Weather Gods 3.5

By Weather Gods (Scott), 24 December, 2021

Forum
iOS and iPadOS

Hi All,

Just posting to give some more details about the new release.

As well as a lot of bug fixes, the main update is something which I am trialling, which is bolt ons. These will be subscription based features which I hope offer good value, the idea being is you can stop and start them when needed.

The first one is called the Extended Forecast and is priced at $1.49 per month and offers the following features.

14 day hourly forecast in the Pantheon and Weather Wheel, including the weather gods timelines. This is a global feature

Air Quality - comprehensive air quality for the next four days. Available in the Pantheon, Weather Wheel, Air God timeline, in the watch app, as a watch complication and as a small and medium Home Screen widget. This is a global feature.

Double tapping the air quality button next to the Air God gives more details about the current air quality, including the pollutants and what they mean to your health. At the bottom of this screen is an hourly chart showing the air quality for the next 12 hours. I have incorporated the iOS15 accessibility Audio Charts into this chart. Swipe up or down on the rotor to hear the chart as a series of tones, or get more details about the chart. This includes information such as the min and max values, the trend, any outliers etc The chart is repeated on the details screen and you can scrub through the chart hearing the tones and the associated values.

Next up is minutely weather data. This is a chart which appears when rain or snow is forecast in the next hour. The chart depicts the rain or snow amounts for the next 60 minutes, including when it will start or stop. The chart is fully enabled as an audio chart and can be used in the manner described above for Air Quality. The chart will appear at the bottom of the current weather screen or now screen. This is NOT a global feature but is limited to the US, Canada, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Western Europe.

Last, we have a complimentary weather wheel, which many of you probably already have with the Premium subscription, but for those who don't, its a useful addition providing 14 days of hourly data, all fully accessible.

Access to the extended forecast can be found in settings, explore features or by going into settings, My Account and then View Plans.

Hopefully people will find this bolt on useful and if it proves popular then it opens the door to me offering other features such as pollen, lightning, threats, health indices etc

I would like to thank our tireless beta testers and translators for their efforts with 3.5, it is very much appreciated!

If you haven't left a review for Weather Gods on the App Store then I would love to hear your feedback please.

Finally, I would like to wish everybody a Merry Christmas and a Healthy, Happy New Year!
Scott

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Comments

By Lisa on Thursday, January 6, 2022 - 16:54

Hello,
I really enjoy using this app, but it no longer works on my watch. Do you have a one time payment option instead of a subscription? I really prefer to do things that way. Thank you

By Soren on Thursday, January 6, 2022 - 16:54

Hello.
So? am i understanding this right? Pro subscribers should buy more subscriptions now, just to get every feature?
So a different subscription for every feature of the app?

By Weather Gods (Scott) on Thursday, January 6, 2022 - 16:54

Hi,

The premium subscription offers a good range of features. Additional features actually cost me more, so I am left having to charge for these features. It's unfortunate, but weather data and server costs have to be accounted for somewhere.

Hopefully, if you do take up the subscription, you will find them useful and good value. I do put a lot of effort into the accessibility side of the app and especially spent a lot of time with the audio charts for the air quality and minutely precipitation.

As an aside, over the years I have personally invested over $40,000 in supplying the weather data and server costs, if we were to take into account my personal time developing the app, then it would run into many more 1000s of dollars.

Since introducing subscriptions to the app, I have less than 200 subscribers, paying $2.99 per month. From that, Apple takes 15% (it was 30%). The current subscriptions do not even cover the premium data costs.

So, yes, I do have to charge, otherwise the app becomes even more untenable.

By Weather Gods (Scott) on Thursday, January 6, 2022 - 16:54

Hi Lisa,

If you are a grandfathered user, then the watch app should still work. I had a problem with the last update unfortunately. Please send me a feedback email from within the app and I will try and resolve.

Thanks

By Dennis Long on Thursday, January 6, 2022 - 16:54

Scott thank you!!! This is an awesome update. To those that don't want to pay data and other costs need to be accounted for we should support good accessible apps. Thanks for all you do its appreciated. Merry Christmas.

By Jo Billard on Thursday, January 6, 2022 - 16:54

I paid for WG a few months before subscriptions. Do I have topay for the new features? It says I do but I thought those of us who already bought WG don't have to pay for a subscription. Just confused.

By Weather Gods (Scott) on Thursday, January 6, 2022 - 16:54

Hi Jo,

Anyone who paid for Weather Gods before subscriptions is grandfathered into a lifetime premium subscription. Unfortunately I had some problems with the last update regarding the grandfathering, it seems related to people with new devices or people who uninstalled the app for any reason.

However, I have the means to fix this remotely, thankfully. If you can send me a feedback email please then I can grant you a lifetime premium subscription.

Regarding the extended forecast, air quality and minutely data. This is an extra subscription for all users costing $1.49 per month.