Apple Acquires Dark Sky App To Boost Weather Data on iPhones

Apple acquired popular mobile weather service Dark Sky to help bolster the Weather applications on its devices. From a report: The service, which has existed on the web and on iPhone and Android platforms, stood out from the competition by offering more specific data and notifications such as when it is about to rain. Dark Sky announced the deal on its website, saying "we're thrilled to have the opportunity to reach far more people, with far more impact, than we ever could alone." The companies didn't specify the price of the deal. Apple has included a Weather app on its devices since the first iPhone and currently gets its data from The Weather Channel. It could use this purchase to revamp its Weather app.

I guess I need to start looking for a replacement

[ninjaadmin]

"The Dark Sky app will remain a $3.99 offering on the App Store for iPhones and iPads, but will no longer be sold for Android devices. Most of its website’s functionality will stop on July 1."

Fuck you, Apple.

Re:I guess I need to start looking for a replaceme

[BRTB]

Couldn't agree more. They can't even keep the website going? Ugh.

Weather Underground has gotten much worse since being acquired by Weather Channel too.

Here's hoping Windy [windy.com] isn't next to fall... any other suggestions?

Re:

[GameboyRMH]

https://www.ventusky.com/ [ventusky.com]

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:

[schwit1]

IBM rewrote and completely dorked WeatherUnderground. Its rating went from a 4.5 to a 2.6 in 3 months.

Re:I guess I need to start looking for a replaceme

[duckworth]

I have been using MyRadar as a pretty decent alternative on ios. Looks like they have an Android version https://myradar.com/ [myradar.com]

Re:

[Kitkoan]

Rule #1: It's never Apple's fault and never deserve blame....

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[cyclop5]

gotta figure out a new API provider too. So much for all my cool weather-related apps and automations.

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[dinfinity]

We've got some time for that, apparently:
"API

Our API service for existing customers is not changing today, but we will no longer accept new signups. The API will continue to function through the end of 2021."
( https://blog.darksky.net/ [darksky.net] )

Re:

[moehoward]

Agreed! Favorite weather app when things get hairy out there. Now I have to dump it. Even if they still supported Android, I have too much against Apple to use it, let alone pay for it.

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[ancientt]

Ditto. I've loved it, paid for it, recommended it to friends. It's amazing how much a decade has reversed my feelings about Microsoft and Apple. I tried several of the recommended other apps here and gotta say, there is a reason I liked Dark Sky better. Now I'm using something I found in the play store named "Weather Forecast - Weather Live & Radar & Widget" which I immediately dislike as a name, but at least it has a reasonable interface.

Embrace, extend, and extinguish

[OffTheLip]

It's nice to see the practice alive and well during these trying times.

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[Kitkoan]

It's quite possible it's going to ramp up for all major players. Small groups won't be able to work like before, and may not be well suited for remote working, leaving them in a bind with the best option being to sell. And the major players (Microsoft, Google, and Apple) will have the money and inclination to buy up many small businesses at a discount price, in an effort to look beyond today, and help make their products stand out more then before

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[Anubis IV]

Might run afoul? I mean, maybe? If they bake it into iOS, you might be able to argue that them doing so unfairly displaces existing weather services in much the same way that Internet Explorer being bundled with Windows unfairly displaced existing browsers (i.e. it's potentially unfair to use your strength in one area, such as OSes, to give yourself a leg up in another area, such as browsers or weather reporting) or that Google Play effectively being bundled with Android (by prohibiting access to other Goog

Re:

[Guspaz]

The iPhone (and Android) has always had a built-in weather app, and there has always been the ability for users to install third-party apps (and at this point, remove the built-in app). I don't think adding more detailed/granular information to Apple's weather app would run afoul of any regulations if the original app didn't.

Being there from the start is key, I think. It means that the base conditions for the competition were set before developers even made the decision to invest in their own apps.

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[Kitkoan]

No, it won't.

It's just like Epic when they bought Rocket League. The closed down the Linux and MacOS version shortly after. And while it did anger some people, it wasn't illegal.

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[BlindWillieMcTell]

It's just like Epic when they bought Rocket League. The closed down the Linux and MacOS version shortly after. And while it did anger some people, it wasn't illegal.

Wasn't illegal or wasn't prosecuted? They are very different things. The Justice Department likes to pick and choose it's antitrust filings.

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[thegarbz]

Does this sound like it might run afoul of antitrust regulations? I realize that this isn't really like buying a competitor in order to kill it off, but it does seem rather anti-competitive.

Not really. Buying something that is more accurate than what you can do yourself isn't in any way anti-competitive. It's anti-consumer, but there's no laws against being a dick to consumers. If there were then ISPs wouldn't exist.

But in general they haven't displaced any weather app, haven't pushed anyone out of the market, or done anything to prevent any competing service from coming in.

Tempo.com

[davebarnes]

For the web, I really like Tempo.com
I have found it to be quite accurate.
The UI is good.

https://www.windy.com/

[johnjones]

with pm2.5 and actual worldwide coverage far better than dark sky :

https://www.windy.com/ [windy.com]

they have an app
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.windyty.android [google.com]

https://itunes.apple.com/app/apple-store/id1161387262

they also are crowd funded...

Astronomy is a bastion of open compatibility

[thegarbz]

The ability to take any mount, attach it to any computer, connect any camera, any guider, any dome, any filterwheel, and drive it from any software is what makes this hobby so great for tinkerers.

On behalf of the community, Fuck You Apple for taking one of the tools we use so actively and locking it down to your devices only. I hope your headquarters shorts out due to a solar flare.