The Best Weather Apps for iOS [App List]

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The iPhone comes with a pre-installed weather application that takes its data from The Weather Channel. While it looks okay, it isn’t exactly crammed with features, it doesn’t go into any detail, it doesn’t come with the iPad, and I find its weather forecast to be far from accurate.

That being the case, over the years I’ve been trying out all sorts of third-party weather apps that do a far better job – here’s my list of the App Store’s best weather apps.

Weather Pro($1.99) iPhone / ($4.99) iPad — Weather

Weather Pro for iOS

Weather Pro is a personal favorite of mine, and the application I use to check the weather forecast in my area on a daily basis. The most important thing about this application, for me, is that its predictions are incredibly accurate — more accurate than any other application I’ve tried. It features a 7-day forecast which can be broken down into 3-hour intervals, with reports for over 2 million locations worldwide. It provides an accurate temperature reading in either Celsius or Fahrenheit and a “feels like” temperature. It also displays wind direction and speed; air pressure, precipitation and humidity; sunrise and sunset times; and air pressure maps. It features global satellite and animated radar images for the U.S.A. and much of Europe, with pan and zoom functionality. With an additional in-app subscription you can also get 14-day forecasts, precipitation radars, ski weather, and much more, but I find it’s incredibly useful without that.

Celsius / Fahrenheit — ($0.99) Universal — Weather

Celsius for iOS

Celsius / Fahrenheit is the first application to display the temperature in your area right on your iPhone’s home screen without the need to jailbreak. It uses an online web service together with iOS push technology to send the current temperature of any location to your device, which is then displayed in a badge over the application’s icon. It will provide you with a 10-day forecast, which can be broken down into 3-hour intervals, for an unlimited number of cities around the world; clouds radar for up to 2 days; maximum and minimum temperatures for each day; humidity and pressure readings; wind direction; and the UV index for each day. An in-app upgrade for $0.99 will also get you 3-hourly rain and satellite maps for up to 2 days and wind speed maps. Unfortunately, to display the temperature in Fahrenheit, you’ll need the dedicated Fahrenheit application. Remember these are separate applications when you come to make your purchase!

Weather+ — ($0.99) Universal — Weather


Unlike the other weather applications we’ve chosen so far, Weather+ is designed to be left open while your device is docked on your desk to provide you with the time and weather forecast at a glance whenever you need it. It gives you a 5-day forecast from all worldwide weather stations with 3-hourly breakdowns, which is displayed on your device with a range of beautiful background videos that match the current forecast; along with a fantastic flip clock. You can select an unlimited numbers of cities and swipe between them to see the time and weather for each. It will also provide you with information on wind direction and speed; humidity, precipitation, pressure and visibility; and current conditions and temperature.

Weather HD — ($0.99) Universal — Weather

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xL2CrMd_zQQ

Much like Weather+, Weather HD is meant to be left open so that you always have the time and weather at your fingertips, however, it’s a little more subtle. It features beautiful, high-quality background videos with the time and weather displayed elegantly over the top, and while some might say it’s not as clear or as bold, I really like it. You can even choose to hide the weather and just see minimal information on temperature, humidity and wind speed when you want to sit back and enjoy the high definition backgrounds. Select as many cities as you want and swipe left and right to navigate between them, with dedicated backgrounds, information, and hourly breakdowns for each location.

Living Earth HD — ($0.99) Universal — Utilities

Living Earth HD for iOS

Living Earth HD is a unique application that gives you a stunning, live 3D simulation of our home planet at any given moment in time, along with global weather, forecasts, and a world clock for over 22,000 cities around the world. It features realistic live 3D rendering of Earth with near real-time cloud data that lets you view global cloud patterns and tropical storms as they happen. Observe the changing seasons throughout the year and view snow and ice coverage, as well as other seasonal changes, around the globe. It also features an alarm clock that will wake you up with the weather and your favorite music.

Weddar — (Free) iPhone — Weather

Weddar for iPhone

Weddar is a new and unique service that provides weather information powered by the people — not by machines. Rather than the usual report you’d get from your local weather station, you will instead get an account from real people about the weather in their area: “In Weddar, someone, somewhere in Central Park will tell you that the weather ‘feels perfect.'” You can make requests for weather reports for anywhere you’d like to go and a ‘Weddar reporter’ will answer it. The app is currently used in 87 countries all over the world and recently featured in the App Store’s ‘New & Noteworthy’ category in the U.S. Obviously Weddar won’t give you a perfect 7-day forecast, but it’ll give you a pretty accurate account of the current weather. You can even become a Weddar reporter for your area and compete to be the top contributor.

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