The end of Pocket Weather Australia

iOS
#1

From the Shifty Jelly Blog:

Let’s not beat around the bush: we are removing the iOS and Android versions from the store today, so they will no longer be for sale. We will continue to run the servers required (and pay for the data feed for it), for at least the next 12 months and probably longer. It doesn’t feel right to just yank that out from under people who rely on it and have paid $2 to use it. This isn’t an easy decision, and we know it’s going to cause you some pain as well, but it’s the right thing to do now rather than let Pocket Weather continue to drag on into an uncertain and precarious future.

I’ll be sad to see Pocket Weather go, not just because it means I need to find something else to use with Rain Parrot, but also because I know that whatever I find as an alternative, I know it probably won’t be as good as the home-grown app.

Not sure if you know, but the current version of the app was (at least partly, if not mostly) written by a developer that now works at Apple. Pretty cool, no?

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#2

So what’s the best alternative? All the other BOM-source weather apps look like turds compared to Pocket Weather.

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Wednesday Morning News
#3

Pocket Weather Au - what any BOM app should’ve been.

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#4

Shame they can’t open source it and have someone else take over the backend too as part of that. Surely enough interest from those that use it would contribute to the ongoing costs of the backend data to feed/host it and allow a community of developers to continue to evolve the application itself.

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#5

Isn’t the BOM app just a wrapper for their mobile website?

WeatherZone looks pretty good but it annoys me how they have pretty pictures as the main screen. It’s a weather app, put weather information there - I don’t need to look at someone else’s photographs!

#6

I use the The Weather Channel App which I find is good. I have the paid version. I actually stopped using Pocket Weather because I didn’t like it.

#7

Awwwww, this still has pride of place on my front screen so it will be sad to see it go :frowning:

Maybe time to actually pony up and try Carrot Weather?

https://www.meetcarrot.com/weather/

#8

But it doesn’t use the BOM for its data, so it won’t be very accurate.

#9

I used Wunderground and the BOM app, it covers everything I need. Wunderground for local (to me) station input and the BOM app for the area. On the iPad, Wunderstation is very good. If you fnd a good local station or have one of your own, the display is pleasing, IMO. I went looking for something else as soon as I heard the rumours that Pocket Weather was going away.

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#10

The BoM app is poorly built rubbish compared with pocket weather or weatherzone. I understand BoM paid a lot for it to be made too. BoM should just buy pocket weather and replace its own dreck.

BoM is losing its way. Regional weather stations have been shut down, distances between observation points are growing, and it is relying more and more on interpolated ‘data’ to produce output.

Meanwhile BoM is spending big to chase business with “products” that are modelled outputs in competition with research institutions or the private sector, instead of concentrating on being the point of truth and repository of actual observations. You know, having to do the the icky bit where you get up and leave your giant computer monitor in an air conditioned Melbourne office and go out and take actual measurements.

It has gotten so bad that NSW and WA governments have gone and paid for additional met stations and radar because the federal BoM has not maintained, kept up to date or usefully placed the ones they still have. And this is not a funding issue. BoM has more money than ever. It is where and how it is allocating it.

Edit: I have used pocket weather for everyday obs, weatherzone pro for technical and historic ($60 pa as I recall) and wunderground for my own weather station output. Wunderground is iPad only though.

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#11

I’ve gone back to using Oz Weather. It’s not as pretty but it does the job just fine.

#12

There is an iPhone app. Look again. The iPad app is called Wunderstation, not Wunderground.

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LOL! Its downright Fugly

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#13

Yeah, it is. Having said that as long as I can read the forecast and view the radar I don’t care that much.

#14

I’ve heard good things about Carrot Weather.

Found tonight it’s $7.49 with further IAP available. No thanks.

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#15

Yeah that is good, so is Accuweather.

#16

I quite liked it but it wanted to be able to access the net 24/7 (ie always on) and my data allowance isnt that big, so I gave it a miss for now. [edit] must have been an update since I last looked at it… still not quite what I want.

#17

I like Free, Andy :slight_smile: I paid for Pocket weather a couple of times IIRC, and also for OzWeather, but thats enough.

#18

It’s still working for another 12 months at least isn’t it? So yes although it’s sad, it’s not like you have to rush to find a replacement right now. Anything could happen between now and then. I plan to keep using it until it stops working and I’ll deal with it then.

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#19

Probably very wise words. I’m likely to fall into that category through pure laziness :stuck_out_tongue:

#20

I agree with FaultyTaco. Oz Weather Plus is the go. Actually, I reckon that it an Pocket Weather jostled for the lead over the years. Sometimes one was ahead and sometime the other. Oz Weather Plus was probably less adventurous. They mostly just kept polishing up the one approach. But some of Pocket Weather’s adventures were truly awful - ugly and unintuitive. And then at other times they absolutely nailed it.

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