- The best free weather apps offer more features than the native apps on your iPhone or Android.
- Most free weather apps also have paid subscription tiers that add premium features or an ad-free experience.
- Here are five of the best free weather apps that offer dramatically better features than your normal app.
You can get the weather from your phone with the built-in Weather app, but third-party apps offer much more. Not only can you get a quick weather forecast, but some apps can offer severe weather warnings, radar imagery, and even hour-by-hour precipitation forecasts. Here are the five best free weather apps for both iPhone and Android phones.
the weather Channel
You probably already know the Weather Channel (iOS, Android) as a staple of basic cable television. The app is like an extension of that channel on your smartphone, with a wealth of quality content. You get hourly and extended forecasts, radar imagery, and even video clips and other content straight from cable TV. The app also includes sunrise and sunset times, air quality reports, tidal times and moon phases, as well as optional weather alerts. While most of the app is free, The Weather Channel app is ad supported. If you wish, you can subscribe to the premium service for $4.99 per month for ad-free content.
The Weather Channel app includes video clips with weather data and forecasts. dave johnson
AccuWeather
AccuWeather (iOS, Android) isn’t just a full-featured weather appit also has a modern, clean interface that makes browsing for weather updates a pleasure. The Today tab tells you everything you need to know, like temperature, precipitation and more, in a simple yet attractive format, and you can scroll through for tons of additional details, including air quality, allergy data, and sunrise/sunset times. can. You can also get hour-by-hour weather forecasts, radar imaging, and a hurricane tracker. You can use AccuWeather for free with ads, or subscribe to the ad-free version for $19.99 per year (there’s also a free trial).
The attractive interface makes AccuWeather enjoyable to use. dave johnson
Climate: NOAA Weather Radar Live
While you can use Clime (iOS, Android) for free, there are tons of premium features (and no ads) on the back of a $19.99 per year subscription. If you pay to upgrade, you get storm and lightning tracking and detailed rainfall forecasts, for example. Even if you put stickers on with the free version of Clime, you still get plenty of weather information. There are another seven-day forecast, severe weather alerts, and NOAA’s satellite imagery for a detailed look at precipitation, temperatures and other weather data. Be forewarned, though: Perhaps more than any of these other free weather apps, Clime isn’t shy about repeatedly asking you to upgrade to a paid service.
Climate includes severe weather alerts and NOAA satellite imagery. dave johnson
yahoo weather
Perhaps the best reason to use Yahoo Weather (iOS, Android) is its beautiful interface. You can set up weather pages for multiple cities and swipe between them, and each page gets a gorgeous full-screen image that makes the app fun to use. The images are suitable for both the time of day and the weather conditions, so when you’re looking at New York weather, the background image will be dark and rainy if you’re viewing it during an evening thunderstorm. Swipe up to see the one-hour and 10-day forecast and keep scrolling for air quality, pollen count, coronavirus data, wind, precipitation, radar imagery, and more.
Each city has its own gorgeous background picture that is appropriate for the local time and season. dave johnson
carrot season
If you’re looking for some personality with your weather forecast, carrot season (iOS) can deliver a healthy dose of a snack. Carrot Wisdom is so integral to the app that you can turn a slider to choose how sarcastic the app will be, from professional to “homicidal” to “overkill”, as well as criticizing the app for being political and using profanity. with option. Also in the app: You can unlock weather-related achievements and kill time by going to “Missions” to find places on the world map, as well as an augmented reality mode that lets you explore the world around you. Overlays the weather forecast in the scene. Obviously, Carrot isn’t your average weather app. Still, it forecasts the weather, pulling in data from the excellent Dark Sky service with seven-day forecasts, infographics, radar, and more.
Carrot’s raspy voice and simplification make it much more than a standard weather app. dave johnson
dave johnson
freelance writer
