A great weather app on your phone gives you every detail from the latest weather condition to warnings on severe weather conditions. So it is useful to have such apps on your phone when you venture outdoors.
Until Apple acquired it, Dark Sky was at the top of the Android weather app list. It is a great weather forecast app that consists of great features and clean design. It was developed for both iOS and Android. But after Apple’s acquisition, it has been killed for Android. Now you are wondering which is the best alternative Android app for Dark Sky, aren’t you? Don’t worry. Here we are presenting the best of the collection for you.
Best Weather Apps for Android in 2022
Though you can find a lot of weather apps in Google Play Store, most of them do not have all the features that Dark Sky has. Moreover, they are poorly designed as well as full of ads. So replacing Dark Sky is somewhat difficult. Anyway, here are some of the best alternative apps for you to try.
Today Weather
According to our recommendation, Today Weather will be the best alternative for Dark Sky. It has a clean and dark user interface. You can see the current weather condition at the top of the screen. Below that, there is an hourly weather forecast for the next 24 hours. Moreover, you can see the details on “feels like” temperature, humidity, UV index, visibility, dew point, and pressure. You have to scroll down to the page to see the weekly weather forecast. Apart from these details, you can view below current weather details also.
- Chance of precipitation
- Air quality index
- Pollen count
- Sunrise and sunset times
- Moon phase
- Wind
- Radar
If you do not want any of the above widgets, you can easily turn them off by going to the Settings menu of the app.
Today Weather uses multiple sources to provide weather information such as Dark Sky, Yr.no, and AccuWeather. But the speciality here is that you can select your preferred source for information. Moreover, it allows you to change units also. Before that, Today Weather will not forget to greet you by your own name. So user-friendliness is also admirable. Further, it will notify you daily about incoming weather conditions by sending notifications and alerts.
There are several subscription plans for Today Weather. You can pay $2.99 for one year or $1.59 for six months. If not, you can also have the “forever” option only for $6.49. The free version is also available for you if you are ok with popup ads.
AccuWeather
If you are addicted to the up-to-the-minute precipitation forecast feature of Dark Sky, then the best alternative weather app for you will be Accuweather. Because AccuWeather offers you a very similar forecasting service with its feature called MinuteCast for the next 2 hours. It will tell you the time when precipitation might happen based on your location precisely. Further, it will divide precipitation into types and show the intensity of each of them separately.
Moreover, you can find multiple other tabs for viewing hourly and daily weather forecasts, radar, and even news. Apart from hourly and daily forecasts, it also provides a 15-day forecast, which allows you to integrate it with your calendar. You can find a pollen count also in AccuWeather. But the overall design of AccuWeather is not satisfying.
AccuWeather’s location coverage is admirable. It is more than 3 million in number. It also consists of an alert system that notifies incoming severe weather conditions.
The free version of AccuWeather is available. But it is full of ads. You can remove ads by buying it for $4.
AccuWeather’s privacy policy says that it will collect your information and share it with third-party providers. Moreover, it discloses to you who these third-party providers are. You can also change the permissions that you have given to the app. For example, you can disable location-based services.
Overdrop
Overdrop is one of the great apps that has been successful in copying the simple design philosophy of Dark Sky.
This is a single-page app. At the top of the page, current weather conditions are displayed with attractive animation. Below that, you can see the temperature “feels like” temperature, precipitation, wind speed, and hourly weather forecast for the next 24 hours, including temperature, wind, and rain. The weekly weather forecast is at the bottom of the page. Unfortunately, you can not find radar in Overdrop. But it has an excellent user interface design.
You can enjoy Overdrop freely with ads. To get rid of these ads, you have to pay $2.19 per year or have a lifetime license for $7.49.
Hello Weather
Hello Weather’s clean interface helps to keep all the stuff very simple. You can see the current weather condition in front and center of the screen. An hourly weather forecast will be directly underneath the current condition. At the bottom of the screen, there will be a weekly weather forecast. Further, you can view more information for each section by swiping back and forth.
There are separate tabs for radar, locations, and settings. Currently, Hello Weather is using Dark Sky as the default data source. But they have already announced that they will move to another data source before the Dark Sky API stops its support.
But when any of the weather conditions change, you will not be notified. This is the biggest drawback of this app.
You can use Hello Weather freely with popup ads or use it without ads for $4.99 per year.
Geometric Weather
If you are looking for a free alternative app with a great design and without any popup ads, then Geometric Weather will be the perfect choice for you. From top to bottom, you will see the current weather condition, daily forecast, hourly forecast, allergen details, sunrise and sunset times, and much more respectively on one page. It uses Accuweather as its data source.
The app will notify you about incoming weather conditions by sending notifications. If you do not like its light mode, then you can turn on its dark mode.
Though this app does not contain the radar feature, its overall performance is good. If you are not willing to pay, then this app will be the best choice to try because it is totally free as well as open-source.
Weather Underground
If you do not care about the app’s interface, but only the data it provides, then Weather Underground will be a solid option for you. App’s design is not pleasant. But you can view the information about the current weather condition, radar, daily weather forecast, hourly weather forecast, air quality as well as sunrise and sunset times on a single page. It collects data from personal as well as amateur weather stations to provide you with accurate forecasts. This network consists of more than 30,000 weather stations.
With the Crowd reporting feature, you can verify reported forecasts. Other features you can have with Weather Underground are detailed weather maps, severe weather alerts, the hourly weather forecast for the next 10 days, and more.
The free version contains a lot of ads. But you can buy this app for $4/month or $20/year without ads.
The most impressive feature of Weather Underground is its privacy policy because it has the most transparent and best privacy policy.
Carrot Weather
Do you love jokes? Then this app is for you. Carrot Weather is one of the fun weather apps in Google Play Store due to its weather-related jokes. There are four options for “personality” settings. They are “Friendly”, “Snarky”, “Homicidal” and “Overkill“. You can change the setting as you want anytime. But its UI is pretty basic. You can see the current temperature and hourly as well as a weekly weather forecast on the homepage. You can find a separate weather alert tab. If you want to play a game, then there will be a built-in game based on geography for you to enjoy.
Carrot Weather is freely available in the Play Store. But to get rid of the ads, you have to pay $3.99 yearly or $1 monthly.
This app uses Weather Underground and Dark Sky as the data source. According to Carrot Weather’s privacy policy, these sources can access your location information. Moreover, your information can also be used for third-party ads. To get a copy of your usage data, you have to email the company. You can also delete your data by going to the app’s settings menu.
Shadow Weather
Shadow Weather’s UI is most similar to the Dark Sky. It shows the current weather condition, the weather forecast for the next hour, hourly weather forecast as well as a weekly weather forecast on the main app page. Apart from these features, “Interactive Radar” and “Lightning Tracker” features are also available with Shadow Weather.
This app is freely available with ads. If you watch a video, then the premium license that costs $5 per year will be unlocked for 24 hours. Moreover, to have the radar feature, you should have a premium license.
The Weather Channel
The Weather Channel (TWC) shows you meteorological data on an hourly, daily, and weekly basis. Ten-day weather forecast also available with the app. Further, it shows radar data using an interactive map. The social sharing feature allows you to upload images, videos, and tweets. Other features that TWC offers are “feels like” temperature, rain alerts in real-time, and a feature to track flu risks as well as seasonal allergies. Now, it can even track COVID-19 cases.
TWC free app contains ads. Upgrade it to premium for $10/year or $1/month to get rid of ads.
According to TWC’s privacy policy, TWC may collect your data and share it with other third-parties. But you can delete your data. Moreover, you can disable direct location data collection using the Settings menu.
1Weather
1Weather consists of a large number of customization options and twelve weather widgets. It shows you current weather conditions and forecasts on an hourly, 10 days, and 12 weeks basis. Apart from forecasts, it provides you radar maps, notifications as well as severe weather alerts.
Sometimes the app will not be updated immediately when you reopen it. But the overall performance of the app is good. If you want a weather app with wonderful widgets at no cost, then 1Weather is the ideal solution for you.
Yahoo Weather
Yahoo Weather is for those who are looking for a pretty and practical weather app. Its user interface enables you to quickly check weather information of several locations by scrolling side to side. Further, it shows images of your current location based on the day, time, and weather conditions. You can view 5-day weather forecasts and heat, radar, and satellite maps. Its clean and concise UI enhances its user-friendliness, making it an everyday app.
This app also can be freely downloaded from Google Play Store.
RadarScope
Though most weather apps have built-in radar features with them, RadarScope’s radar feature is more advanced than the rest of the competitors. So if you want to use a radar app that professional meteorologists, as well as storm chasers, use and want to track weather patterns, then install RadarScope on your Android device. But this app is not free. You have to pay $9.99.
RadarScope uses Nexrad Level 3 data that collects from radar stations. You can find settings and options for fine-tuning the view and displaying velocity, reflectivity, and much more. Apart from that, you can find a severe weather alert system in this app.
According to RadorScope’s privacy policy, it does not share your information with any third-parties. Though it uses Eloqua web monitoring, Google Analytics, and AdRoll, you can opt-out of them.
Weather Live
This app also consists of built-in widgets. Moreover, it allows you to customize the appearance of the app. So if you are looking for a free weather app with customizable layouts, then this is the ideal solution for you.
The admirable feature of Weather Live is that it shows you a matching image with a weather report to give you a better idea about the weather that you can expect. It provides you a lot of details like current weather conditions including “feels like” temperature, hourly as well as weekly weather forecasts, precipitation, sunrise/sunset times, and much more.
WeatherBug
If a weather condition is gradually increasing to a severe level and you want to track it, then WeatherBug is the ideal app for you.
You can have many features with the free download. Some of them are listed below.
- Doppler radar for locations in North America
- Hurricane forecasts
- Spark lightning alerts
- Air quality info
- Pollen count
- Current weather forecast
- Hourly weather forecast
- 10-day weather forecast
When forecasting weather conditions, WeatherBug gives you hyperlocal conditions in real-time because it collects data from satellites, tracking stations, and weather services.
Google Weather/Assistant
Google has its own weather app and you can access it by searching “weather” in Google Assistant or Google Chrome app. It is totally free and ad-free. You will see accurate weather information on a nice user interface and you can even create a shortcut on your phone’s home screen.
What Kind of Security Issues Weather Apps Can Cause?
Though weather apps help you to plan your day as well as your whole week, keep in mind they are third-party apps. So they can pose privacy risks because they collect your location data to function. They may even ask for permissions that they do not really need. Some popular weather apps, including Weather Channel, Weatherbug, Weather Forecast, and AccuWeather have been accused of selling your location data to third-party advertisers.
Read Also – How to Know If Your Android is Hacked and How to Fix It
So it is always better to use built-in weather apps rather than trusting third-parties.
Conclusion
We have given you 15 alternative apps for Dark Sky. You can select the best one according to your need. If we have missed any other great app, then comment them below. Do not forget to let us know your choice among them too.