Weather (Apple)

Weather
Developer(s)Apple Inc.
Operating system
watchOS
TypeWeather forecasting

Weather is a weather forecast app developed by Apple Inc., available on iOS since the release of the iPhone and iPhone OS 1 in 2007.[1][2] It allows users to see the conditions, forecast, temperature, and other related metrics of the device's current location, as well as a number of other cities. A version of Weather is also available for watchOS; however, it is limited in functionality.[3] Weather was made available on more devices across the Apple ecosystem with the releases of iPadOS 16 and macOS Ventura, where weather data from Apple was previously only available as a widget or through Siri.

From iPhone OS 1 to iOS 7, Yahoo! Weather was used as the weather data source of the app; in March 2019, Yahoo! shut down the servers distributing data for the Weather app on devices supporting iPhone OS 1 to iOS 7. From iOS 8 to iOS 15, The Weather Channel was used as the weather data source of the app.[4] Since iOS 16, Apple has used its own internal forecast data.

Following the acquisition of the weather app Dark Sky, many features have been rolled into Apple's own Weather app with the release of iOS 15.[5] Support for Dark Sky ended at the beginning of 2023, with users being urged to migrate to the Weather app.[6]

Functionality

Locations can be added or removed by pressing the list icon in the bottom right corner of the application, which allows the user to type in the city's name, ZIP Code or postal code or airport code.[1] For each city, the app will display the current, highest, and lowest temperatures, a 10-day forecast, UV index, time of sunrise and sunset, current wind direction and speed, rainfall measurements, current humidity, outdoor visibility range, and barometric pressure.[7] In some locations, the app will also display an air quality report and show next-hour precipitation when raining or snowing.[8]

Timeline

iOS 14 introduced support for severe weather warnings, allowing a user to receive notifications for government-issued severe weather events such as tornadoes, flash flooding, strong winds, and snow storms. Severe weather information is available from national weather services for Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, Japan, Mexico, Thailand, the United States and most of Europe.[citation needed]

With iOS 15, a weather map can be accessed from the bottom left of the application which can display the temperature, air quality, and a multi-day precipitation forecast.

WeatherKit API

WeatherKit is API integration that provides third-party developers with access to the Apple Weather service, replacing the former Dark Sky API, which was terminated at the end of March 2023. Developers can make up to half a million API requests per month for free, with subscription options available to increase the request limit.[9]

Weather app data source history

Source iOS version Date range Length
Yahoo! Weather iPhone OS 1–iOS 7 2007–14 6 or 7 years
The Weather Channel iOS 8–15 2014–22 7 or 8 years
Apple iOS 16 or later Since 2022 2 years and 5 or 6 months

The weather data of The Weather Channel replaced the weather data of Yahoo! Weather in 2014 and was replaced with the weather data used by Apple several years later, in 2022.[citation needed]

References

  1. ^ a b Ritchie, Rene (December 4, 2016). "Weather app: The ultimate guide". iMore. Retrieved May 26, 2018.
  2. ^ Royal, Simon (January 13, 2017). "iPhone OS 1: The Beginning of an Era". Low End Mac. Retrieved May 26, 2018.
  3. ^ "Your Apple Watch is a tiny weather station — Here's how to use it". iMore. 2019-07-12. Retrieved 2021-06-21.
  4. ^ Hughes, Neil (June 20, 2014). "Weather Channel providing Apple more detailed data for iOS 8 Weather app than Yahoo did". Apple Insider. Retrieved May 26, 2018.
  5. ^ Bursztynsky, Jessica (2020-03-31). "Apple buys popular weather app Dark Sky and plans to shut down Android versions". CNBC. Retrieved 2021-06-21.
  6. ^ "Apple-Acquired Weather App Dark Sky Reminding Users That iOS App Shutting Down on January 1". MacRumors. 13 September 2022. Retrieved 2022-11-12.
  7. ^ "Apple (finally) updates its weather app with dynamic backgrounds, maps and way more data". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2021-06-21.
  8. ^ Miller, Chance (2020-09-19). "iOS 14 Weather app includes real-time precipitation data, more". 9to5Mac. Retrieved 2021-06-21.
  9. ^ Espósito, Filipe (2022-09-13). "Developers can now subscribe to get more WeatherKit API requests". 9to5Mac. Retrieved 2022-10-05.