Weathering
It opens on the radar. And it tells you about the rain before it arrives — how hard, when it starts, when it stops, and which way it is coming from.
Most weather apps open on a temperature and a row of icons, with the radar buried two taps down. That is backwards: the radar is the only part that answers “do I need a coat in the next twenty minutes”, and it is the first thing Weathering draws.
What it does
- The radar, firstAn animated loop of the last two hours, centred where you are, drawn within a second of opening the app. The forecast frames are drawn differently from the observed ones, so you always know which you are looking at.
- Rain alerts you actually configureFour separate things you can ask for — how hard, when it starts, when it stops, and only when it is heading your way.
- Temperature in your status barA permanent, silent notification with the conditions now and the next hours in the shade. No app to open.
- WidgetsThe radar around your place, the next hours, and the week — on the home screen.
The four things you can ask to be told
| Ask for | And you get |
|---|---|
| How hard | A threshold, in words as well as numbers: tell me only when it will be proper rain, or only when it will be heavy. |
| When it starts | "Rain in about 15 minutes" — with the lead time you chose, and updated in place rather than buzzing again. |
| When it stops | The half nothing else offers: "rain stops in about 10 minutes, dry for at least an hour". |
| Which way it is coming from | "Coming from the south-west" — and the option to be told only when a shower is actually heading towards you. |
That last one is what makes the other three worth having: a storm twenty kilometres away and moving away from you is not news, and every app with a rain alert sends it anyway.
The models, by name
Beyond the next couple of hours the forecast comes from a numerical model — ECMWF, GFS, ICON, AROME — and Weathering lets you pick one and compare them. When they disagree about Thursday, that disagreement is the forecast, and hiding it behind one blended number is the thing every other weather app does.
Honest about what it can promise
Android decides when an app may check. Weathering checks more often as rain gets closer — every half hour when the sky is empty, every five minutes when something is about to arrive — and it tells you which of those it is doing, on the alert itself. An app that claims minute-by-minute vigilance on a phone in your pocket is claiming something the platform will not give it.
Radar coverage is not ours to guarantee. Some countries have none. Where that is true the app says so instead of showing you an empty map.
Rain can start overhead. On a summer afternoon a shower can form where you are with nothing having approached at all — so the "only when it is heading this way" filter never suppresses rain forming at your place.
On your watch and your television
The sentence “rain at 15:10, moderate” belongs on a wrist, and a radar loop finally has enough screen on a television — where it also makes a rather good thing to leave on. Both are planned; the phone comes first.
What it does not do
No account. No login. No server of ours between you and the weather. Alerts watch the places you chose — home, work, wherever — which means the app never needs permission to follow you around in the background.
Get it
Weathering is in beta, available from the self-hosted F-Droid repository and not from Google Play. This page describes what is being built; the code is private while it is.
It is published in the self-hosted F-Droid repository that serves every app here; use the F-Droid badge at the top of this page. The F-Droid build carries no proprietary dependency of any kind.
Frequently asked questions
What is Weathering?
Weathering is an Android weather app that opens on an animated rain radar and sends rain alerts you configure: how hard, when it starts, when it stops, and only when it is heading towards you.
Is Weathering available yet?
As a beta, yes: it is in the author’s self-hosted F-Droid repository (the F-Droid badge on the home page adds it to an F-Droid client) and not on Google Play. The site describes what is being built; builds are listed in the changelog. Versions for a watch and a television are planned, not available.
Is Weathering free?
The site does not announce a price and the app has no advertising. The terms say some features may be offered as a paid unlock, and that whatever is free today stays free for installs already using it.
Do I need an account?
No. There is no account and no server of ours between you and the weather services. See the privacy policy.
What data does Weathering collect, and where does it go?
The app asks public weather services such as Open-Meteo about the places you added, so those coordinates go to the service. Your places stay on your phone. Optional crash reports and usage statistics are off unless you turn them on.
Which Android versions does it need?
Android 8.0 or later.
Is Weathering open source?
Not at the moment: the site says the code is private while the app is being built.
How do I delete my data?
Deleting the app removes your places and settings from the phone. If you proved an e-mail address, for example for a bug report, ask for the account to be closed as described on the delete account page.