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Posts tagged with "weather"

CARROT Weather Enables Notifications for Storm Cells, Precipitation, Lightning Strikes, Government Alerts, and More

The latest update to CARROT Weather was released today, version 4.11, which is centered entirely around notifications. Though the types of notifications available depend on your subscription plan due to the different costs associated with each data source, in total there are a ton of options available to satisfy anyone’s needs. Whether you simply want to avoid getting caught in the rain without an umbrella, or finding yourself outdoors when a storm hits, or one of many other weather situations, CARROT Weather can now keep you informed with timely notifications for a variety of weather events.

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CARROT Weather Is More Customizable and Useful on the Apple Watch Than Ever

CARROT Weather has had one of the top tier Apple Watch apps for a long time now. In the early days of the Watch, CARROT was one of the few apps that loaded quickly and worked reliably. Since third-party complications were introduced, CARROT’s had some of the best. With the latest update though, CARROT has extended its Watch app’s functionality and flexibility even further and added a few other great features too.

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CARROT Weather Adds New Data Sources, Including Netatmo Weather Stations

One of the nerdy features of CARROT Weather I love is its support for personal weather stations as a data source. Not long ago, Federico explained on AppStories that the weather station down the street from him had shut down, so he could no longer use it as a source in CARROT. I suggested he get a Netatmo Personal Weather Station and connect it to Weather Underground’s network of stations, but at about the same time Weather Underground ended its support for the Netatmo device, which left us both without a hyper-local weather source. It wasn’t a huge deal, but there’s something fun about knowing that the temperature you’re seeing in CARROT is the precise temperature outside your window and not some weather station that may be miles away from your home.

With today’s update, CARROT has stepped in with direct support for the Netatmo weather station as well as other new data sources. For the Netatmo device, all you need to do is sign in using the same login you use for Netatmo’s dedicated app, and as long as you’re within two miles of your home, CARROT will include the data collected by the Netatmo device.

Dark Sky is the default data source for CARROT, but users have three other options. The first is The Weather Channel, which provides the most extended-range forecast (data covering the next 360 hours and 15 days), is available worldwide, and can access personal weather stations connected to the Weather Underground network. CARROT has also added AccuWeather and AerisWeather as data sources. The AerisWeather option includes PWSweather.com personal weather station data. Users have the option of including Dark Sky’s short-term precipitation in CARROT even if The Weather Channel, AccuWeather, or AerisWeather is their data source.

Personal weather stations connected to the Weather Underground system and PWSweather.com can be selected from a map allowing you to pick one closest to where you live. Other than the personal weather station access through the Weather Channel’s API though, Weather Underground data, which was previously a data source option in CARROT, has been removed because IBM, which owns Weather Underground, has discontinued its API.

CARROT Weather’s update includes a host of other smaller additions too:

  • Air quality index and pollen data are available in the current weather view if you use The Weather Channel or AccuWeather as sources
  • There are six new secret locations to discover
  • The location screen has a new ‘Recent Searches’ section, from which you can add previous searches to your saved locations by tapping the star icon next to them.

I’m glad Brian Mueller has expanded the data source options for CARROT Weather. The best source varies depending on where you are, and with more sources, CARROT should be a better option for more users going forward. I especially like the personal weather station integration. Whether you have a weather sensor yourself or want to piggy-back on another publicly-available station nearby, they’re an excellent way to track hyper-local conditions.

CARROT Weather is available as a free update to existing users on the App Store.


When CARROT Met Siri: Shortcuts and Siri Watch Face Support Added to CARROT Weather

One of the big themes of Apple’s software releases this fall is the opening up of Siri. With day one adoption of both Siri shortcuts and Siri face integration on the Apple Watch, CARROT Weather makes for a wonderful demonstration of how valuable this new, extended Siri can be in all its various forms. Finally, Siri can provide weather data from sources besides the first-party app, both through the standard voice interface and, to my delight, on the Siri watch face. And CARROT Weather takes great advantage of both new capabilities.

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Dark Sky Update Consolidates Weather Data in a Single Vertical View

Dark Sky’s signature feature has always been its uncanny ability to predict when it was about to rain. The app has a reputation for working better in the US than other parts of the world, and in my experience, it’s not as good at predicting snowfall, but its ability to keep users from getting caught off guard by a sudden storm has garnered it a lot of fans.

Besides an app, Dark Sky is an API that other weather apps use to deliver their data. That means you can experience many of the benefits of Dark Sky by using other weather apps, which is what I’ve done for some time. Dark Sky was once my weather app of choice, but over time, I moved to other apps that used its API and presented weather data in ways I prefer.

Yesterday, Dark Sky’s app was updated with a redesign that addresses many of the shortcomings of earlier versions. The main Forecast view now features a higher density of information and visual cues that make it easier to understand predicted weather changes at a glance. It’s a marked improvement over previous versions of the app, but the new focus on a vertical timeline comes with drawbacks that won’t be to everyone’s taste.

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CARROT Weather 4.5 Brings Achievements, Alternate Icons, and More

The latest update to CARROT Weather, a MacStories favorite among iOS weather apps, brings a variety of improvements big and small, with the most noteworthy designed to add extra fun to the app: achievements and alternate icons.

Achievements are an attempt to gamify your weather app experience. While with most apps that sentence would sound ridiculous, achievements fit well with the personality and character of CARROT Weather. Currently there are 32 achievements you can unlock, many of which have to do with weather events you experience, while some involve travel and other activities. All available achievements can be viewed from CARROT’s dropdown menu.

Alternate icons, like achievements, aren’t a necessary addition to a weather app, but they do add joy to the user experience. Developer Brian Mueller has put together a diverse, high-quality set of icons to choose from, ensuring you can make CARROT fit in well with your existing Home screen layout vibes.

Other changes worth noting in version 4.5 are that the Secret Locations feature has been removed from its previous home in the search box, instead getting its own dedicated place in the dropdown menu. This move is accompanied by a revamp of the map view for carrying out assigned missions. Also, the app’s main search box has had its autocomplete upgraded to work much faster and comprehensively, and you can reorder saved locations easily using drag and drop.

Today’s update isn’t a major one, but it does make a great weather app even better. Features like custom icons and achievements help boost CARROT Weather’s already extensive amount of character, endearing the app to users in a way few apps can. If you haven’t tried the app yet, I highly recommend it.

CARROT Weather is available on the App Store.


Track Hyper-Local Weather Conditions With the Netatmo Weather Station

For some people, weather apps simply answer questions like ‘Do I need a coat today?’ but their appeal is much broader. Weather apps are also about science and statistics. If you enjoy the geeky data side of tracking the weather, there’s no better way satisfy that interest than by collecting measurements yourself with a weather station like the one made by Netatmo.

Weather stations, like many gadgets, run from the simple to the complex. What I like most about the Netatmo Weather Station is that it’s easy to set up and modular. That means you can start with the core system that tracks basic weather data like temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, and air quality, and later, add wind speed and precipitation gauges if you want to dive deeper into tracking the weather.

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CARROT Weather Adds Powerful, Redesigned Apple Watch App

Version 4.3 of CARROT Weather for iOS launched today, bringing a ground-up redesign of its Apple Watch app that offers power and flexibility in a beautifully designed package.

CARROT Weather’s story isn’t that it had an old, out-dated Apple Watch app that’s now finally become modern. Instead, today’s update takes what was already a very good Watch app and replaces it with a great one.

Before this big redesign, CARROT’s Watch app was already fast and flexible, with an assortment of customization options for things like complications. It even worked well when your Watch was running solo; by contrast, most third-party Watch apps depend entirely on a paired iPhone and can’t function at all when untethered from the device. CARROT’s new Watch app keeps all these positives, improves upon them, and adds a lot more to the package.

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