Snippet: Dark Sky App Receives Gigantic Update ☇

Normally app updates aren’t published to this site, but I think this is worth mentioning—Dark Sky is a favorite app of mine (among the various weather apps I use), and the update is free for all users. While I would have been happy paying for the redesign and additional features, the company decided to offer the update for all users.

Additionally, the app gains a five day forecast and graphics more in line with Forecast.io:

Last year, we built Forecast.io as a full-featured weather web app to fill the gap in coverage left by Dark Sky’s tightly focused one-hour lens. But we never thought of Forecast as the “ultimate” weather app; there are just too many compromises that you have to make when developing for the web to really be able to push the limits of what’s possible. It was simply a way to get our data in front of as many people as we could, especially those who didn’t own an iPhone or iPad. But it was always a stop-gap on iOS; a temporary fix until we were able to learn enough to build a truly native app.

With the additional data, longer-term forecasts, and visual changes, Dark Sky has earned a spot back on my home screen and it may be the only weather app that I’ll be using (at least for the near-future).

Update: Although I am excited about the new update and am looking forward to more changes as the new design matures, I have to agree with some of Dr. Drang’s criticisms, especially with the inconsistent mapping. There’s also a lack of an iPad landscape mode, which is the main way I use my iPad.