The team behind the beloved Dark Sky weather app has announced a new iPhone app called Acme Weather. The release comes after Apple’s 2020 acquisition of Dark Sky, which it ultimately shut down in 2022 after integrating much of its tech into the native iOS Weather app.
Acme Weather is primarily designed to address the uncertainty inherent in most forecasts, as different models yield disparate results and no two weather apps seem to report the same thing. Acme’s answer to this issue is “Alternate Predictions,” which shows users a range of possible outcomes alongside the app’s core forecast line throughout the day. If the lines are arranged together tightly, it means the app has high confidence in the forecast at that time. When those lines start to diverge, the app is signaling lower confidence while showing users alternate predictions for that time of day.
The app also supports community reporting, seeking to do for weather what Waymo did for traffic. Users can share real-time conditions in their area using icons or emojis, helping increase accuracy when conditions are changing quickly. Like most weather apps, there is also a map component with layers for radar, lightning, rain and snow totals, wind and more.
Acme leverages notifications to help make sure you don’t miss important changes to the forecast or weather alerts. Grossman says they are comprehensive and should help you avoid getting caught in the rain unawares. Notifications also include community reports, government weather alerts and even experimental tools from “Acme Labs” like rainbow and beautiful sunset alerts.
Acme offers a two-week free trial, then costs $25 a year. The iOS version is available now and an Android is forthcoming.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/the-creators-of-dark-sky-have-a-new-weather-app-155426063.html?src=rss
