HACKER Q&A
📣 w-ll

DarkSky Alternatives?


What for desktop and/or mobile are yall using to replace Dark Sky?


  👤 creade Accepted Answer ✓
https://merrysky.net/ is the closest I've found yet to the Dark Sky mobile web ux

👤 clnq
I always wondered why DarkSky was so popular. Was it the design? It was known to be generally inaccurate among meteorologists, while other apps (METAR+TAF especially) would be remarkably accurate.

I don't intend this to be a jab at anyone's app preferences, but I'm very interested in the value proposition that hooked people.


👤 Apreche
https://www.weather.gov/

NOAA is where most of the other US-based weather services are getting their data from anyway. Why go to a secondary source when the primary source is free?


👤 commoner
Geometric Weather (for Android) is free, open source, and nicely designed. Data sources include AccuWeather (default), OpenWeatherMap, Météo-France, and Caiyun (China).

- F-Droid: https://f-droid.org/packages/wangdaye.com.geometricweather/

- Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=wangdaye.com.g...

- Source: https://github.com/WangDaYeeeeee/GeometricWeather

A beta version of Geometric Weather is available for testing on iOS: https://github.com/WangDaYeeeeee/GeometricWeather-iOS


👤 petodo
Are you asking about API or just about weather data source for forecast?

I was comparing many data sources over many weeks and my results in Prague were Aeris weather most accurate (least false positives/negatives for rain), then gap and Foreca and MET Norway same and then big gap and you have very bad sources like Dark Sky, AccuWeather, Weatherbit and Open weather which are unusable.

As for the mobile apps on Android I use Weawow (has all 3 most accurate sources) and Today Weather (no Aeris, but had Foreca and MET Norway).

I'd recommend these two apps and comparing sources for few weeks to find out which one is the most accurate for your location, because accuracy varies across different locations, so there won't be single correct universal answer what you should use.


👤 sashk

👤 toss1
I used to use DarkSky on Android

I've since put together a kit of much better alternatives:

Foreca [0] is most similar with at-a-glance daily or hourly (with drill-down) weather calendar display.

FlowX [1] is an amazing current visualization of any of numerous weather models in great detail as well as graphs of key values, hi-low, etc.. The visualization is spectacular and just swiping advances/reverses the point in time, so you can really see the motion of the weather systems, and show any of a dozen or so parameters (everything from temp. precip rate, clouds, wind speed, humidity, gasses, etc.). It is a spectacular tour-de-force of usabele visualization of quantitative data — I can't speak highly enough about it, and on the few times I've contacted the developer I found him friendly, knowledgeable, and helpful.

Rainy Days Radar [2] is a good visualization of current radar data. Very helpful in seeing the motion of current nearby precipitation and timing it's arrival.

All are very easy to switch to a different city/locale if you need info for somewhere else. I've got no relationship with any of these other than being a satisfied customer.

[0] www.foreca.com

[1] https://www.flowx.io/

[2] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.neenbedank...


👤 tomaskafka
Hi HN, I'm making an indie, privacy-focused visual forecast app for iOS and Apple Watch, and have added a Dark Sky-style view a few days ago.

Here's the link: https://weathergraph.app

Screenshots: https://impresskit.net/6430c7f0-b34b-418f-9824-f386f939be9a/...

Compared to Apple Weather, it uses more weather sources (and often better - Foreca often ranks in top 3 at https://forecastadvisor.com and has 3-hour nowcast on par with Dark Sky), shows more forecast metrics (like wind speed & direction, humidity & dew point, UV index, etc.) and you can pick a color theme and metrics to display.

The app provides quite nice home screen and lock screen widgets for iOS, and many people say it’s the best weather complication for Apple Watch.

I am outdoor runner and biker, and as I built the app for myself, I made sure that the watch (and phone) app doesn’t go blank when it loses the connection or when you go running/biking without an LTE watch. Instead, it caches the last known forecast for up to 24 hours, as that's when the hourly forecast is still reasonably reliable, and shows ‘what would the weather according to the last forecast be right now’.

Weathergraph is also privacy focused (no ads or tracking), as that is how I want all apps on my phone/watch to behave.

The basic app with Dark Sky view and yr.no forecast is free, all the data sources and customizability can be unlocked with a subscription or a single payment.

Ask me anything :).


👤 2c2c2c
Seems like the apple weather app is updated? seems to 'just work' at this point :-)

👤 kyoob
I use Weather Strip, which has a unique and slick interface for the upcoming week’s forecast. I’ve never seen another weather app quite like it.

👤 duanem
I'm in the process of porting Flowx, an Android weather app, to iOS. It is currently released for beta testing. I've added most global and European data and am planning to add NOAA's NAM and HRRR data in the next week or two. I still have to add waves, radar and wind streamlines.

If you're interested in testing, email me or contact me via the flowx forum.


👤 paulcole
Apple Weather (iOS, iPadOS, MacOS) is excellent.

👤 troydavis
Here’s a few suggestions from a similar question a few days ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34269795

👤 ck2
Change the lat/lon on this to yours but if their station isn't nearby accuracy wanes fast.

https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?FcstType=graphical...

I've become a fan of personal weather stations but of course if you are traveling that doesn't work (unless a startup wants to put a weather station into a phone/watch somehow)


👤 somenewaccount1
Radarnow has been my go to satellite weather app for many years now. Idk if it's the best because I haven't tried the others, but I like it and found it very accurate when living in Oregon. It was neet to time projects between the rain drops, literally.

👤 meteo-jeff
I am working on an open source weather api: https://open-meteo.com

If you are looking for raw weather forecast data, it could be a good start


👤 jnthn
https://www.rainviewer.com/

Has been mostly good, where DarkSky never really worked in Europe.


👤 pseufaux
If you don’t mind a subscription, Carrot is an excellent app.

👤 morbicer

👤 trillic
windy.com

👤 hayespotter
carrot, especially if you like to really customize your things. I personally really like that I can define specific weather stations in my area.

I also have some friends who really like “Hello Weather”.


👤 wrycoder
MyRadar.

👤 qwertyuiop_
Ventusky