While I understand the business side of shutting down Pocket Weather, I also really like the app. So it’s with some resentment that I have finally started looking for an alternative. The problem is Pocket Weather has become part of my daily workflow, so losing functionality isn’t something I want.
I set out on a quest to find a weather app that will allow me as close to the same functionality of Pocket Weather as possible. The option that seems to have the most “It’s not Pocket Weather, but it’s the best I’ve found” is:
Aus Weather Australia
There’s a lot to like here and it does most of what Pocket Weather does. One of the biggest complaints about the other replacement apps is that there’s no widget — there is here and it’s pretty good. Some of the other features put Aus Weather Australia as close as I’ve found to feature parity with Pocket Weather. You can see the various options in the screenshots below:
The feature listing is reasonably comprehensive:
- Locations all around Australia
- 7 Day forecasts
- 3 hourly updates for weather
- Radars and maps
- Historical data
- Marine forecasts
- Widgets
- Weather notifications
- Warnings and alerts
- Detailed data such as wind-speed, direction etc
It’s an ad supported app with a $2 in-app fee to remove the ads. If you choose Aus Weather Australia, support the dev and drop them a couple of bucks!
Weatherzone
Another of the mainstream options supported by ads, or you can pay to remove them. The feedback seems to be quite mixed with some users reporting that the layout can be a bit confusing whereas others are very happy with the capability of the app, widget and other features.
I’ve only had a quick look myself and it’s quite functional, but I’m not sure it’s going to fully feature what I want from a weather app. I quite like the widget, which currently has me considering if this is indeed the option I’ll use going forward.
The feature set is pretty comprehensive, but if you want the full kit you’ll have to pay a subscription fee.
- Real-time observations from hundreds of automated weather stations across the country: Temperature, wind speed and direction, dew point, relative humidity, pressure and rain since 9 am
- 7 day forecasts of minimum, maximum temperature, icon, rain probability/likely amount and 9am/3pm wind.
- Hourly temperature, chance of rain and wind forecasts in our interactive viewer.
- Real-time weather warnings from the Bureau of Meteorology
- Weatherpulse daily video magazine
- Lightning Alerts for your suburb
- Local and National rain radar, Himawari-8 satellite and lightning maps
- National Video forecast from our meteorologists
- Warning and Forecast Push Notifications
- Gorgeous weather photography submitted by you!
- Exclusive Australian synoptic map
BOM Weather
If you want the full story, you go straight to the source right? The BOM is where Pocket Weather go it’s data feed from and they’ve got some of the same functions in their app. You’ll get a radar feed, a multi-day forecast and weather warnings. Sadly though, there is no widget for your home screen.
The feature set for the BOM app is simple but thorough:
- Weather Conditions
- Forecasts
- Weather Warnings
- Radar for various locations
- Location search to check weather around Australia
To help the other Pocket Weather refugees, share your current weather app with us and it’s features
