Weather alerts, radar, Apple Watch compilations, etc .... quite a bit more than just rain - but it usually gets rain predictions right, more than I've ever seen so that's something a lot of people rave about when it comes to Dark Sky.
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Apple-Acquired Dark Sky Delays Shutting Down Android App Until August 1
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cool. Thank you. I’m ALWAYS caught in the rain. Doesn’t matter where or time of day/night. So accurate prediction and radar would be nice.
Way to miss the point.
The point is that there is value for Apple (and any mobile vendor) is having a weather API. Right now they don't have that. They have a weather APP, but that doesn't help other apps that could make use of weather data. (Some IoT apps, some mobility apps, some event scheduling apps, some fitness apps, ...)
Obviously a weather API is not as important as a location API (which is why this is happening in 2020, not 2010), but it's of some value.
I partially expected Apple to discuss a weather API at WWDC, but perhaps there just wasn't enough time between the acquisition and the event.
I just cancelled my Carrot Weather subscription. I was using it because I also used Carrot Alarm. I was using Dark Sky's information in the weather app. Apple has started to add rain predictions and things like that, but the detail weather info is just not there. They are still using Weather Channel as their source. Another huge thing missing is RADAR!!! Like the most simply thing. Where is it? You have to tap the Weather Channel logo at the bottom to open their website. Why isn't just there in the app, like every other weather app?
And if they were going to add it, then it would have been in iOS 14.
And if they were going to add it, then it would have been in iOS 14.
one of the major benefits of using Apple devices is using the ecosystem. making decisions to not use the ecosystem to your benefit takes away one of Apple’s greatest strengths.
I'd be more interested if they allowed weather overlays for Carplay GPS maps -- or at least a radar view somewhere. It's ridiculous that they don't allow that. I spend way more eyes off the road fiddling with other apps than I would glancing at whether or not I'm heading into a tornado...
Carrot weather seems to be doing OK...
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Over what, exactly?
Nah, it will be a subscription service for sure. I wish I was joking, the subscription fatigue has set in.
I really wish the cross platform war would stop. I find it interesting that Google’s iOS apps are sometimes better than their Android apps. I use Apple devices and Google devices, and both coexist with iOS, but the same can’t be said for the opposite situation. i.e. On iOS there’s Android TV remote, Google Search, Google Maps, Google Assistant, Google Drive, Google Play Music, Google News, Google Books, Google Photos, Google Home, Google Chrome, Chromecast support, etc. etc.
Apple has what, Apple TV(and not even an app) and Apple Music on Android? No official Airplay support. My HomePod won’t work on Android, AirPods only partially, Apple TV Android app, like on the firetv app for Apple TV+, you can’t buy anything without an iOS app, which makes no sense. No iMessage. No Apple Office apps.
It seems like Apple is the limiting factor here. Google is so confident in Android, they don’t get hung up about also providing quality experiences for their iOS users, which I appreciate greatly. Apple needs to take a cue from Google and Microsoft. Microsoft has Office 365 apps and Powershell for OSX, Linux and Windows. Azure coexists nicely with Linux. Microsoft is actively making the Linux community better by including Windows Subsystem for Linux in Windows. And releasing apps across all platforms and opensourcing a lot these days. And contributing to both iOS and Android, but Android more so, because of the freedom. And it’s such a better Microsoft these days.
I mean what if Google Play and Apple App Store were cross platform. Do know what an awesome world that would be? Compete on user experience, not user lockdown.
Apple has what, Apple TV(and not even an app) and Apple Music on Android? No official Airplay support. My HomePod won’t work on Android, AirPods only partially, Apple TV Android app, like on the firetv app for Apple TV+, you can’t buy anything without an iOS app, which makes no sense. No iMessage. No Apple Office apps.
It seems like Apple is the limiting factor here. Google is so confident in Android, they don’t get hung up about also providing quality experiences for their iOS users, which I appreciate greatly. Apple needs to take a cue from Google and Microsoft. Microsoft has Office 365 apps and Powershell for OSX, Linux and Windows. Azure coexists nicely with Linux. Microsoft is actively making the Linux community better by including Windows Subsystem for Linux in Windows. And releasing apps across all platforms and opensourcing a lot these days. And contributing to both iOS and Android, but Android more so, because of the freedom. And it’s such a better Microsoft these days.
I mean what if Google Play and Apple App Store were cross platform. Do know what an awesome world that would be? Compete on user experience, not user lockdown.
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Apple HomePods are doorstops in Android. Apple Pay, Apple Watch, iMessage, FaceTime. Don’t exist. I use my Apple Card for everything these days and just pay it off. That right there locks me to Apple. Not to mention my apps I’d have to rebuy or just don’t exist in Android. Definitely locked in.
I’d call this rather an obstacle than a lock in. We actively decide to use something that has alternatives in the form of other products and we trade in cross platform interoperability against convenience.
I can bin my HomePod tomorrow, download my data out of iCloud and change to something else if I want to. May be inconvenient, but absolutely possible.
I’ve had the Dark Sky app and the Carrot app (using other data providers, not the Dark Sky API) going at the same time and have had reasonably consistent reports/notifications/warnings.
Dark Sky’s radar is terrible. Carrot’s is better, though the one I like the most was Weather Underground’s Wundermap, which IBM horribly screwed up. Who would look at that and want to be a customer of IBM for either their front or back-end services?
For that matter, any weather app really needs to have an indicator showing if radar is still loading or not. Wundermap is a great example, as sometimes it takes a very long time to load, or doesn’t load at all, and you might think there’s no precip in the area and be very, very wrong.
Dark Sky’s radar is terrible. Carrot’s is better, though the one I like the most was Weather Underground’s Wundermap, which IBM horribly screwed up. Who would look at that and want to be a customer of IBM for either their front or back-end services?
For that matter, any weather app really needs to have an indicator showing if radar is still loading or not. Wundermap is a great example, as sometimes it takes a very long time to load, or doesn’t load at all, and you might think there’s no precip in the area and be very, very wrong.
Apple is really big enough they need to play nice with other platforms. I mean imagine if Microsoft or Adobe got tired of constant OS changes and ditched Apple?
If Tim Apple wants Services to be the big revenue stream, then Apple needs to get that Services revenue from other platforms too. Apple’s attempts at Windows and Android software are subpar at best, and woefully in the realm of “abandonware” much of the time.
It’s doubly insulting when Apple buys great cross-platform solutions and neuters them.
dark sky would be a great name for a sci fi drama or action suspense drama movie or series
sorta anti climactic name used for weather app
sorta anti climactic name used for weather app
Yep it's possible. After 13 years, I made the move from iPhone to Android. I slowly migrated my data to platform-independant alternatives, and hey presto, I'm no longer in the ecosystem. And now everything is platform independant, I have access to everything across my iPad, android phone, and computers.
If you look over the fence in the walled garden, you'll be surprised how much is out there.
Loved WeatherUnderground. Would gladly pay for a weather app if it had all the bells and whistles I needed but if Apple is able to integrate Dark Sky properly across all its ecosystem that would be wonderful.