With an abundance of choice of weather apps on the App Store, for me, WeatherKit is perfect.

There are so many weather apps on the App Store it’s become difficult for me to settle down and just chose one; each of them have varying levels of features, accuracy and look, it has come to the point that before using WeatherKit, I had around 3 weather apps to satisfy my needs.

I first heard of WeatherKit, previously known as Aerium, a few months ago, and I used their TestFlight beta religiously but now the app has been released I thought I would share my thoughts on it.

First Glance

When you launch the app, you’re greeted by the weather being presented to you in a clear and easy to read manner, with a really nice gradient in the background, and to round it off, a witty quote beneath the temperature.

On first glance, it looks quite simple (this is one of the things I like about it); but theres a huge amount of extra data that you may be used to from other apps, like Dark Sky, and you can peruse them by swiping up on the forecast card reveals the air quality index, precipitation chance, wind speed, humidity, and the RealFeel temperature.

Having this data sitting beneath the forecast means that if you are just opening the app to simply check the forecast, you’re not blinded with a massive amount of data that it’s difficult to just check — and if you do want to see the extra data, you can.

Glances can be accessed on the leftmost page. If you are using the free version, you’re limited with glances, but if you have the Pro version, you can have ten locations. I don’t have any set, however, if you tap on the glance card for the location, it’ll take you back to the forecast page for that specific location.

Rain Alert

Rain Alert is one of WeatherKit’s stand out features. Whilst many apps have similar features, Rain Alert alerts you to rainfall the day before it’s due to happen, in comparison to say, for example, Dark Sky’s 15 minutes. I really like this and it’s more useful to have it the day before as it lets you do use the information from Rain Alert to change plans, whereas 15 minutes before is a little too late.

WeatherKit Pro

WeatherKit Pro is an optional extra that grants you optional extras that really are worth it in comparison to other in app purchases out there.

Once upgrading to pro, you unlock 10 cities in glances, detailed weather reports, Air Quality Index, five-day forecast, as well as all other upcoming pro features and additionally, the WeatherKit team also aims to plant a tree for each ten paying users it gains.

In terms of paying for WeatherKit pro, the development team have given you a huge amount of choice — you can pay through a subscription, and for those who want to pay to own, can do so.

The developers are also incredibly active over on the /r/weatherkit subreddit, where they share progress and users can suggest new features. They are also very open and transparent with WeatherKit’s future, which is appreciated and it is nice to see it’s progression.

The Future

I really enjoy using this app — from it’s aesthetic and the way it shows information, to the data it gives, but theres a couple of things I’d like to see in the future;

The gradient screen on the forecast page could be used to show semi-translucent images of the specific location or animated weather like the stock iOS app does Granular control over Rain Alert — eg multiple reminders on the day and the day before eg An app for the iPad, taking advantage of the real estate of the 12.9 iPad Pro all the way down to the iPad Mini

On the whole, there are no flaws with this app — it’s ideal for me and has the perfect mix, and amount of information. It looks beautiful, and is fast and fluid. I am looking forward to the way WeatherKit changes over the future.

Here is a link to WeatherKit — you must give it a try, even if you just want a simple day to day weather app, or something advanced, like Dark Sky.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/aerium-weather-forecasts/id1076414499?mt=8