Weather apps often sit in one of two groups. A lot of data in a mundane presentation, or beautiful backgrounds and animations but a lack of deep weather data.
Weather Live has an excellent mix of both. The US$1.99 universal app has detailed forecasts from anywhere in the world. You can set several cities you want to keep track of, and swipe the screen to view them. Animations reflect the current weather at each location, and the app includes cloud, satellite and radar maps. The app can alert you if bad weather is on the way and you can set an alert to let you know when the temperature drops below freezing.
Gallery: Weather Live for iOS
On-screen details include daily and seven-day forecasts, dew point, forecast high and low temperatures, winds, humidity, visibility, sunrise and sunset times, barometer and more. Even better, you can set different display formats, so you can have basic weather information, or a deep dive with everything visible on the main page.
The feature that I really like is the icon badge (check the gallery below) that shows the current temperature. It’s visible even if the app is buried in a folder. This is something Apple should have done long ago, or let the icon itself update the way the date updates on the Apple Calendar app.
No app is perfect, and I find the map displays less than optimal. There is a small dot showing your location, but cities aren’t identified, and the map can’t be zoomed or moved in any way. I felt the need to see a closer display of storms moving my way, but such a feature is lacking.
We reviewed this app last year when it had fewer features but a lower price of $0.99. I think that is about the right price for a weather app, and while $1.99 is not over-priced, especially considering the quality of the app, I was sad to see the price double. If you had to choose just one weather app with a lot of information and a beautiful presentation Weather Live should be on your buy list.
Check the gallery below to see the app it all its graphic glory.
Weather Live for iOS is complete and a looker originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 13 Sep 2012 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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