Air Quality Index Feature Expands to More Countries in iOS 14.7 Beta

[MacRumors]

Apple's latest iOS 14.7 beta appears to expand support for the Weather app's Air Quality Index feature to more countries and regions, based on user reports on Reddit and Twitter.

As noted by 9to5Mac, the feature is reportedly showing up for users in cities in the Netherlands, France, Italy, Spain, and Canada. Apple last expanded the feature in iOS 14.3 and iPadOS 14.3.

The Air Quality Index (AQI) is a measurement used by governments around the world to indicate the level of pollution in urban environments.

The AQI rates air quality on a scale from 0 (best) to 500 (worst), with values of 151-200 rated Unhealthy, 201-300 Very Unhealthy and 301-500 Hazardous. The measurement appears as a colored bar below the Weather app's 10-day forecast. AQI is also displayed in Maps and can be provided by Siri upon request.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1395166811750944771

iOS 14.7 appears to be a minor update, but we're likely to discover more small changes and improvements like this as Apple refines and propagates future beta versions before ultimately offering an official release for the general public.

Article Link: Air Quality Index Feature Expands to More Countries in iOS 14.7 Beta

 

[Justin Cymbal]

This is an awesome feature. I’m glad that Apple is expanding it

I like that Apple makes it conveniently located in the bottom right corner of Apple Maps. Definitely makes a difference in my decision to go for walks during the day if the air quality is bad - I stay home

I usually walk in the morning when air quality is the best. It’s nice that Apple does this feature.

 

[mrbluelips]

Include a pollen count!

 

[Bustycat]

Hope Apple could select more local data instead of relying on American sources. The Weather app is very inaccurate here.

 

[acorntoy]

TMI: your air sucks. Buy a purifier.

 

[contacos]

Hope Apple could select more local data instead of relying on American sources. The Weather app is very inaccurate here.

Exactly, also their chosen weather icon for the day is always weird. For instance, it may rain for 10 minutes at 3 pm today but the rest of the day is sunny, however the general weather icon for today is "rain". I am looking out of the window like ... no?

 

[adrianlondon]

Switzerland has it now as well. However, I've not scrolled down when looking at the weather for months, so I've no idea when it first appeared.

Anyway, nice to know that it's "3 - Low" here. It's stormy and currently pissing it down with rain, which no doubt clears out loads of pollution. Not sure how "live" the reading is. Like the screenshot above, mine says "DAQI (UK)" so I assume that's where it's coming from.

 

[svish]

Nice to see the feature expanding to more regions.

 

[lexvo]

Hope Apple could select more local data instead of relying on American sources. The Weather app is very inaccurate here.

Yes, weather sources like Meteogroup and Foreca are much better here in Europe. Therefore, I am wondering how accurate the Air quality index will be.

 

[tomtad]

Why does this require an OS update?

 

[hagar]

Exactly, also their chosen weather icon for the day is always weird. For instance, it may rain for 10 minutes at 3 pm today but the rest of the day is sunny, however the general weather icon for today is "rain". I am looking out of the window like ... no?

I noticed the exact same issue. Seems like changed the algorithm for the day icon and make it far more negative. Over here (Belgium) we have 10 day forecasts of only rain icons for over a month now. Because it rains at least once a day, even if it’s only 10 min. That’s called summer over here but looking at 10 days of rain in the app is truly depressing.

 

[Vol Braakzakje]

Really worthy of a 14.7 update instead of 14.6.1.

 

[AlexisV]

The weather app is rubbish. It cannot display sunshine and showers, which is a common weather type in spring in the UK.

The icons simply show rain and a percentage next to them, so the week ahead just looks like constant rain. A rain symbol with 100% next to it simply means there is guaranteed rain at some point that day, not that it will be raining for 24 hours. And there is no indication of sunshine, so it could well rain for 5 minutes and be dry and sunny for the rest of the day!

It needs a sunshine and showers symbol.

 

[yellow8]

The weather app is rubbish. It cannot display sunshine and showers, which is a common weather type in spring in the UK.

The icons simply show rain and a percentage next to them, so the week ahead just looks like constant rain. A rain symbol with 100% next to it simply means there is guaranteed rain at some point that day, not that it will be raining for 24 hours. And there is no indication of sunshine, so it could well rain for 5 minutes and be dry and sunny for the rest of the day!

It needs a sunshine and showers symbol.

Today, I noticed a bug in the real world, there was wind and sunshine at the same time.
Which is not possible, because the weather app says there is only wind.

 

[kk200]

'I guess Apple saved a lot of data source costs on iPadOS by removing the weather app

 

[IllinoisCorn]

Serious, good faith question: why do people care about the AQ index number? I understand people don't want bad air. But what can you do if it's a poor number? I guess don't go outside? Is it an allergy issue?

 

[IllinoisCorn]

The weather app is rubbish. It cannot display sunshine and showers, which is a common weather type in spring in the UK.

The icons simply show rain and a percentage next to them, so the week ahead just looks like constant rain. A rain symbol with 100% next to it simply means there is guaranteed rain at some point that day, not that it will be raining for 24 hours. And there is no indication of sunshine, so it could well rain for 5 minutes and be dry and sunny for the rest of the day!

It needs a sunshine and showers symbol.

The animated backgrounds do show that information, though. If it's raining, the background is rain. Foggy? The background reflects that.

 

[DinkThifferent]

Okay, so I have both IQ Air (Airvisual) and Breezometer on my phone (Breezometer is the source Apple uses)

Where I live in The Netherlands the air quality is 'Excellent' according to IQ Air and, 'Good' according to Breezometer when use their AQI, and 'Moderate' if I use Breezometer's Dutch standard.

So the air I am currently breathing is of Excellent, Good and Moderate quality all at the same time.

Well, that was super helpful ?

 

[Philip_S]

Include a pollen count!

I don't get hay fever or asthma so I've never cared about pollen count, but isn't that highly localised? I'd have thought you'd need quite a dense network of sensors to get meaningful data in urban areas where there is a lot of variation in vegetation.

 

[twolf2919]

Serious, good faith question: why do people care about the AQ index number? I understand people don't want bad air. But what can you do if it's a poor number? I guess don't go outside? Is it an allergy issue?

You answered your question. It gives you the ability to choose - stay home, go outside, go outside with a mask...In many places, it probably doesn't even vary enough to make much of a difference, but in some - e.g. Beijing - some days the AQI could be decent and on others hazardous to your health (AQI 500+).

 

[Buran]

AQI also shows up in Maps (I'm in the US). Lower right next to the temperature in my chosen units (C). I also like that the AQI bar changes based on the current value.

What is weird to me is why Apple keeps using TWC for data when it recently purchased Dark Sky. Carrot Weather has been my primary weather app for years. It's been capable of displaying AQI for a long time, though I think that depends on the source you tell it to use; Apple doesn't let you switch away from whatever source it's using, and for me I see a Weather Channel icon. (Why Apple bought Dark Sky and continues to use Weather Channel is a mystery to me.)

I don't think Apple is using Dark Sky to its full potential and I hope iOS 15 will bring major changes to the weather app. For example, by drawing on Dark Sky data -- the API hasn't been shut down for existing (app programmer, not end) users yet -- Carrot can give you rain notifications and also display "Rain in X minutes" or "Rain for next Y minutes", which is really handy. I haven't heard of Apple doing that yet, but maybe that'll be an iOS 15 feature.

I'm not sure if "sunny with rain" is a possible 'return' from most weather APIs, though. I scrolled through the next couple of days of Carrot's hour-by-hour forecast (currently using Tomorrow.io as its source; I rotate around sometimes) and there are icons for partly cloudy during the day and night (sun/moon behind a cloud), full sun/moon, full cloud (blue for day, purple for night), and below each a percentage-chance-of-rain display appears. So it's entirely possible that "sunshine and showers" isn't showing up simply because it can't. When that happens in my area, I get the sun/moon icon as appropriate (day/night) and a "rain for next X minutes" message below it above a graphic displaying the intensity of the rain.

 

[IllinoisCorn]

You answered your question. It gives you the ability to choose - stay home, go outside, go outside with a mask...In many places, it probably doesn't even vary enough to make much of a difference, but in some - e.g. Beijing - some days the AQI could be decent and on others hazardous to your health (AQI 500+).

Thank you for the explanation.

 

[mfehr]

Air Quality Index can also be displayed on the Apple Watch for a long time already. Good to see that more locations are added.