Weather apps for the iPhone

By Lisa, 31 July, 2013

Forum

iOS and iPadOS

Hello all, I am looking for a weather app that will track my iPhones current location, so that I can receive severe weather alerts where ever I might be. The two apps I am considering purchasing are MyWarn, and iMap weather radio. Do any of you have either of these apps, and if so what do you think of them? I will be away from home for 3 weeks next month, so I would like to receive any severe weather alerts where ever I'm at with my iPhone 4S. Any recommendations/thoughts will be very much appreciated! Thank you. Take care, Lisa

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Comments

MyWarn

Hi Lisa, I personally use MyWarn and love it. The only limitations are that MyWarn only notifies for flash flood, severe thunderstorm, and tornado watches or warnings as well as severe weather risks. While iMap Weather Radio notifies for other types of alerts, from what I'm hearing it has a number of accessibility issues.

Imap weather radio is

Imap weather radio is beautiful. I also like swackett.

StormShield

Hello Lisa, As Michael has mentioned above. The MyWarn Weather App is a great alert for those severe weather. The only problem I have with this particular one is that it only gives you the alerts you would find for the Spring and Summer times. Unless, of course you live very far South. ;) So I only recommend this for those die-hards. The other very popular options are the Weather Alert USA andd the iMap Weather Radio. The WeatherAlert is very accessible but the only issue that I have with this is that it doesn't follow me around. So this one was out for me. I just didn't want to take the time to have to create a location everytime I move around on the road and such. If you are looking at the iMapWeather which by the way I do love. There is a sister app that they have created that has the very same things but half of the price plus it offer more. It is not as accessible as the WeatherAlert but what I have found is that once you set this up. You really have no need to ever go back in to. I have recommended this to several people so far and all so far just love it. All you have to do is set up the alerts that you want to be notified about. Boom. You are done. It will now start following you around. So on the road or at a different city. This will only alert you for the location you are in. I just love it. So take a look at the Storm Shield http://www.applevis.com/apps/ios/weather/storm-shield HTH

MyWarn

Hello Michael, MyWarn sounds like a good app, but since I live in Michigan I would like an app that would give severe weather alerts for Winter storms as well. Thank you for your suggestion though.

StormShield

Hello Thomas, StormShield sounds like the app I'm looking for I'm gonna give it a try! Thank you.

Recommendations

Hi Lisa, If you want an app to follow your location, get Storm Shield or iMap Weather Radio. These apps provide alerts for winter storms and such, even if they're not the most accessible options. If you're going to be generally staying in one place or don't mind adding frequently-visited locations manually and want a comprehensive weather app, consider Weather Alert USA. It provides all the info you could want (minus Storm Prediction Center severe weather risks) and is accessible.

You can use Siri or the built in weather app

Siri tells you the weather for the current location. Also, The built in weather app has a gps location feature that allows you to know the weather for whatever location you are currently in.

No Alerts in Built-In Weather App

Hi Vash, I have a lot of issues with the built-in weather app. While you can get the current conditions and a forecast for your location and any other location you set, that's about all you can do. You cannot get alerts, the forecasts are not very detailed, and The accuracy leaves a lot to be desired as well.

StormShield

Hello Lisa, Let me know how you like it.

Storm Shield

I bought Storm Shield today. I noticed though, that the tracking location is on and it stays up in my status bar. Won't this significantly drain my battery though? If I turn this off will my iPhone then not be tracked by Storm Shield? For those of you with the Storm Shield app how do you handle this issue? I thought about turning tracking location on only when I travel. It seams like Storm Shield could use my phones GPS to push alerts to me. Any help with this will be very much appreciated! Thank you.

Battery Life

Hello Lisa, Oh no. You don't have to worry about that. I assure you. I understand the fright that may had on you. It had once to me as well when I saw this for the first time. Many of the Weather Alerts such app will have this services on. Stormshield is very light on the battery. You won't see much of any difference when it is on. You must have this on in order for the GPS know where you are. Unlike the Navigation apps that just sucks all of the battery life out of it. This does not. I assure you. That will be up to you to find out and try out to see what I mean. If you disable this feature then this app would be pointless to use. If you are ever under a lot of alerts then the battery will drop a bit more but not all that much like anything near those GPS navigation apps do. So I hope this helps you out.

Battery life

Hello Thomas, Thanks for putting my mind at ease! I will leave my tracking notifications on. I think I'm gonna really like this app!

No alerts coming through with Storm shield

Hello all, We had a severe thunderstorm warning here this morning. I got alerts from weather alert USA, the weather channel app, swacket, but nothing from storm shield. I checked settings under notifications and sounds, badges, and banners are all turned on for Storm Shield. Do any of you have any idea what might be going on here? I do have my local area saved in Storm Shield and tracking location is turned on. Any help with this will be very much appreciated!

Alerts Setup

Hello Lisa, As strange this may sound. I do believe by default when you first get this app. No alerts are set. So you will have to let StormShield know of which alerts you want to be notified about. To find these Alerts setup. Bring up StormShield. Find the Settings. Now go in to that page. There is the Notifications. Just double tap on this and be sure to select which alerts you want to be notified to ON. HTH

Alerts

Thank you for this tip. I never would of thought of that. I went in and selected the alerts that I wanted. VoiceOver was not helpful at all with this. I had to get sighted help with knowing which alerts were either selected or unselected. I hope it works for me now. If it doesn't I have no idea what else to try.

Alerts

Hello Lisa, In the Alerts the actual groups of alerts are accessible but individuals alerts you are correct. Those are not. An example is that when you reach the Thunderstorm/Tornado just flick once to the right. You will hear this button that gives you the Check None or Check All. If you do not want this set of alerts to notify you. Make sure this is set to Check All. Otherwise, if you do want to be notified of those alerts. Just be sure the Check Non is sounded. Sounds backward I know but when it is set to have those alerts to ON it is actually selected already and leaves the only option to turn them off by tapping on the Check None. The next set of alerts is the Flood. Flick once to the right. You will again hear the Check None if it is currently ON for all of those alerts. If you don't want the Flood alerts. Just double tap on this until it says Check All to turn this set of alerts to OFF. Hope this helps.

Storm Shield Alerts

Hello Anonymouse,, so if I'm understanding this correctly the check boxes need to be unchecked for me to receive the alerts I want to receive? That is very strange. If I double tap on check none I will then receive all of the alerts in that particular category? Very weird how this app works. Thanks for your help not sure if I would've figured that out on my own.

Stormsheild Alerts

Hello Lisa, Umm, think it as this way. If you double tap on the Check All. Everything in that group set of alerts are then selected. Which then only have the option of turning those alerts off by double tapping on the Check None. Yes, it can be perceived as being backwards but this is certainly not the first I've seen this. There are a number of apps that I've own that does this. It is definetly a weird way of doing it for certain. It almost need to be labeled as Turn Off Alerts than Check None. Which I suppose one could renamed the button as that! ;) Sorry for that confusion. Just hope it was worth the purchase that I have recommended and that it does indeed alert you as you move around to different locations.