For several years, Dark Sky offered precipitation alerts and short-term forecasts on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Android devices. But, as avid weather app watchers already know, Apple acquired Dark Sky. As a result, Apple chose to end access to the Dark Sky Android app and Dark Sky website — and has already closed the Dark Sky API for new developer access.
If you’re looking for an alternative to Dark Sky, here’s why we think RainViewer is worth a try.
Better: Site AND area alerts
RainViewer delivers rain alerts, like Dark Sky did. But nearby rain or snow often can affect your plans, even if it isn’t raining at your selected site. So RainViewer lets you receive alerts either for a selected location OR for an area surrounding a location you choose.
Better: Composite AND specific radar
RainViewer delivers direct access to radar sites around the world. With a tap, RainViewer lets you access recent radar data from any one of more than 1,000 sites in 90 countries around the world. Dark Sky offered only a composite image, with no ability to inspect data from a specific radar site.
Better: Multi-platform AND global
Of course, RainViewer provides short term forecasts, much like Dark Sky did. And RainViewer works on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Android devices. However, RainViewer serves people around the world, wherever radar data is available.
Better: API access available
More importantly, for developers, RainViewer’s API offers the ability to integrate radar data into weather apps. For an example of how one award-winning developer uses the RainViewer API, explore Flowx: Weather Map Forecast on Android.
So, no. RainViewer isn’t Dark Sky — and that’s good!
Give RainViewer a try and let us know what you think!
