Apple Acquires Popular Weather App Dark Sky

If you are an iPhone owner, you have probably heard of Dark Sky, one of the best and most popular iOS weather app. Today, the company announced it’s been acquired by Apple.

Dark Sky says its team will be joining Cupertino, but it isn’t exactly clear what Apple plans to do with Dark Sky’s talent and technology.

Windows Intelligence In Your Inbox

Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday — and get free copies of Paul Thurrott's Windows 11 and Windows 10 Field Guides (normally $9.99) as a special welcome gift!

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

[ad unit=’in_content_premium_block’]

“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. There is no better place to accomplish these goals than at Apple. We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to reach far more people, with far more impact, than we ever could alone,” said Dark Sky creator Adam Grossman in a blog post. 

Being acquired by Apple means Dark Sky will be stopping its services on other platforms. The company says there won’t be any changes to the Dark Sky iOS app right now. It will continue to be available at the usual price of $3.99.

However, the Android and Wear OS app will no longer be available for download. Existing users and subscribers will be able to continue using the app until July 1, 2020 — and subscribers who are still active will receive a refund. Dark Sky is actually really popular on Android, too, with more than 1 million installs to date. Apple is, of course, killing Dark Sky on Android out of spite.

The company’s website will also stop providing weather forecasts, maps, and embeds after July 1, 2020.

As for its API, Dark Sky is going to eventually take that away, too. The service is no longer accepting new signups for its API, and it will continue to function through the end of 2021. After that, the Dark Sky API will stop working completely.

Apple probably doesn’t have a lot of big plans for Dark Sky apart from replacing Weather Channel’s service on the official iOS Weather app with Dark Sky’s data. It’s possible Apple will eventually kill the Dark Sky iOS app, too, but that might only happen once the Weather app on iOS gets all the features of Dark Sky.

Tagged with

Share post

Please check our Community Guidelines before commenting

Conversation 33 comments

  • Daninbusiness

    Premium Member
    31 March, 2020 - 2:03 pm

    <p>NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!</p><p><br></p><p>Oh man, this really bums me out, as a user of the app (I had it on iOS and subscribed when I moved over to Android).</p><p><br></p><p>Oh well, I hope the developer did well out of the deal anyway. </p><p><br></p><p>sarcasm: I wonder if iOS will ever get a more dynamic weather icon on the homescreen after this…maybe they finally have the needed technology??? :)</p>

  • reefer

    31 March, 2020 - 2:04 pm

    <p>Innovation through acquisition. Oh were, oh were have we seen this before in big tech? </p>

    • michael_charlton

      31 March, 2020 - 3:24 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#535446">In reply to reefer:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>Errr… Apple?</p>

      • lvthunder

        Premium Member
        31 March, 2020 - 3:47 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#535474">In reply to Michael_Charlton:</a></em></blockquote><p>I think you mean everywhere. Google, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, etc. all do it.</p>

  • amosclan

    31 March, 2020 - 2:08 pm

    <p>MyRadar is pretty sweet and is available as a PWA as well as being on iOS and Android, if you want that live-tile goodness. </p>

    • Omen_20

      31 March, 2020 - 3:24 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#535447">In reply to amosclan:</a></em></blockquote><p>Not seeing the PWA. I do see Android and a UWP available. The widget/app I use on Android pulls from myradar and have enjoyed it.</p>

  • Aaron44126

    31 March, 2020 - 2:16 pm

    <p>"<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Apple is, of course, killing Dark Sky on Android out of spite."</span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">I mean, I'm sad for Android users who liked this app, but this is an unprofessional comment that seems a bit stronger than necessary. It seems natural that they would want to roll the IP that they just purchased into the Apple ecosystem… They aren't </span><em style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">required</em><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> to continue to make it available on other platforms just because it was available there before Apple purchased it.</span></p>

    • wbhite

      Premium Member
      31 March, 2020 - 2:21 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#535450">In reply to Aaron44126:</a></em></blockquote><p>They are absolutely doing it out of spite. Apple corporate and fanboy culture is that if you're not using their platform and ecosystem, then you're in a dirty place. Fuck Apple for this.</p>

      • lvthunder

        Premium Member
        31 March, 2020 - 3:46 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#535451">In reply to wbhite:</a></em></blockquote><p>Where is your proof? Were you in the meetings they had over this? If Google bought something I would expect the iOS app to shutdown. It's how these companies get a competitive advantage over each other.</p>

        • darkgrayknight

          Premium Member
          31 March, 2020 - 4:46 pm

          <blockquote><em><a href="#535502">In reply to lvthunder:</a></em></blockquote><p>While Microsoft has probably done this in the past, I can think of many companies/apps that Microsoft improved on all platforms. Skype, Outlook on Android (just renamed the bought app), Minecraft, Wunderlist, etc. Google and Apple both have done this process over and over: buy app/company and then very quickly kill off competing platform versions.</p>

      • bob_shutts

        31 March, 2020 - 8:59 pm

        <blockquote><a href="#535451"><em>In reply to wbhite:</em></a><em> So it was ok when MS acquired Forethought, Visio, Hotmail, Skype, LinkedIn and GitHub? (opps…forgot WunderList).</em></blockquote><p><br></p>

      • Vladimir Carli

        Premium Member
        01 April, 2020 - 5:18 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#535451">In reply to wbhite:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>all these huge corporations are equally disgusting. Microsoft is doing the same for Wunderlist and many other platforms. Of course, you can use it on iOS but you need a Microsoft account. It’s just a different kind of ecosystem and a different kind of lock in but the approach is exactly the same</p>

  • wolters

    Premium Member
    31 March, 2020 - 2:24 pm

    <p>As a certified storm spotter and Android user, I am actually pretty devastated to hear this. While this wasn't a tool when I would storm spot, this was one of my favorite apps and used it's alerts for predicting rain and weather warnings. I sure hope they change their mind,</p>

  • RonV42

    Premium Member
    31 March, 2020 - 3:12 pm

    <p>And Google just rejected my refund of the subscription i renewed last moth for the Android app. Also just finished a web site that uses the Dark Sky api at work and now have to start over. </p><p><br></p><p>The next big announcement from the Apple fan's is going to be "Apple invents new method of predicting weather."</p>

  • bassoprofundo

    Premium Member
    31 March, 2020 - 3:12 pm

    <p>OMG. I literally just got my wife to switch to DS after months of hearing "Why is my weather app not working?" I've been using it forever. Anyone have alternatives to recommend?</p>

    • lwetzel

      Premium Member
      31 March, 2020 - 4:08 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#535471">In reply to bassoprofundo:</a></em></blockquote><p>MyRadar. Available on all platforms but Linux.</p>

      • bluesman57

        31 March, 2020 - 10:33 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#535506">In reply to lwetzel:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>I've been using DarkSky for the forecasts and MyRadar for the maps. Hadn't really looked at the MyRadar forecasts much, but I guess I will now.</p>

      • epsjrno

        Premium Member
        01 April, 2020 - 12:51 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#535506">In reply to lwetzel:</a></em></blockquote><p>Is that MyRadar by Acme?</p>

  • VancouverNinja

    Premium Member
    31 March, 2020 - 3:15 pm

    <p>Good to see Apple is focusing on important acquisitions like this….</p>

  • richardfenoglio

    31 March, 2020 - 3:54 pm

    <p>I have mixed feelings in this. I’m sad to hear they’re cancelling the API and Android app subscriptions, but I see this as a potentially huge benefit as an iOS user. I hate the built-in app and have been using DarkSky for years as an alternative. </p><p><br></p><p>I’m hoping they replace the underlying Weather app with DarkSky and give Siri more usefulness with it so when a user asks for weather in the morning, Siri can tell them it’s partly cloudy now, but they’ll need an umbrella later in the day and similar. This is assuming they integrate their new purchase without screwing it up, of course, which I think Apple is better at doing than Microsoft at least.</p>

  • Thomas Parkison

    31 March, 2020 - 4:35 pm

    <p>Good, the standard Weather app on iOS is useless. I look forward to Dark Sky being the replacement.</p>

    • Fuller1754

      31 March, 2020 - 6:26 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#535520"><em>In reply to trparky:</em></a><em> But you can already download DarkSky for your iPhone. So what do you gain?</em></blockquote><p><br></p>

      • lvthunder

        Premium Member
        31 March, 2020 - 7:30 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#535588">In reply to Fuller1754:</a></em></blockquote><p>For people who don't know to download Dark Sky is what the gain is.</p>

  • Cdorf

    Premium Member
    31 March, 2020 - 5:09 pm

    <p>bunch of crap, Further makes Apple suck</p>

  • Winner

    31 March, 2020 - 6:10 pm

    <p>This is like Microsoft in the late 90's. Buy small software makers and kill anything of theirs that might be competition for their own products. In this case, the Android versions of this app.</p>

    • hansolo

      01 April, 2020 - 3:21 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#535578">In reply to Winner:</a></em></blockquote><p>90s are calling wants you back, let's back to the present: this is like google in '10s</p>

  • Fuller1754

    31 March, 2020 - 6:24 pm

    <p>Snap. And I had finally found a weather app I really liked and that was worth paying their extremely reasonable fee for. Of course I'm on Android.</p>

    • Kudupa

      31 March, 2020 - 8:19 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#535587">In reply to Fuller1754:</a></em></blockquote><p>Try "Todays Weather"</p>

    • awsquared

      01 April, 2020 - 4:44 am

      <blockquote><em>Try "Weather &amp; Clock Widget". <a href="#535587">In reply to Fuller1754:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p>

  • Kudupa

    31 March, 2020 - 8:18 pm

    <p>If you are on Android, the I suggest "Today's weather" and it's an amazing app and in my experience it's on par with the dark Sky app.</p>

  • paulkbiba

    Premium Member
    31 March, 2020 - 8:58 pm

    <p>Try Rainaware for Android (or IOs). Not as pretty, but I've found it consistently more accurate than Dark Sky.</p>

  • hansolo

    01 April, 2020 - 3:21 am

    <p>I bet if it was MS the title and the article would be totally different</p>

  • Saarek

    01 April, 2020 - 12:11 pm

    <p>As an Apple user this is great news. Weather Apps are notorious for harvesting personal location data, so this won't be a concern for the average person anymore.</p><p><br></p><p>I'd not be surprised if they add it as an API that developers can use within iOS/Mac OS, accurate, private and a good selling point for Apple.</p>

Windows Intelligence In Your Inbox

Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Thurrott © 2024 Thurrott LLC