Apple Buys Dark Sky
Adam Grossman (MacRumors, tweet, Hacker News):
Dark Sky has joined Apple.
[…]
There will be no changes to Dark Sky for iOS at this time. It will continue to be available for purchase in the App Store.
[…]
The [Android] app will no longer be available for download. Service to existing users and subscribers will continue until July 1, 2020, at which point the app will be shut down.
[…]
Our API service for existing customers is not changing today, but we will no longer accept new signups. The API will continue to function through the end of 2021.
Bottom line: Dark Sky is the right purchase for Apple.
They win in one area that matters a lot: rain, now. They have compete coverage. They are built in a modern, improvable way.
Just don’t use it for any future weather forecasts! (>48 hours away)
Update (2020-04-10): John Gruber:
I’m hoping that Apple has acquired Dark Sky not merely to beef up the built-in iPhone Weather app (Apple has no first-party Weather app for iPad or Mac, curiously), but to add hyperlocal weather forecasting APIs to its OSes. This would add a competitive advantage for iOS and MacOS both in terms of weather and privacy. Third-party weather apps are notorious for abusing location privileges.
CARROT Weather’s forecast for today
Update (2021-06-13): David Smith:
Looks like Dark Sky will keep their API active for a year longer than that originally announced.
There is a WeatherKit private framework lurking in iOS 15 that does not exist in iOS 14. It currently only contains strings of different weather conditions, but perhaps it will be more substantial and not private in the future.
3 Comments RSS · Twitter
Regarding the DuckDuckGo use of Dark Sky for its weather service, it is possible that they keep it and/or replace it with Apple's: they now offer Apple Maps for their maps searches. Would make sense that the deal extends to weather, something Apple couldn't do before, wouldn't it?
