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A tale of two iPad weather apps

by Mel Martin May 26th 2010 at 12:00PM


Since Apple stripped the iPhone weather app from the iPad, it left the door open for 3rd parties to do their thing. They've done just that, and I'd like to spotlight two apps that come at weather from very different places.

We've looked briefly at both these apps. Our Victor Agreda Jr. used and liked WeatherBug Elite, and Erica Sadun took a quick look at Weather HD in April.

Let's start with WeatherBug Elite for iPad and look more closely. The app is free, and has a compelling display on the iPad screen. It is the more conventional app of the two, with radar and cloud cover overlays, animation, severe weather alerts from the National Weather Service, Extended 7 day and hourly forecasts, and webcams for most locations that show you a semi-live view of the current weather. You can save multiple locations, and get to them with a tap. As I do a lot of landscape photography, I really appreciate the infrared and visible satellite maps, that show you cloud cover down to the street level. The app works in portrait or landscape mode, and it can cache weather data for off-line viewing. I think this app is for serious weather consumers, and I have found it reliable and up to date. There are also versions for Windows and Macs, and an iPhone version. Strangely, the iPhone version sells for $0.99, while the iPad version is free. You can also get a free version for the iPhone, but it has ads.

Weather HD is 180 degrees from WeatherBug Elite. It is very pretty, and shows you animated scenes that reflect the current weather. Like WeatherBug, you can save several locations, and you get current conditions. The app was updated this week to offer a 7 day forecast instead of 4 days, and a forecast broken into three hour groups for the next 24 hours. The beauty of this app are the striking animations. They don't reflect real weather, but the app looks at the current data it has and reaches into its archive to bring out an appropriate scene. The rendering is smooth, and the views are quite striking. Weather HD is US$0.99, which seems a fair price. You can watch a video of the app at this link.

Weather HD is the app you will show your friends. WeatherBug Elite is the app you will use every day. Both have their place, and both are worth a look if you want to be on top of what's happening outside your window or across the world. There are many other weather apps for the iPad, but I like these two, as different as they are.

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Since Apple stripped the iPhone weather app from the iPad, it left the door open for 3rd parties to do their thing. They've done just...
 

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13 Comments

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Todd

WeatherHD is one of the show-off apps I use when people check out the ipad.

Also, Mel, Apple didn't strip the weather app from the ipad; they didn't launch one with the ipad, so there was nothing to 'strip' away. How about this: they didn't include one. That's not sensational, but it is factual.

May 27 2010 at 10:07 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
casmith07

if anyone has Weather HD, tell me what it says for Baghdad, Iraq :) I'd like to know what I've got coming up when the sun rises in an hour (4:30AM!)

May 26 2010 at 8:35 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
tzohar

Accuweather is THE. BEST. WEATHER APP. Bar none. It's beautiful to look it, it's loaded with features and yet still manages to be simple and easy to use, and it has both a free (ad supported) or paid version for 99 cents.

I tried Weather HD for a while but honestly, whenever I tried to use it to check the weather I'd feel like I'm not getting all the info... AND the moving pictures, while pretty at first, get old and repetitive really fast. It's a nice app to have if you're using your iPad like an interactive, animated photo frame, but if you just wanna check the weather, it's kinda silly.

May 26 2010 at 8:03 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
WezUwiUsz

if you looking for something simple but useful, take a look at 'Dock Clock'. http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dock-clock-weather-moon-phases/id364632185?mt=8 , it's simple clock and weather data. No fancy animation and no data overwhelming.

May 26 2010 at 5:56 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
bobm

Another vote for 'The Weather Channel' app. It's really nice when on the road traveling since it's like the weather channel tv station.

May 26 2010 at 3:10 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Aaron

Well.. I just downloaded the AccuWeather app and it is by far my favorite. Stunning.

May 26 2010 at 1:35 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Aaron's comment
Dan Shewmaker

I'd second that opinion. I've tried those other two, and they feel like iPhone ports. Whereas AccuWeather feels custom built and has a very tight UI.

May 26 2010 at 7:46 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
djgigante

To me - Weather HD is just nonsense. When I'm looking for weather info I don't want pretty, repetitive pictures. I prefer accurate data and forecast info. If you've opened the app several times you've seen all the "scenes" they have to offer. One of my favorite WAP sites (on old-school cell phones) was Weather Underground, where they just gave you mucho information without all the fancy formatting. In this regard I prefer Weatherbug - although it's pretty iffy if your weather "station" has gone down due to malfunction.

May 26 2010 at 1:16 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Kuma

Weather bug is seriously broken for weather in japan. Weather HD might not have all the groovy stuff - but it works well. I will stick with that for both my friends and for the weather forecast.

May 26 2010 at 12:49 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
LH

I don't like WeatherBug because I never use the map, yet it takes up most of the screen. The Weather Channel's app is more useful to me (the local forecast interface is great), but I really dislike having to tap "Local Weather" after it starts up (which takes forever) -- this should be the main screen instead. Weather HD looks nice, but TWC's visual forecast is more useful than HD's all-text version. I usually know what the weather is like now -- I want to know what it's *going* to be! Despite the unnecessary step, TWC still does this best for me.

May 26 2010 at 12:44 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to LH's comment
jeremy

Why wouldn't you use a map at all?

May 26 2010 at 1:30 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Athtart

I completely agree, TWC app would be my #1 is it allowed you to open directly to the local forecast instead of making you wait.. and wait and then click for local forecast.

May 26 2010 at 2:50 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Eric Hofstetter

I'm a die hard fan of WEATHER BUG for the iPad! I had both this and The Weather Channel app for the iPad on at the same time, and was consistently going to WB for its simplicity and pinch/ zoom ease. TWC app would constantly crash and seemed buggy. I'd love to see WEATHER BUG hit #1 on the download list. It is probably the one app I hit several time a day, especially when the weather is questionable.

May 26 2010 at 12:24 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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