5 Of The Best Weather Apps For iPhone
A good weather app can make a big difference to your day, reminding you to carry that umbrella or jacket and be prepared for a change in the forecast. The iPhone comes with Apple's Weather app preinstalled, and while it has a clean interface and plenty of data, it's not the most consistent. The app has suffered multiple outages over the last few months, and some users have also reported inaccuracies with the forecast.
Dark Sky was a popular alternative to the Weather app, which Apple acquired back in 2020. Many of Dark Sky's best features, including an hourly 10-day forecast, severe weather alert notifications, high-resolution weather maps, and down-to-the-minute precipitation forecasts were subsequently integrated into Apple Weather.
Unfortunately, Apple made the decision to shut down Dark Sky in 2023, leaving many long-time users of the app disappointed. While Dark Sky might be gone, there are plenty of other great weather apps on the App Store. If you're looking for an alternative to the Apple Weather app, these are your best options.
AccuWeather
If you're looking for a no-frills, data-packed weather app, you should check out AccuWeather. The app presents three views of the weather forecast in your location: Today, Hourly, and Daily. The Today view provides an overall outlook of the day's forecast, while the hourly tab shows an hour-by-hour forecast. The Daily view shows the forecast for up to 45 days. The app provides key data such as humidity, sunrise and sunset timings, air quality, and allergen levels.
There's also a Radar & Maps section where you can choose between different map views, including precipitation, temperature, clouds, rainfall, and storm surges. The app displays news and videos from the AccuWeather channel, so you can find information about any major storms or weather events right inside the app. While AccuWeather is a free app, you can pay $9.99 per year to get rid of the intrusive ads or $19.99 per year to get access to premium features like alerts, hourly forecast graphs, and widgets.
The Weather Channel
The Weather Channel features an aesthetic interface that's easy to navigate. You can view Today, Daily, and Hourly weather updates, with additional details like wind, humidity, pressure, UV index, and visibility available. The Daily view lets you see the forecast for the next 15 days, and you can tap on each day to see more details, making it easy to plan a trip.
The app also features an Air Pollution tab with details about your area's primary and additional pollutants. A live Doppler radar map is available, where you can customize layers such as clouds, temperature, precipitation, snowfall, and driving difficulty index, among others.
The Weather Channel features a hurricane tracker and storm watch feature and lets you set up weather alerts so you can get notifications for weather changes. You can view weather-related articles and videos right inside the app, too. Getting rid of the ads will cost you $9.99 a year. A $29.99 per year Premium Pro subscription unlocks features such as an extended hourly forecast, a 15-minute forecast, 72-hour future radar, and a 30-mile lightning map.
Clime
Unlike most other weather apps, Clime puts radar images front and center. The Today view displays an interactive map showing areas of rain, snow, and mixed precipitation. You can view hourly weather updates, the UV index, wind, AQI, visibility, humidity, and moon phases in the app. If you're a free user, you can view a seven-day forecast with three-hourly updates for the weather, but upgrading to a premium subscription lets you view a 14-day forecast. Key details are included for each day's forecast, including helpful reminders of when rainfall is likely during the day.
The weather maps let you switch between layers like radar, advanced precipitation forecast, temperature, cloud cover, snow depth, fires, and wind. You can also view hurricane and lightning trackers. There's even a handy tool that lets you report inconsistencies with the weather in your area. Other features include alerts for severe weather, support for widgets, and wildfire tracking. Unfortunately, Clime's best features are locked behind a subscription, which costs $19.99 per year.
Carrot Weather
If you're looking for a weather app with personality, you can't go wrong with Carrot Weather. The app lets you choose a personality for the Carrot weather assistant, with options like professional, friendly, snarky, homicidal, and overkill. You can also decide whether to include politics in its personality. Depending on the personality you've chosen, you'll see some hilarious commentary in the weather app.
Carrot Weather features a colorful interface, with details like UV index, wind speed, sunset and sunrise times, and moon phases available. You can also view an hourly weather forecast for the coming week. The app features an interactive element, letting you chat with Carrot, complete missions, and unlock achievements. A Carrot Premium subscription ($19.99 a year) unlocks the app's best features, including widgets, notifications, Live Activities, Apple Watch complications, the ability to add more global and local weather data sources, and change the app layout and icon.
WeatherBug
WeatherBug is a comprehensive weather app with a clean layout. In addition to daily, hourly, and 10-day forecasts, the app also displays conditions for outdoor sports. You'll also find detailed data for air quality, pollen count, lightning strikes, wind speed, active fires, sunrise and sunset times, and moon phases. A hurricane watch is also included.
WeatherBug has a comprehensive maps section, where you can choose from over 18 layers, including a storm tracker, radar, future radar, air quality, thunderstorm alerts, lightning, precipitation, wind speed, and more. You can even animate the maps to visualize the weather conditions based on the layers you've selected.
Other features include weather alerts, widgets, the ability to view real-time traffic conditions, and Apple Watch support. While the app is ad-supported, most of its features are included in the free version. The ad-free version is cheaper than most other weather apps, priced at $10.99 a year.