When Apple bought Dark Sky, it was apparent that the days for one of the best-designed, data-dense, and yet visually simple apps were numbered. It is a shame, considering Apple’s weather app is mediocre. About a week ago, I asked my Twitter community for recommendations to replace Dark Sky, which will be shut down by the end of the year. I was looking for an elegant, not too fussy, but “Information-rich in simple fashion” weather app!
MJ Tsai, a software developer who writes a blog about Apple software, recommended Snowflake by Bjango and Weathergraph. I acquired both of them with a handful of others like Carrot. In the end, I settled on Weathergraph. It is dense with data, but only if I want to dig deeper, and it is simple enough for me to get a better view of the weather ahead quickly. There is a premium forecast source, Foreca that is worth having and is better than Apple’s own weather feed.
The app is the handiwork of a Czech developer, Tomas Kafka. Thankfully the app doesn’t take its cues from Tomas’ namesake, Franz. It is clear, logical, and rich in information; everything is quickly accessible. I don’t particularly love the colors offered by the app, but they are not deal breakers.
A recent update gives you an interactive daily forecast. Tap on the daily forecast and get to hourly forecasts. It is very clever. The best part of the app — it shares DewPoint information, which in turn helps me calculate the likelihood of fog in the morning (or in the evening.) Being a sucker for fog photography, this comes in quite handy.
I have placed a Weathergraph widget on the home screen of both my phone and my iPad.
PS: Details on the complete set of features are here.
October 11, 2022. San Francisco