Best Weather Apps
Weather apps are the best way to instantly access warnings, forecasts, and other required weather information on your mobile phones. Some apps are free to use, while some arrive with premium offers to use advanced features.
Search “weather” in the App Store and you'll be bombarded with an endless scroll of options—from radar imagery good enough for meteorologists to an app that shows you weather forecasts.
As the weather seemingly becomes increasingly unpredictable, reliable weather apps are crucial. So we tested dozens to find the most accurate, well-designed weather apps for iOS and Android.
Here is the list of the best weather apps that provide accurate hourly forecasts, severe weather warnings, weather radar, social sharing, and customizable notifications.
This is one of the best weather apps that arrive feature-packed with a weather map and weather widgets. You can use it to get daily, hourly, and current forecasts.
Moreover, you will get detailed local forecasts and weather forecasts worldwide. Also, you can catch up with weather conditions, atmospheric pressure, relative humidity, visibility distance, dew point, wind direction, speed, etc.
This app offers animated weather conditions with live background images for better engagement. Also, the weather alerts will provide you with local weather alerts three times a day.
Price: Free with ads
Devices: iPhone, iPad and Android
The Weather Channel is a free weather update app developed for Android and iOS devices by The Weather Channel. The Weather Channel features a comprehensive weather update utility for Android and iOS. It tracks device location and provides hourly, 15-day and weekend weather forecasts based on accurate location data. It also provides temperature, humidity, wind, UV index, visibility and dew point data on an hourly and daily basis.
The app can also map the user’s current location onto a Doppler radar map image, provide rain and snow alerts for the current location, and also severe weather updates and national weather alerts. There is also a pollen count alert for hay fever sufferers. Like many apps, The Weather Channel has added an Apple Watch app as well as a widget you can add to the watch face called a Complication.
Price: Free with in-app purchases
Devices: Android, iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Apple Watch
3. AccuWeather
AccuWeather is a trusted free weather app. With hourly, daily, and 15-day forecasts, plus a MinuteCast feature that gives you 2-minute hyperlocal forecasts for the coming two hours, there’s lots to like about AccuWeather. The MinuteCast feature itself gives you precise information for your GPS location or street address including precipitation start times, type, and intensity.
It arrives with a weather tracker and Live radar information. Using this app, you can get local forecasts and personalize the application as per your location. AccuWeather provides trending videos also.
Price: Free with in-app purchases
Devices: Android, iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Apple Watch
CARROT Weather is a powerful weather app that delivers twisted forecasts and provides accurate, detailed weather data. CARROT Weather puts a unique brand of twisted humor in its forecasts. No matter what the weather is, from downpours to foggy nights, this app features fun characters, secret locations, and evil penguins to lighten up your day.
You will get notifications of weather alerts, precipitation, and lightning strikes for your real-time location. Weather maps are also available with individual radar stations, forecast radar, and various layers. The app even provides the option of viewing the weather using a time machine, allowing you to view historical weather data going back 70 years.
Price: Free with ads and in-app purchases
Devices: iPhone, iPad
WeatherBug is a free weather app that provides neighborhood-level forecasts for 2.6 million locations all over the world. WeatherBug features current, hourly, and 10-day weather forecasts across all locations, as well as severe weather alerts based on the user’s GPS location. The app also provides lightning proximity alerts that detail whether lightning is dangerous and how far away it is, if present.
With WeatherBug, users can view 16 different Google Maps overlays, including Doppler radar, air pressure, traffic, alerts, and more. It also allows users to share weather information, alerts, forecasts and photographs via email.
Price: Free with in-app purchases
Devices: Android, iPhone, iPad
MyRadar Weather is a fast, easy-to-use, weather app that displays animated weather radars around your current location, allowing you to quickly see what weather is coming your way.
You can prepare yourself for anything with an around-the-clock weather forecast and rain chances. You can get the alerts for heavy rain, strong wind, heavy snow, and thunderstorms.
Price: Free with in-app purchases
Devices: Android, iPhone, iPad
7. Dark Sky Weather
Dark Sky is a imminent local weather app with a clean interface with current data readings using clever algorithms. You’ll also get a Map view which lets you scroll forwards and backwards in time, to watch how a storm and other weather events developed.
Dark Sky pulls data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s network of 140 radar stations spread across the U.S. but then uses some fancy math to forecast hyper-local weather. Get this app if you want to know if it’s going to rain in the next hour. They’ll tell you what minute it’s going to rain and how hard. And it proved to be pretty accurate, forecasting rain on a number of occasions within a reasonable margin of error.
Price: Free with in-app purchases
Devices: iPhone, iPad
Weather Underground is one of the most popular third-party weather apps for iOS and Android. The app is powered by a vast network of almost 200,000 personal weather stations, so it can deliver accurate current conditions, as well as precise forecasts. Interactive maps and air quality information are also on board. Ad-free functionality is available for the app via in-app purchases.
Weather Underground is packed with useful data and features such as radar map, severe weather alerts, ski resort reports, and sunrise and sunset times.
Price: Free with in-app purchases
Devices: Android, iPhone, iPad
9. BBC Weather
Looking for an ad-free, easy to use weather app? The BBC has the answer. BBC Weather combines a refined and clean interface with all the standard features you’d expect from a decent weather app. It’s not the most feature-packed option on this list, but sometimes simpler is better..
Price: Free
Devices: Android, iPhone, iPad
10. XCWeather
XCWeather is a neatly designed weather app with customizable themes, available notifications, and a precise forecasts. The app is a nice free alternative to the weather app that comes preloaded on your smartphone. The weather app features a clear, detailed 7-day forecasts.
Price: Free with in-app purchases
Devices: iPhone, iPad
We mentioned a couple of times that the accuracy of these weather apps varies from region to region. This is a frustrating truth that stops us from being able to recommend one single app as the most accurate option. Almost every weather app has wildly varying reviews surrounding its accuracy. Unfortunately, that means the only way to find the best app in your region is to try a few different options for yourself. At least you now have a shortlist of free weather apps — that you can get started with.