Why Is There No iPad or Mac Weather App?
For some reason, Apple’s Weather app on iPadOS 15 doesn’t have exactly the same design. Information is still organized into blocks, but a lot of the blocks are weirdly not about weather conditions.
The top of the Weather app for iPad includes a giant banner for a subscription version with more features and fewer ads. I missed the announcement about a paid version of the Weather app, but Apple is really into services these days so it’s no surprise.
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Something else unique about the Weather app for iPad is a neat tidbit about UPS. According to the Weather app for iPad, you can save 50% on global shipping with code REACH from now through July 19. I couldn’t find this curious but helpful data point on the Weather app for iPhone. Now I’m worried folks who check the weather on their iPhone are overpaying for shipping.
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And before you try to tell me this isn’t the Weather app for iPad, hear me out. The Weather widget launches the Weather app on iPhone, and I’m certain the Weather widget launches the Weather app on iPad. That’s just how widgets work!
Honestly, it’s embarrassing. Apple has outsourced its soul to an absolutely awful weather.com webpage. On load, you’ll see crappy ad after crappy ad. Keep scrolling and you’ll quickly be subsumed by shitty click-bait-y ads. “Kill the Goblin!” And go further still and it’s full-on porn-y spam. Apple is sending millions upon millions of their users to this experience. Apple!
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The whole situation is bizarre. Apple just redid the Weather app in iOS 15 to be more beautiful. And the widgets reflect that. And they throw it all in the trash compactor when it comes time to drill down on the iPad.
A native Apple weather app on the iPad is long overdue, but that also goes for MacOS. The weather widget in Big Sur is, as far as I know, the only widget that opens a webpage instead of an app when you click on it.
The macOS weather widget is particularly annoying. It shows fewer days and hours than the iOS Weather app, amongst other missing information, and isn’t interactive. On Big Sur, the widget system has a tendancy to crash, making all the widgets disappear until I manually re-add and re-configure them, which sometimes requires restarting the Mac.
With the iPhone Weather app now using SwiftUI, hopefully iPad and Mac will get basic ports in the next cycle. Really, they deserve something even better, though. Apple should be leading by example.
Is weather.com paying for this placement on iPad? Why is the iPhone weather experience so different from iPad? Have long wondered this. Anyone know the real scoop?
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The worst part is that, at least in the US, weather is free. NOAA’s API doesn't even require an account.
I’ve been tempted to give creating a client for it out as a programming exercise for job screenings — if it wasn’t unfair to have people perform at-home work without paying them for their time. But it’s that trivial. No OAuth required!
How can they bring Maps in-house and not weather? /boggle
May be that is why App Store has a weather category.
When tapping the widget it should open the weather category on the App Store, so user can download a third party weather app. Haha
Apple dropped the ball on many system apps and functions.
Not even transition to M chips could stimulate them to keep everything up to date.
I expect them to constantly update all included apps and features. Basically is that has a name, there should be a designated responsible person, that keeps it updates, up to Apple newest standards, and fixes bugs.
At least for USA users, the https://www.weather.gov website is very strong, not to mention more accurate than just about any other source I've looked at. If you're in the USA, just go to that website, enter your zip code, and bookmark the result.
Apple is 90% about paid services now, so the design objective is to maximize monetization without annoying too many users enough for them move to other tools or platforms. The old objective of delighting users is dead and buried.
