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Why doesn't Apple provide a more accurate weather app?

A

asiga

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Nov 4, 2012
1,140
1,514
Being new to the iPhone (although a long-time Mac user) I was happy with the convenience of its weather app, which shows weather to your current location, as well as a forecast.

However, my experience tells it's way inaccurate. It correctly shows my exact location, but the weather is plain wrong. In this moment it's raining heavily at my place, and the weather app shows a bright shiny sun.

So I searched the web, and found it's general consensus that the weather data that this app uses is unreliable.

I know there're alternative weather apps, but I always prefer default Apple apps, and I wonder why they don't ship a more accurate weather app. It gets my location exactly. Is it so hard to exactly get the current weather at your location? The most difficult part (getting your location) is successfully done, while the easy part (getting the weather) is wrong. We're at iOS 6, so I cannot understand what's going on here...
 
I use weather live on my IP5 and my Ipad 4...It's fast, accurate and free...The images are rather nice too. Why would Apple waste resources on a weather app when the Devs have supplied so many good ones?

Weather HD is another good one, if you want HD images.
 
It's a running joke amongst me and my friends. It changes every time you open the app and its not accurate at all.

If you live in the UK it's best to download the official MET Office app. It's much more reliable and gives you more information.
 
Tell me about it! Weather has been useless for years -___-! We all have a good laugh with asking Siri what the weather looks like though XD! 'Is it Raining?' - 'No I don't think it's raining' aha XD!

I have sent many developer requests to Apple to change the data that the Weather app uses depending on the country, for example the UK should use Met Office. Much more accurate then Yahoo!
 
For those moaning about the accuracy of their local forecast via the Apple App, they should make sure that they have enabled Location Services.

In my experience, without doubt, the most informative weather App is the official Met Office App. After all, it should be! However, I occasionally compare it to the Apple App and find its predictions for various parts of the Country to be to be very similar to the "official" one.
 
bbfc said:
It's a running joke amongst me and my friends. It changes every time you open the app and its not accurate at all.

If you live in the UK it's best to download the official MET Office app. It's much more reliable and gives you more information.
Click to expand...

Not in Scotland. The Met Office's predictions here are so bad they're laughable (and frankly sometimes dangerous if one is hillwalking).
 
VulchR said:
Not in Scotland. The Met Office's predictions here are so bad they're laughable (and frankly sometimes dangerous if one is hillwalking).
Click to expand...

Lets not get started on the Met Office! However I have to agree the Apple weather app is pretty bad. It was heavy snow here the other day yet it showed cloud for the full day!
 
Ehhh i just stick to the weather channel the app basically opens up for me instantly on my i5. Much better then the stock weather app
 
Hey the highly paid weather people on TV here aren't any better. Looking out the window is better than listening to weather reports. They should be forced to do a "our weather forecasts are only guesses and you should never plan any activity based upon them" before every broadcast.
 
No weather forecast is as accurate as some posters expect it to be. Weather forecasting technology has improved by leaps and bounds over the past years but it is quite silly to expect predictions to be accurate to such high limits.
 
Between Weather Underground, AccuWeather, MyWeather, and even The Weather Channel apps, there are some good/decent alternatives out there.
 
Muscle Master said:
Well you know how Apple Maps turned out... you really trust Apple reinventing the weather app?
Click to expand...
While the underlying issue is kind of similar--the data used in the app--in the case of the Weather app the data comes through Yahoo! from The Weather Channel, so it doesn't really involve Apple that much (unlike in the case of the new Maps app where Apple itself is providing the data).
 
The Weather Channel is...okay, I guess, in the US. For all international locations its awful. I agree that Apple should change the source of data depending on the country. Or provide a range of sources. Of course they won't.
 
John T said:
No weather forecast is as accurate as some posters expect it to be. Weather forecasting technology has improved by leaps and bounds over the past years but it is quite silly to expect predictions to be accurate to such high limits.
Click to expand...

Well, I don't expect forecasts to be accurate, but I *do* expect the current weather to be accurate. You know, if I'll arrive to the town I work in two hours, what weather do they have now? Do I pick a coat or will it be useless? Is it raining there now?

Yes, I know there will be a lot of weather apps, but I always try to use Apple default stuff, because Apple stuff uses to be well thought and well chosen. However, with this weather app it doesn't seem to be the case...
 
I just wish they would let you choose which app would be the default weather app, say when asking siri or seeing the weather in notifications center.
 
asiga said:
Well, I don't expect forecasts to be accurate, but I *do* expect the current weather to be accurate. You know, if I'll arrive to the town I work in two hours, what weather do they have now? Do I pick a coat or will it be useless? Is it raining there now?

Yes, I know there will be a lot of weather apps, but I always try to use Apple default stuff, because Apple stuff uses to be well thought and well chosen. However, with this weather app it doesn't seem to be the case...
Click to expand...

Apple seems to have a lot of trouble with data and information though. It's similar to the Maps fiasco. They're good at designing and building pretty things that work well, but when it comes to stocking those apps/services with the right information and data (which must be constantly updated and improved) they fall down on the job. I think it's because of their startup mentality. They move people around to different projects as soon as something is finished - there seems to be very little energy put into upkeep and improvement. The weather app might have been great in 2007 but it's barely been changed since then, and the information certainly hasn't improved.
 
asiga said:
Well, I don't expect forecasts to be accurate, but I *do* expect the current weather to be accurate. You know, if I'll arrive to the town I work in two hours, what weather do they have now? Do I pick a coat or will it be useless? Is it raining there now?
Click to expand...

As I said in my original post, with today's technology, at the moment nobody can reasonably expect pinpoint accuracy.

You say "I don't expect forecasts to be accurate, but I *do* expect the current weather to be accurate". In actual fact, the "current" weather was a forecast when it was prepared!

Perhaps the following extract from the Met Office website, will explain a little more simply :-


"Weather

We also monitor how well we forecast weather types, e.g. 'rain' or 'sun'.

The forecast weather type is compared to the actual weather observed at the same agreed list of 45 stations across the UK. The early morning website forecast is used to produce a percentage number of the times when we correctly forecast the weather as 'rain' or 'sun'. This is based on our three-hourly forecasts for the current day and is based over a rolling 12-month period, as it is a relatively new measure.

Rain

73% of three hourly weather is correctly forecast as 'rain' on the current day (12-month period).
Target for 2012/13 is 60%.
It is difficult to forecast rainfall at a pinpoint location, therefore the target for this element is not as high as for others. For example, one location may have rain and a location a mile away may remain dry."
 
John T said:
You say "I don't expect forecasts to be accurate, but I *do* expect the current weather to be accurate". In actual fact, the "current" weather was a forecast when it was prepared!
Click to expand...
Do you mean it's greatly difficult to tell whether it's raining on Liverpool in this moment because you have to use a forecast you did yesterday instead of just checking the data coming right now from weather stations at Liverpool?

My car tells me the exterior temperature without doing any forecast, just a thermometer...

I assume the "current weather" you get when you start the weather app on the iPhone wasn't built from a forecast, but from the data being read at weather stations a few minutes ago.
 
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