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Apple buys Dark Sky weather app
Apple has bought weather app Dark Sky, which is highly regarded for its radar maps and accuracy of its hyperlocal, by-the-minute weather predictions. It'll still be available on the iOS App Store, as you might expect, but the Android and Wear OS versions will shut down on July 1st. You'll no longer be able to download the app on those platforms, and people who are still subscribed to the service when Dark Sky pulls the plug will receive a refund.
Dark Sky update includes saved locations and a unified timeline
The Dark Sky weather app got a major update today, which includes new visuals and additional features. First up is the timeline. Rather than having different aspects of the forecast spread out across multiple tabs, everything is now included in a single, unified timeline. Just scroll down to see current conditions, the next hour rain forecast, the next 24 hours and the following week's forecasts. Additionally, weather conditions for the day like temperature, precipitation, wind and UV index are visualized more descriptively with circles denoting each hour's condition fanning out left to right in order to show changing intensity.
Dark Sky's hyperlocal weather app is now available on the web
Four-year-old mobile weather app Dark Sky is mostly known for two things: its beautifully rendered radar maps and startlingly accurate hyperlocal weather predictions. The latter was Dark Sky's killer feature by far, and used your smartphone's GPS to let you know exactly when and how long you'd get rained on. With notifications like "Heavy rain starting in 12 min." it can be a lifesaver in rainy regions or places prone to sudden thunderstorms. Now those same features, along with a suite of new maps and visualizations, are available on your desktop via DarkSky.net.
Dark Sky brings its 'hyperlocal' weather forecasts to Android
Dark Sky has been a darling of the iOS app scene for years. It has a nice design, and all the features you'd expect from a weather app, but its unique selling point is "hyperlocal" reports that can pinpoint rain to the minute. To do this, it "statistically aggregates" data from 19 meteorological sources, as well as from users themselves. Although the competition has improved in recent years, and despite being a paid app in a sea of free alternatives, it remains on many a "best weather app" list.
Dark Sky uses your iPhone's sensors to improve weather forecasts
Your iPhone gives you weather forecasts right from the get-go, but it's now ready to shape those forecasts as well. Dark Sky has given its iOS app a big overhaul that, if you like, uses the barometer on your iPhone 6 or 6 Plus to contribute pressure readings. The hope is that these will dramatically improve short-term forecasts in the future -- you'll know that it's about to rain because iPhones nearby gave you a heads-up. There have been apps that crowdsourced pressure data before, but rarely with the intent to directly improve forecasts -- and not on the scale of Dark Sky, one of iOS' best-known weather tools.
The first Apple Watch apps are already here
You can't actually buy an Apple Watch for another month or so, but Apple has already opened the gate for apps. 9to5Mac points out a slew of freshly updated apps, including Twitter, WeChat, Evernote and the weather app Dark Sky (shown above), among others. While regular developers won't be able to submit their wearable-ready apps until later, this select group is getting started early. There will be a section in the App Store just for the Watch, but if you can't wait until April 24th you can start getting ready right now.
