Weather Gods 1.1

By Weather Gods (Scott), 4 April, 2017

Forum
iOS and iPadOS

Hi All,

Stopping by to announce the release 1.1 of Weather God is now on the App Store.

There are some big changes in this release including a lot of changes for Voiceover users.

1. Feels like temperature

Now available in Settings. This is applied globally throughout the app. It is also affects whether the gods are awake or not. For example the Ice God might have been sleeping because the temperature was just above freezing, but will now be awake if the feels like takes the temperature below freezing.

2. Timeline

We've expanded the hourly gods view into a 7 day, hourly timeline, fully updated for voiceover. Get to it by double tapping one of the gods.

Swipe with three fingers left or right to scroll the timeline and get a day / night summary.

Swipe right with one finger to delve into the hourly information

Double tap to close the timeline.

The timeline now includes much more information.

3. Follow Me Weather (not notifications)

Quite a few requests for this.

It's off by default, but if you go to the favourites screen you can switch it on.

You will need to leave Weather Gods open and as you travel around we will load the weather and Voiceover will announce the new place. It has to be a least 2 miles / 3 kilometres before we look up a new place, and you need a decent network connection.

If you close Weather Gods then we wont automatically update (no point) but we will next time you open the app

4. Smart Weather Wheel

The weather wheel has been updated for voiceover to grade and prioritise the hourly weather data.

Before, voiceover would announce the information in the same order, with rain and snow being last, regardless of the weather.

Now, for each hour, voiceover will summarise based on a priority system, so if its raining you will hear about that first, same for wind, high UV etc

5. Localisation

We are now localised for Spanish and the other localisations have been updated for the new features and changes

6. Other improvements

a) We are now smarter about loading locations - it should solve some of the problems (we hope) with users getting the wrong location loaded.

b) Voiceover no longer announces the temperature units - it seemed a bit over the top, as we all know whether we were Fahrenheit or Celsius

c) We've switched to IBM for the weather gods heartbeat and push notifications - this is part of our ongoing change to send the push notifications from the cloud

d) Voiceover identifies a GPS location by announcing 'GPS' when swiping to the location label

e) Voiceover will speak the UV index when focussed on a UV label

f) You can now have seven favourite locations

g) Bug fixes around daylight saving time - we saw a few crashes with the recent change over in the USA and UK

h) Many more bug fixes.

I would just like to say a special thank you to all our beta testers and translators - you guys rock! Thank you!

As ever, if you are enjoying your time with the Weather Gods, then please, please, leave a review as they are reset with each new update. There is a direct link from Settings. Thank you.

If you are having any problems or have feature requests, then send us a feedback email (from Settings) and we will get back to you as soon as we can. Just a reminder that we are in the UK, so might be sleeping when you email (smile).

Best regards
Scott

Options

Comments

By Justin on Monday, April 10, 2017 - 14:28

Hi Scott,
Love the app, Everything looks wonderful! My only thing is, would there be a way to just put the feels like temp in the weather info, so for instance it would say "24 degrees, feels like 8 degrees."
Other than that little thing, the app seems great to me.
Thanks,
Justin.

By mendi on Monday, April 10, 2017 - 14:28

I would agree with Justin's suggestion. Just now, I tried the "feels like" setting, and then I turned it off and it reloaded. The difference was about 4 degrees, which can be more significant with things like wind. While I do want to know what it really does feel like, I like knowing the actual temperature as well, and it appears you have to select one or the other at this time.

Other than that minor detail, the rest of the app is fantastic, and I truly like that you are willing to listen to our feedback and suggestions.

Thanks for such a great and accessible app!

By Toonhead on Monday, April 10, 2017 - 14:28

I agree with the other 2, having the feels like temperature spoken, right after the actual one would be welcome! It's a nice thing to have right there in the app so if i'm going out, I know what it feels like.

By Weather Gods (Scott) on Monday, April 10, 2017 - 14:28

Thanks everybody,

I think thats a resounding request for the feels like to be placed just after the actual temperature :)

I will start making the changes, we have a small bug fix release 1.1.1 already cued up and I will try and get the fix into that.

Please keep the feedback coming.

Regards
Scott

By Justin on Monday, April 10, 2017 - 14:28

Hi,
Can't wait to see what's next. Definitely looking forward to see what you'll implement into the gods app!

By Weather Gods (Scott) on Monday, April 10, 2017 - 14:28

Hi All,

I've updated Weather Gods to say the feels like temperature if enabled.

For example: High 47 degrees, feels like 45 degrees

My question to the community ...

If the temperatures are the same, do you still want voiceover to give the feels like?

For example: High 47 degrees, feels like 47 degrees

Thanks
Scott

By Justin on Monday, April 10, 2017 - 14:28

Yes. It would still be beneficial. Also, would there be a way to put the feels like stuff all the way throat the app, and not just for the hi/low temps. This would possibly include the weather wheel also.
Just my thoughts,
Justin

By Weather Gods (Scott) on Monday, April 10, 2017 - 14:28

Hi Justin,

Thanks for feedback, I will leave it as it is then.

Have already added it to the timeline and the weather wheel :)

Wrapped up the development tonight. I will upload to our beta testers tomorrow for feedback.

Regards
Scott

By Toonhead on Monday, April 10, 2017 - 14:28

So I was just looking through the settings, and noticed that there are specific buttons for the volume level of sounds in the app. Could we maybe have that setting be a picker, where voiceOver users swipe up and down to get to the different volume levels? It would definitely clear up some screen space, and it would make adjusting the volume of the sounds a little faster. You could even have VoiceOver announce the volume level as we slide up and down to adjust the value. Am I nuts here, or is this something that's even possible? I just had a brainstorm so I figured i'd post it before I forget it.

By Weather Gods (Scott) on Monday, April 10, 2017 - 14:28

Hi Toonhead,

It's certainly possible to have a picker, but would require a bit of work as the current volume slider is a custom user interface control which we made accessible for voiceover.

In terms of screen space, it's about the same as the volume setting is a horizontal control, bit like a custom slider.

I'd prefer to keep it as it is for now - especially as we will be adding more to settings in future updates, and that would a good time to look at using a picker. We might even move audio etc into it's own screen.

Thanks for the suggestion.
Scott

By Toonhead on Monday, April 10, 2017 - 14:28

I definitely like the idea of the settings for audio being in its own screen eventually, so keep that on your roadmap. I thought it might be a custom screen which is why I was thinking it might take a bit of work, but wanted to toss it out there for your consideration! I am loving this new version, it's running great on my iPhone 7 running iOS 10.3.1.

By J.R. on Monday, April 10, 2017 - 14:28

I'm curious. I've never used this app, and someone recommended I use this app. Weather Radio gives me severe weather based on my location, and I have two other areas as well I monitor which are more general. Weather Radio also gets its information from NWS. It also has the feels like already built in where it feels like 45 if it is 47 and voice over already reads that. If I were to get this app, what would be different between weather radio and this one? It sounds like its got a lot, but thought I'd enquire. WDT has made their app accessible as well, and they give you alerts even though the app is closed.

By snowyowl on Monday, April 10, 2017 - 14:28

Hi.

One thing the Weather Gods app has is the moon phases rise and set times. Its a fantastic app Scott and thanks to you and your team for the updates. By the way if your looking for beta testers I'd love to join the team. My email is [email protected]. I love anything to do with weather I am even part of the weather watchers for the BBC although I haven't tried any weather photos yet.

Cheers and thanks again. From Snowy.

By Weather Gods (Scott) on Monday, April 10, 2017 - 14:28

Hi Snowy,

Thanks for offering to help with the testing!
I have sent you an invite for TestFlight.

Let me know if you need any help getting TestFlight up and running.

Regards
Scott

By snowyowl on Monday, April 10, 2017 - 14:28

Hi Scott. Once I get the invite do I follow that and then put the test flight programme on my iPhone and get it set up that way?
Thanks for inviting me to become a beta tester.

Cheers.

From Snowy.

By Weather Gods (Scott) on Monday, April 10, 2017 - 14:28

Hi Snowy,

Yep, TestFlight goes on your phone.

And then you open up the email invite on your phone and it should open TestFlight.

From there you can install Weather Gods.

Hope that works - it's been a long time since I installed TestFlight :)

Scott

By snowyowl on Monday, April 10, 2017 - 14:28

Hi Scott I haven't yet got the email but i'll check my email app on my phone and make sure it hasn't gone there. Thanks Scott.

By Weather Gods (Scott) on Monday, April 10, 2017 - 14:28

Ah, sorry Snowy,

I just realised we haven't uploaded a beta build since 1.1 - you wont get the email until release 1.1.1 beta is uploaded to the App Store for TestFlight.

I will be making one this afternoon. Just finishing off the testing.

By Holger Fiallo on Monday, April 10, 2017 - 14:28

When I went to see my weather regarding water god it told me it was sleeping. I open the god and heard something strange. I heard snoring or perring. It souned like my cat Bella. Now it is fix and water god is awake. Strange. I second motion about reporting feeling like. The issue withlocation changing to Evanston IL seems fix and now I am back to Chicago.

By Weather Gods (Scott) on Monday, April 10, 2017 - 14:28

Thanks Holger,

Glad the location is fixed and agreed on the feels like.

The purring sound is a sleeping god and it does sound a bit like a very content sleeping cat - I have an old ginger tom rescue cat and he purrs like that :)

One change we made for Weather Gods is to expire the cached data on the hour, for example if you check the weather at 10:59 and then move to a different screen at 11:00 then we will reload the latest weather for 11:00.

This can sometimes cause the situation where one second the god is asleep and the next it is awake.

Hi Snowy,

Apple just approved our TestFlight build for release 1.1.1

You should get the invite shortly.

Please let me know what you think of the 'Feels Like' changes?

Thanks
Scott

By Troy on Monday, April 10, 2017 - 14:28

I'm not sure if this is possible but is it possible to match the sounds for what the weather is actually doing in real time?

By J.R. on Monday, April 10, 2017 - 14:28

That definitely sounds interesting about moon phases. I found the wunderground.com has those, and Ive heard and used braille.wunderground.com which is accessible. I might try this app, it definitely sounds interesting.

By snowyowl on Monday, April 10, 2017 - 14:28

Hi Scott.

I got it sorted downloaded and installed and sent feedback on the feel like temperature.

I was thinking how about an intermitant rain sound for showers so you would hear the rain sound for a second or two silence for a second then the rain sound again. So far I'm loving the app.

Also when I send the feedback via my iPhone it includes some information about the device in the email. Does that need to remain in the email I took it out the text about device attachment when I sent the first.

Thanks Scott.

From Snowy.

Hi Troy,

We do try and match the sounds to current conditions.

Unfortunately, current conditions can be quite dynamic, especially with a fast moving weather front.

I'm hoping to switch to 15 minute weather data later this year which will mean we have much more recent information for current conditions.

Regards
Scott

By Weather Gods (Scott) on Monday, April 10, 2017 - 14:28

hi Snowy,

Thanks for the suggestion about the shower sound, i've added it to our list of feedback tickets. And thanks for the bug about the feels like being off - we've had a couple of reports now :)

With regards to the debug information in the email. We don't include any personal information in that email and we do find it very helpful when users are reporting problems. However, you are welcome to feedback through TestFlight (which doesn't have any debug) or via our feedback email.

Regards
Scott

By Holger Fiallo on Monday, April 10, 2017 - 14:28

I would like to see instead of typig the city in location, I could use my zip code. Perhaps this will remove Evanston Il fro mylocation. I had only been in Evanston 2 times and that was 4 years ago.

By Justin on Monday, April 10, 2017 - 14:28

Hi,
I thought you could type a zip code and the app would figure out where it was.

By Weather Gods (Scott) on Monday, April 10, 2017 - 14:28

Hi All,

I'm not familiar with US zip codes being from the UK, but I tried out a few famous ones and they seemed to work fine.

Let me know please if that's not the case.

Thanks
Scott