This morning I woke up and slide my finger down my iPhone’s lockscreen to see the weather. With a single line of text, Dark Sky told me what it felt like outside and that it would be overcast for at least the next hour. No need for sunglasses then.
There are a lot of weather apps out there to choose from, and I’ve tried a lot of them. But in terms of features, design, and actual usefulness, none comes close to being as good as Dark Sky.
Now optimized for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus on iOS 8, I’ve been loving Dark Sky again. A lot of information, like a detailed map view, is packed into the app itself, but I use it mostly to see what the weather conditions will be like throughout the day. And it’s trademark feature is obviously great; who doesn’t want to get a notification right before it rains?
Dark Sky’s new iOS 8 widget is a lot simpler than most, but I think it does its job well. “Widgets are a bit tricky at this point; they’re so new that we as developers haven’t had the time to figure out proper design etiquette, or even determine what widgets are really for,” said Dark Sky developer Adam Grossman. “The temptation is to make them big, gaudy affairs, and several weather apps have gone in that direction.”
“With our widget, we’ve gone back to the original purpose of Dark Sky: just the weather for the next hour. The idea is to allow you to quickly check whether or not it’s going to rain before heading out. That’s it. And to me that’s the type of thing widgets are for.”
When rain is coming, the widget will show how many minutes you have until it hits. Text becomes italicized when something is happening that you should probably act on, like an impending monsoon. And then you can just tap the widget to open Dark Sky for more information.
In terms of a killer app and Notification Center widget, I haven’t found anything better than Dark Sky. If you just want a widget that displays weather information, I recommend checking out Forecast+.
Dark Sky costs $3.99 in the App Store.
Alex Heath is a journalist who works for Tech Insider. He’s the former co-host of The CultCast. He has been quoted by the likes of the BBC, KRON 4 News, and books like “ICONIC: A Photographic Tribute to Apple Innovation.” He lives in Lexington, Kentucky. If you want to pitch a story, share a tip, or just get in touch, additional contact information is available on his personal site. Follow him on Twitter.
20 responses to “Dark Sky is the best weather app for iOS 8”
Weather Underground’s app and widgets are better. And free.
Don’t you need to know the weather for the day at a glance so you can dress appropriately for the whole day? Most weather apps provide forecasts for more than just the immediate hour or next hour, that seems more useful.
That’s just the widget, the app shows full day forecast, 7day, etc.
I installed but there’s no widget?
Yeah I had the same reaction after updating. First enable screen notifications in settings, then open Notification Center, scroll to the bottom and hit edit, then just turn on Dark Skies :)
Only works for iPhone 6, and not 5? Bummer.
Hmm, worked just fine on my 5 before I upgraded?? Maybe there was a bug when they updated it for iOS8/iPhone 6Plus compatibility?
DJBB, when I search the App Store on my iPhone 5, the only app with “Dark Sky” in the title that it returns is “Dark Sky Finder”, an app for astronomers to find locations with very little light pollution.
Ah…I read the post below, it’s not available outside of the USA. :-(
Hello Alex Heath, would it to much of a bother to ask you to mention that Dark Sky is a US only app? It would save us silly non-Americans quite some time searching the app store for an app that is not available to us.
Would you also please ponder the simple fact that there are people living outside of the US. I know, I know, its hard to believe, but you know, it really seems to be true.
:Last comment removed:
Good point, but no need to be a jerk about it.
yeah I agreed….I was all in and agreeing until the last comment. No need be a dick.
dvinson and Barrett Jasper you are both right. I guess I went on a rant and it escalated.
This is not the first time that a reviewer does not take the trouble to check if a app will be available outside the US and it will not be the last. I have seen it here, on MacRumors and The Verge.
That however, is not an excuse for my last comment. I will remove it.
Sorry Alex that was uncalled for.
Regardless of your final comment, that explains why I can’t get it either (I’m in Edmonton.) I wonder why this is? The app costs $3.99USD, and the creators could be making more coin if they open it up to the rest of the planet.
Will definitely try this out and how about using new keyboard apps in iOS 8 .I tried them and it is fun to use them for typing a mail or message. For more details about new Keyboard apps in iOS 8 visit this link – http://www.techuntold.com/best-ios-apps-ios-keyboard-apps/
Dark Sky lacks a particularly useful feature, which is to hijack the red message alerts that appear on the upper right corner of the app icon to show you the current temperature. Weather ON has the feature. Solution, buy both, and stick Dark App in a folder WITH Weather ON, then you have the dynamically changing temp alert on the corner of your newly named Weather folder.
It looks like Weather ON hasn’t been updated since 2012. You should look at the Fahrenheit or Celcuius app, each display current temp as app badge count. There are a few others in the App Store too, but stick with one that is still under active development.
I woke up to a rain storm and NO notification at all from Dark Sky. Really angry because that is why I bought the app. Now I find out the feature is “experimental” .. Waiting to hear back from developer.
Couldn’t agree more with this post. Definitely my favorite weather app, and thankfully the update has made it fully compatible with my 6Plus screen. The update also significantly sped up doppler map loading, and generally made everything smoother. If you want a simple & minimal weather app very in the style of Apple without unnecessary screen clutter, this is what you’ve been looking for.
Dark Sky is NOT a general-purpose weather app and doesn’t purport to be one, it’s only useful to apprise you of current stormy conditions and warn you of storms coming your way (and so it’s useful only to the degree that you live in a place where such conditions happen – if you live in, say, LA you’ll use it only during a limited time of the year). It’s a great addition to your weather toolkit, but you still need something like Weather Underground for your workhorse app. It’s unfortunate there’s no OSX version.