iOS App of the Day: AccuWeather
With so many weather related apps hitting the iTunes Store on a daily basis, trying to find one that deserves a download can get overwhelming. Luckily, I’ve discovered the elegant AccuWeather app for iOS that delivers accurate weather information and helps you plan your outdoor activities. AccuWeather successfully packages a host of weather data and other lifestyle tips that indicate if it is good weather to walk your dog, ride your bike, or hit the slopes.
Pros:
- Sleek well-designed UI
- Large icons and easy to read font
- iCloud Support: Settings and saved locations sync to other AccuWeather apps.
- Notification Center Support: View today’s weather forecast in the Notification Center.
- Calendar Integration: View the 15-day weather forecast right in your calendar.
- Social Sharing: Share weather information with friends and family through Facebook, Twitter, and email.
- Contact Location Viewing: Pin some or all of your contacts to the radar map to see the current weather conditions in their location
- You also get the accurate, local weather information you’ve come to expect from AccuWeather
- Hourly and 15 day weather forecasts for 2.7 million locations worldwide
- Multiple weather views, including animated radar and satellite, videos, and interactive Google maps
- Alerts for severe weather storms, such as snow and ice, rain and thunderstorms, high wind, and tornadoes
- Special lifestyle weather and health forecasts, including conditions for outdoor activities, such as dog walking, lawn mowing, and golfing, and health-related weather forecasts, such as the UV forecast and weather conditions for people suffering from allergies
Cons:
- Free version is ad-supported, ads are large and sometimes distracting
- Radar maps are unpredictable and freeze app frequently
How it works:
- Download the app
- Accept terms and conditions
- Allow app to use your current location
- Set your home location
- Home screen displays current weather including: temperature, what it really feels like, humidity, visibility, sunrise, sunset, pressure, dew point, and UV
- Tap on Forecast to see 15 day forecast, tap to extend additional data for a specific day
- Tap on Maps to view overlays based on location
- Tap on Videos to scroll through updated local and national weather forecast videos
- Tap on More to view lifestyle ratings based on health, outdoor, and sports categories
- Tap on More to read national weather related news articles
- Tap on More to add and save additional locations
- Tap on More to adjust or customize your app settings
Conclusion:
Being an outdoor person, most of my weekly activities have to be planned around the weather. With AccuWeather I can always see the current weather at a glance and easily tap through the next 15 days of weather with the app’s large icons. I love that this app has numerous weather videos from both local and national weather stations making it easy to stay on top of the news when I can’t get to a television. While other apps have only one generic national news forecast, AccuWeather provides several videos for you to choose from to get the most accurate forecasting. My favorite part of the app is the Lifestyle tips, which provide you with suggestions based on either outdoor, sporting, or health related activities. AccuWeather even tells me if it’s going to be a bad hair day! It doesn’t get any better than that. If you’re looking for a straight forward weather app that provides up-to-date data and lifestyle tips, then give AccuWeather a try. You’ll be hard pressed to find a better weather app for iOS.
AccuWeather is available for free in the iTunes Store. Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.Requires iOS 4.0 or later. iTunes Link
This is part of our iOS App of the Day series. We take our favorite app for iOS for each day and post it here for you to check out. Feel free to check out all of our App of the Day posts here.
