo Weather , our previous pick, is a worthy contender. It has a great design, large photos that are easy to read, and the basics of working with radar, satellite and heat maps. Unfortunately, it now has big annoying ads that can really get in the way. Likewise, the four great free apps, Accuweather , The Weather Channel , WeatherBug, and Weather Underground, provide similar alternatives. They all have the same basic feature set as Yahoo Weather, but offer slightly different capabilities in terms of interface and coverage. The point is that different apps may have more accurate forecasts for your region than others, so it’s worth playing around with a few to see which one works best for you.
Weather Today (1.99 ยข) may very well be one of the best weather apps out there, but it doesn’t update as often as we would like. However, if you like the Accuweather, Weather Underground, or Weather Channel features but hate ads, then Today Weather is worth taking a look.
Perfect Weather ($ 2.99) is another fantastic weather app that has tons of information if you’re willing to pay for it. The strength of Perfect Weather is that it loads quickly, gives you a five-day forecast, and then provides any additional information you might need. This includes a full satellite image, hourly temperatures, and more. It’s all fast too, so you can get in and out of the app quickly.
If you’re more of a fan of minimalistic weather apps, you have a few reliable options. Blue is a great little app that shows the forecast for the next day or so in a handy color-coded indicator. Sun is actually a free web application designed specifically for the iPhone that uses gestures to control it. Weather Neue (free) features simplified current weather and a four-day forecast in a lovely package. Finally, Partly Cloudy may be the prettiest of them all, as it uses the clock visuals to show the weather forecast in a surprisingly intuitive way.