Apple has bought Dark Sky. The weather app’s developers announced the deal on March 31, 2020, in a blog post that ended with a line about their reasons: “There is no better place to accomplish these goals than at Apple.”
The goals they meant were stated just before it. “Our goal has always been to provide the world with the best weather information possible, to help as many people as we can stay dry and safe, and to do so in a way that respects your privacy.” Joining Apple, they wrote, gives them the chance to “reach far more people, with far more impact, than we ever could alone.”
Dark Sky is one of the most popular weather apps on the App Store, known for its accuracy and storm warnings. It predicts weather minute by minute for a precise location and sends alerts down to the minute before rain starts. It also has hour-by-hour forecasts, weather animations, a Today widget, a Time Machine feature and an Apple Watch app.
What changes, and what does not
Nothing changes for iPhone owners yet. The iOS app stays on sale in the App Store, still at $3.99. On its website, the app is already labeled “Dark Sky by Apple”.
Android is another matter. Dark Sky for Android and Wear OS is being discontinued, and for existing Android users it shuts down on July 1, 2020. Those users will be refunded. The website’s forecasts, maps and embeds also run only until that date, though the site itself will stay up to support API and iOS app customers.
Developers who use the Dark Sky API face a longer countdown. The service keeps working for existing customers through the end of 2021, but new signups are closed. After 2021 they will need another solution. MacRumors noted that the end of the API will affect other popular weather apps, Carrot among them.
Apple did not respond to CNET’s request for comment right away. MacRumors suggested Apple could build Dark Sky into its own weather app, which currently draws on data from The Weather Channel.
