Whether you’re a weather freak wanting to forecast an impending storm or simply trying to avoid getting caught in the rain, your iPhone offers the tools you need.
Our cellphones keep us more informed about the weather than ever before, with detailed predictions and real-time warnings.
While Apple’s default weather app does the job, the App Store has considerably superior options. The majority of them are free for basic operations, with others charging for additional capabilities. These are the top weather apps for iPhone and iPad right now, based on user-friendliness, features, forecast accuracy, and cost.
1. The Weather Channel
The Weather Channel’s Weather has stiff competition for the title of best free weather app for iPhone, but it makes a compelling case. It provides free 15-day forecasts, real-time Doppler radar maps, weather warnings, storm trackers, and much more.
The app includes a few unique features that make it stand out from the crowd. For example, you’ll get dawn and sunset schedules, pollen and allergen forecasts, air quality statistics, and a live hurricane/storm tracker.
The software is fully Dark Mode compatible, and on smartphones running iOS 14 or later, you can use homepage widgets to receive a brief summary of the weather without having to launch the app.
The Weather Channel is the world’s most popular weather channel, but it’s also the most accurate, according to a ForecastWatch research (pdf). This means that whether you’re looking at local details, national storm trackers, or the likelihood of sunshine on a planned trip, forecasts will be consistently correct.
This software is free and sponsored by advertisements. A subscription plan is also available, which eliminates the advertisements and provides sophisticated radar and 15-minute forecast insights. Premium is $4.99 per month or $29.99 annually.
2. WeatherBug
WeatherBug is a famous free iPhone weather software that uses data from 10,000+ professional-grade weather sensors to provide accurate forecasts in over 2.6 million places across the world. It offers homepage widgets for iOS devices and supports Apple Watch, so you can get live forecasts and weather notifications on your watch.
Current conditions, hourly and 10-day forecasts, severe weather alerts, rain radar, and other features are included in this app. It also includes unique features such as “lifestyle forecasts,” which show how the weather will effect your workouts, trips, allergies, and other activities.
WeatherBug’s interactive weather maps, on the other hand, are what really set it apart.
The app includes 18 distinct maps, including Doppler radar (North America), wind, temperature, lightning, pressure, humidity, and more, all of which are updated in real time.
WeatherBug is the way to go if you prefer visual info than words. WeatherBug is ad-supported and free. You can remove the adverts for $0.99 per month ($9.99 per year).
3. CARROT Weather
Do you prefer your weather with a side of snarky sarcasm? CARROT Weather is the place to go. Personality-driven forecasting is at the heart of the CARROT Weather app.
As you put on your rain jacket, the app’s artificial intelligence “weather robot” will offer your daily forecasts in snarky, profanity-laden words that will have you belly laughing.
You can lower the sarcasm level if you don’t want the weather app cursing at you.
Five preprogrammed weather personalities ranging from “professional” to “overkill,” with swearing levels adjusted as needed.
You can also create your own TV-style weather broadcasts to share with friends, experiment with augmented reality elements, and earn rewards by participating in weather events and travelling around the world. Along with all the regular reporting and forecasting tools, there’s a lot to discover with CARROT Weather.
CARROT Weather, in a nutshell, is an app that makes weather actually enjoyable. If this sounds like a tall order, it is–and yet the app’s creators have pulled it off. CARROT is ad-supported and free. Optional premium subscriptions are offered in three tiers, starting at $4.99 per month or $19.99 per year.
These remove advertisements and include features such as more weather sources and Apple Watch integration, as well as notifications, widgets, full customization, and more.
4. RadarScope
The finest weather radar app for iPhone is RadarScope. It comes with a slew of advanced capabilities, as well as Nexrad Level 3 data from radar stations around the United States, Guam, Puerto Rico, and elsewhere, as well as data from a number of international weather agencies.
RadarScope is primarily intended for amateur meteorologists and weather enthusiasts.
It’s a very visual programme, with precise radar maps that can be fine-tuned to show reflectance, velocity, and other information. Few apps provide as much data and/or customization possibilities for weather aficionados as RadarScope.
To be honest, the app is way too complicated for just monitoring the weather.
Instead, it’s better for individuals who are actually interested in meteorology and storm tracking.
The app is ad-free and costs $10. Premium plans (beginning at $9.99/month) add even more features to the programme, including real-time lightning data, storm and hail size information, a 30-day radar data archive, and much more.
5. Clime: NOAA Weather Radar Live
If you’re not a big enough data nerd to shell out for Radarscope, try Clime: NOAA Weather Radar Live instead. It’s the greatest free weather radar app for iOS, aimed for the general public, and it provides precise, high-res maps to assist track the movement of weather systems in real time.
The software uses real-time data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to display temperature, precipitation, and other weather-related information on a simple visual map. With a few clicks, you can get weather alerts, snow depth information, and cloud cover information in addition to normal forecasts.
While the basics are free, the premium membership unlocks some of the app’s biggest features. You can get everything from hurricane, lightning, and wildfire trackers to the air quality index and “RainScope,” a minute-by-minute precipitation forecast for $9.99 per month or $19.99 per year.
6.Weather on the Way: Road Trip
Are you thinking of taking a road trip? Your next app download should be Weather on the Way. This one-of-a-kind weather software allows you to enter your starting point and destination, and it will deliver weather updates for the entire path.
The software intelligently forecasts the weather in each station for the time you are expected to arrive. It can also be used to compare different routes and choose the one with the best weather or the least probability of being delayed due to weather.
Consider it a cross between Google Maps and your favourite weather app.
Rather than having to check the weather in each city along the way, this app gives you a brief picture of what to expect throughout your journey. It’s especially beneficial in the winter, when knowing the weather and precipitation forecasts for mountain routes is essential.
Weather on the Way is available in over 70 countries, is free to download, and is ad-free. For the first five trips, you get premium features like alternate route ideas and recommended departure times; after that, you can either use the free version or upgrade to PRO for $2.99 per month or $16.99 per year.
7. IQAir AirVisual
Before going out, we used to just check the weather prediction for temperature and precipitation. With wildfire smoke and pollution at an all-time high, it’s more important than ever to check the air quality—and IQAir AirVisual is a fantastic tool to do just that.
This software makes it simple to keep track of air quality in your immediate region as well as globally. It gives you AQI (Air Quality Index) ratings for your immediate area, as well as air quality forecasts, complete air quality maps, and wind pattern information.
Basic weather forecasting is also available, while the app’s primary focus is on air pollution and smoke. Rather than relying on it as an all-in-one solution, we recommend utilising it in conjunction with one of the other apps on this list.
You may also use the app in conjunction with one of the company’s interior air quality monitors (available separately) to assess and compare indoor and outdoor air quality.
This programme is available for download for free and contains no advertisements. There are no premium subscriptions and all features are provided.
8. Yahoo Weather
Yahoo Weather is a straightforward but well-liked software that blends attractive visuals with reliable weather data. The app shows you photos of your present location that correspond to the current weather conditions. On a wet day in San Francisco, for example, users may see an image of the Golden Gate Bridge shrouded in fog.
Opening the app is a pleasure thanks to the stunning high-resolution photographs, especially for large cities. Hourly, 5-day, and 10-day forecasts, as well as air quality data, radar and satellite maps, and more are all available.
Other applications may provide more data, but this is a fantastic alternative for an uncomplicated, startlingly attractive look at the day’s weather. Yahoo Weather is ad-supported and free. There aren’t any premium options to choose from.
AccuWeather: Weather Alerts
AccuWeather is an iOS app that provides accurate weather forecasts and precise radar maps in a deceptively simple interface. On the surface, it appears to be rather basic, yet distinctive features like MinuteCast help it stand out in a crowded field.
This gives you hyper-local, minute-by-minute weather forecasts for the next two hours, allowing you to plan your errands around the rain or snow. It also includes features such as live weather alerts and storm warnings.
AccuWeather also delivers unusually long-term weather forecasts, with projections up to 45 days in advance, and weather data for over three million sites globally. You can also watch AccuWeather’s news team’s weather highlights and forecast videos. AccuWeather is ad-supported and free. A premium subscription removes adverts for 99c per month or $8.99 per year.