Former Apple Employees Just Released A Weather App Replacement That Doesn't Suck

Former Apple employees just released a new weather app for iPhone users called Acme Weather. What makes this software so unique is that it comes from the same team that was responsible for Dark Sky, a weather app Apple bought in 2020, shut down in 2023, and eventually introduced most of its features to the native Weather app experience.

While Apple's Weather app is a lot better than it was six years ago, users still have many issues with it, including delayed weather alerts and wrong forecasts, which is exactly what this new Acme Weather app wants to address: uncertainty with forecasts. Since most of those apps use a main provider to help you plan for your day, whether it's going to rain or get really sunny, you can usually just see one forecast at a time. With Acme Weather, the developers promise "alternate possible futures," so even though users will have an even better reliable source than the one available with Dark Sky, they will also offer other alternate predictions, so you can see that the weather might be slightly different from what was first presented.

With Acme Weather, the app will account for less reliable forecasts. For example, if there's a possibility of light rain or other conditions that a main source could overlook, the forecast will look a lot different than if the weather tends to look more consistent, as it will feature a few gray lines of alternate predictions. According to the developers, this will make users come back more often to the app, but also help them understand when the prediction is more or less reliable, so they can check additional sources.

However, what they're building on top of that will make Acme Weather even more interesting, which is community reports. This Waze-like function is perfect for conditions that can quickly change. This way, users will be able to submit a report on how the weather is near them, as this can be a more accurate method of helping other people see if it's cloudy, really raining, or if there's just a drizzle around.

Other functionalities include a large number of apps that can give you a broader picture of the rain through the state or the country, snow, wind, and other warnings and so on. The app also offers proactive notifications to help you remember to check the app and avoid missing important weather changes. Users are also able to customize notifications depending on what they want to know about the day. The app will go as far as offering rainbow and beautiful sunset alerts, based on what local users have been reporting.

Before you jump into Acme Weather's 2-week trial or go ahead with its $25/year subscription, the app is currently only available in the United States and Canada. While the developers say an Android version might be coming soon, the app is still limited to those two regions. So far, there's no word on how long it will take for the software to be available in other locations, but Dark Sky was pretty much available everywhere. Since a blog post and promotional image show a few European locations, it's possible that the app is slowly rolling out to different regions.

Regarding the future of the app, it's still unclear what else the developers might be thinking of implementing. Still, if Apple already got interested in their creations once, it might happen again. For example, Apple recently bought an Israeli AI company that it had previously acquired facial recognition features from its owner, which eventually led to Face ID on the iPhone X. That said, if you're in the U.S. or Canada, you can start "embracing uncertainty" and give this new forecast app a try.