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Apple Shuts Down Popular Weather App 'Dark Sky'

Speaking of feedback, I left Apple two more requests to make Weather more Dark Sky-like:
  1. I requested the return of Time Machine to see past and future forecasts past 10 days.
  2. As kataana suggested, I requested to be able to show/hide/rearrange the data displayed as to only (or at least readily) see what’s most relevant to you:
Please make it possible to show or hide information for any given location as there’s quite a bit to go through as it is right now. Otherwise, at least make it possible to expand or collapse information (like how Dark Sky made it possible to show either a 12 or 24-hour forecast for the next day). Also, being able to rearrange the information would be appreciated so that I can see the most used on top and the least used on the bottom.

With that, it feels good knowing that at took some kind of action letting Apple know directly what could make their app better!
 
Ideally you'd have an enhanced version of dark sky:

Vertical/timeline display showing-

Hour | rain/not rain as blue line | % chance of rain | temperature.

I don't think even carrot weather can do all this at the same time with its inline layout.
 
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IT Provisor said:
Do what I did: Go to https://www.apple.com/feedback/weather/ and give Apple your feedback about the app! In case of notifications, I left them this feedback:

Being a longtime Dark Sky user, I miss having the sounds that it made when alerting me for rain, etc. I would like to have at least Dark Sky’s rain alert sound restored as a) it’s not generic like it is now for Weather, where it’s hard to distinguish between, say, a new voicemail or other app’s notification that shares the same sound and b) I simply like it better and grew fond of it over the years and miss hearing it since it was instantly recognizable as no other app had anything similar to that sound for notifications! At the very least, at least give us the option to change the sound, especially since it’s for rain and related weather conditions, which can be even potentially life-saving, especially for those who live in more extreme weather environments. Thanks for your consideration!

Which then leads to this screen:

View attachment 2136486

Basically, if you want to make Apple Weather as Dark Sky-like as possible, you gotta let them know what needs improvement!
Click to expand...
I did it 🤗
 
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Marbles1 said:
Just paid for carrot weather and used the ‘inline theme’ which looks exactly the same as dark Sky but slightly different colours. Works well enough.
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Thanks for the heads up; I just did the same. It's really close to Dark Sky's dark theme.
 
MacRumors said:


The calendar has turned to January 1 and Apple has shut down popular weather app Dark Sky. The app had already been removed from the App Store in September and it stopped functioning for existing users starting today.

dark-sky-hand.jpg

Apple acquired Dark Sky in March 2020 and it has since incorporated many of the app's features into the preinstalled Weather app on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Earlier this month, Apple shared a support document with information on how Dark Sky users can use the Weather app, which now offers "hyperlocal" forecasts, including next-hour precipitation, hourly forecasts for the next 10 days, high-resolution radar maps, and severe weather notifications.

To use Dark Sky features in the Weather app, your device must be updated to iOS 16, iPadOS 16, or macOS Ventura. Some of the features are currently only available in select countries, as outlined in a separate Apple support document.

Apple will also be shutting down Dark Sky's API for third-party weather apps on March 31, and introduced its own WeatherKit API as a replacement.

Article Link: Apple Shuts Down Popular Weather App 'Dark Sky'
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Maybe I’ve missed it in Apple’s Weather app, but one of the reasons that Dark Sky was useful to photographers was in it’s name “Dark Sky”, allowing you to find locations, with less light pollution at night for Astrophotography. If I missed it, please let me know where to find it?! If NOT; Apple, needs a kick in the butt to make it part of this App?! Those of us that purchased Dark Sky, added to it’s value and Apple needs to return that value, not take it away.
 
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HunnieBunnie said:
I sent feedback, too, but mine was more in the line of "Dark Sky is light years better than Apple Weather, please bring it back."
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Same here. I asked for an option to restore the old Dark Sky UI. I don't mind them developing a more dumbed down eye-candy UI for the masses, but I personally want the old Dark Sky UI. It was easier to understand and didn't require a bunch of unnecessary taps.
 
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JamesHolden said:
Same here. I asked for an option to restore the old Dark Sky UI. I don't mind them developing a more dumbed down eye-candy UI for the masses, but I personally want the old Dark Sky UI. It was easier to understand and didn't require a bunch of unnecessary taps.
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I don't know what possessed them to think it was a good idea to drop the simple full-screen vertical hour-by-hour timeline of rain + temperature. Instead we just get big animation of whatever weather is happening outside the window right now.
 
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Marbles1 said:
I don't know what possessed them to think it was a good idea to drop the simple full-screen vertical hour-by-hour timeline of rain + temperature. Instead we just get big animation of whatever weather is happening outside the window right now.
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I agree. The old Dark Sky UI was all about putting data front and center and making it easy to read. The new Weather UI is typical dumbed-down Apple eye candy. Ever since iOS 7, we've been on this trajectory. Apple UIs gets more dumbed-down with every release, more things get hidden and require extra clicks/taps, and there's more emphasis on animations and eye-candy over functionality.
 
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MacD said:
If the weather app actually worked, I would be okay with this. But it always loads no data at launch. But DarkSky works fine, always.
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Since Apple took down Dark Sky, the weather in Buffalo has been miserable. Coincidental? I don’t so.
MacD said:
If the weather app actually worked, I would be okay with this. But it always loads no data at launch. But DarkSky works fine, always.
Click to expand...
 
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Marbles1 said:
I don't know what possessed them to think it was a good idea to drop the simple full-screen vertical hour-by-hour timeline of rain + temperature. Instead we just get big animation of whatever weather is happening outside the window right now.
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Agreed. Every calendar in any app shows a day from top to bottom. Not left to right. The Weather UI looks like it was made by Mattel or Fisher-Price.
 
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my opinion said:
Agreed. Every calendar in any app shows a day from top to bottom. Not left to right. The Weather UI looks like it was made by Mattel or Fisher-Price.
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Why stop at the Weather UI? All of Apple's UIs since iOS 7 have been headed in the Mattel/Fisher-Price direction.
 
Well, I have been using Apple's weather app and getting rained on unexpectedly. Something has changed with respect to forecasting, or at least it seems so to me.
 
Apple really has not explained their reasoning have they.? I just know that many times i got notification saying something is starting or stopping and I’d look out the window and it started or stopped. Could plan my outdoor workouts bases on Dark Sky. Im sure it came down to $$ paid to the source weather data provider.
 
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I think the thing I have against the Apple Weather app is I kind of want more text rather than numbers or charts. When I see the ten day forecast, I would love a summary of what to expect. When I go to a specific day and all it gives me is the high and low temperature for that day, that doesn't really help. I mean I live in California and we are in one of the wettest weather patterns I can remember with one storm after another just coming in. It's going to be like that for the next week and I feel like the weather app should do more to explain what is going on. I do like the up to the minute stuff, but I feel like there is still some stuff missing.
 
I still haven’t been able to remove the app from my home page screens place of access and prominence..;-(
 
Steve Fischer said:
This isn't my area of law but it seems if people paid for a lifetime subscription to Dark Sky and Apple bought them up then they would have to honor it. A nice class action suit would teach them a lesson.
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Don't think a class action suit is really viable. Pretty sure Lifetime is more "lifetime of the app". If the service shuts down, is bought and shut down, etc, lifetime of the app is over. It's where reading and understanding the Ts&Cs are important.
 
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