r/iosapps • u/NickOTeenO • 4h ago
🎁 Freemium Weather app that shows which forecast is actually right where you live. Now checked against real weather stations, plus a free Apple Watch app
TL;DR
- No weather forecast is the most accurate everywhere. The best one changes from city to city, and VeriSky shows you which one wins at your location.
- It's now checked against real airport weather stations. Apple Weather usually lands mid-table. VeriSky's Blend beat it at almost 9 out of 10 airports
- New: a free Apple Watch app, lock screen widgets, light mode and a (Liquid) glass look.
Hi! I'm Nick, the solo developer of VeriSky. I built it because I kept checking several weather apps before going sailing or planning something outside, and I could never remember which one had actually been right last time. So VeriSky keep track of that: it saves what every forecast predicted, compares it with what really happened, and scores them for your location.
I shared it here a few months ago and got a lot of great feedback. Here is how I implemented it
A: Answer
The biggest criticism back then was fair: I was checking forecasts against a model's reconstruction of the weather (which takes measurements as input), but not real measurements. So my server now compares every forecast with what (airport) weather stations actually measured, at 154 weather stations around the world. You can also add your own personal weather station or start tracking one nearby you.
Ten different forecasts came out on top for temperature somewhere. A model that's great in New York can be mediocre in Amsterdam. Picking the right one for your spot matters more than which app is the biggest.
B: Better (the things you asked for)
- Apple Watch app (free): today at a glance, yesterday's forecast check, temperature and rain complications
- Lock screen widgets
- A Drift tab that shows how the forecast for a day changed each day, next to what actually happened
- A score map showing which forecast wins where at any location in the world
- The Today tab just shows the Blend, for those who said "just pick the best one for me"
- Light mode, Liquid Glass and 16 languages
C: Cost
Free, no login, no data collection. Everything that was free stays free, including all national models, the scores, the maps, widgets and the watch app. Pro ($2.99/month or $19.95/year) adds Apple Weather and the other commercial forecasts, rain nowcast and sports windows, which covers the API and server costs.
