In March 2020, Apple acquired the Dark Sky weather app and promptly killed the Android version, causing much consternation among those who settled for Android-based iPhone wannabes. 😀
Apple now says that the Dark Sky app, website, and API will remain accessible to existing customers until the end of 2022.
As noted by developer David Smith on Twitter, Dark Sky made this change on Monday in an update to its blog…
Support for the Dark Sky API service for existing customers will continue until the end of 2022. The iOS app and Dark Sky website will also be available until the end of 2022.
Since Apple acquired Dark Sky in March of 2020, we’ve seen a handful of notable changes to the built-in Weather app on iPhone. While Apple has been quiet about its plans with Dark Sky, it’s clear to see that many of these features are possible because of the Dark Sky acquisition.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple’s iOS 15 will include a fresh new look for the Apple Weather app which includes graphical displays of weather data and redesigned animated backgrounds — along with precipitation, air quality, and temperature maps — that make Weather more engaging and powerful than ever.
Coming soon in iOS 15:
Weather maps
View full-screen weather maps showing precipitation, air quality, and temperature. Animated precipitation maps show the path of a storm and intensity of upcoming rain and snow. And air quality and temperature maps make it easy to see different conditions near you.
Next-hour precipitation notifications
Get a notification when rain, snow, hail, or sleet is about to start or stop.22
New design
The layout adjusts to show the most important weather information for that location and includes new maps modules, an updated 10‑day forecast, and new graphical weather data.
New animated backgrounds
There are now thousands of variations of animated backgrounds that more accurately represent the sun position, clouds, and precipitation.
Good.
That sucks, ever since dark sky abandoned Android, it has not been as accurate. Apple should have continued dark sky support on Android to have additional data points while making it built into the iOS weather app.
Seems dumb to cut off so many data points from Android, thus making you product less accurate/valuable.
Do Android phones have weather instruments that were reporting data back to Dark Sky? My iPhone does not seem to be providing any data of that nature. Yes, there is a function in the app for reporting feedback on general weather conditions, but I cannot imagine that very many people actually contribute that information. Even if they were, general information about sky conditions and the presence or absence of precipitation would not be as useful as the information from radars and actual public or private weather stations. What am I missing?
I use the “Report” feature whenever the app does not match I am experiencing. Not a lot, but perhaps a dozen times a year.
Apple are not a-holes like Google to steal data about weather from Androids. So Apple was right to darken the sky over Dark Sky Android users. You’d have to be an AppleCyknic to want otherwise, and if there was ever someone that deserved a bolt and a blot of lightning, it is the SyckAppleCyknic.
Lacking any info for or against Google silently ‘stealing’ weather info from Android devices, I believe that depends on the developer and not Google and would like to think the App was designed more like Waze where the community of users simply ‘reported’ any differences and allowed the Dark Sky db to be more current. Besides what kind of sensors not present in iOS devices do you actually believe are in Android devices that could generate any sort of weather info that Google could steal?