What is it? A multi-source retro-themed weather app with attitude
Who is it for? Anyone tired of the existing forecast apps
How much does it cost? Generous free tier, $2/month or $20/year for ‘Ultra’
What makes it special? Its a compelling mix of facts and fun
Weather apps are ten a penny on the App Store, but it’s still fertile ground for somebody to try something new. RAD Weather is the latest to turn my head, combining the snarky personality of CARROT with the multi-source forecasts of Acme. It’s then stuffed through a homemade retro filter, resulting in something quite unique in a crowded space.
RAD Cortex, the app’s “brain,” doesn’t just hand you a single forecast. As described on its website, it pulls from several trusted weather sources, lets them argue, checks the result against years of historical data, and serves it back up in plain language. You get a straightforward confidence score on how much the models agree, which is a nice way to handle an unreliable science.
The aforementioned snark – complete with a “brutality” slider you can dial to your preference – isn’t always as sharp as CARROT’s, but it did make me chuckle a few times. It’s a nice way to absorb complex forecast summaries and doesn’t come at the expense of good old-fashioned numbers and graphs. And those numbers and graphs are plentiful, with almost every data point you could think of covered here, from moon cycles to air pressure to pollen count to tide times and more. Pinning any of these adds them to your home screen.
The app is stuffed with thoughtful extras, too: there’s a “morning edition” that reads like a weather-desk news bulletin, a 3D globe you can swipe across to get live weather anywhere in the world, and amusing weather “dispatches” you can share with friends. I love how you can scrub through the day’s temperature chart to preview what’s going on later – although the pixel art “scene preview” doesn’t do the best job of representing those changes visually. There are hidden games and easter eggs scattered around for those who care to find them, a solid collection of good-looking widgets, and an accompanying Apple Watch app.
RAD throws a lot at you, so it can take a bit of effort to find your footing – I found it a little overwhelming at first. If you’re in the market for minimalism, this ain’t it. But thankfully it’s pretty customizable, so you can pick and choose the aspects that work for you and tailor each view to your liking. The interface itself – doused in hand-drawn pixel art and general 70s computer terminal nostalgia – won’t be to everyone’s taste. But to the right crowd (which includes me) it’s a refreshing alternative to Apple’s liquid glass aesthetic.
And that crowd is a big part of what makes the app special: solo developer Sam Rozzi told me more than half of RAD’s features came directly from conversations with his “RAD Bots” – the die-hard community who use the app daily. He set out to build something accurate, simple, and fast. I wouldn’t call the end result simple, exactly, but it nails the other two and has charm to boot. You can really tell how much love and care has been poured into this project.
RAD Weather can match the big names for both features and reliability, so whether it earns a permanent place on your Home Screen really just comes down to how much you dig the style and the fun extras. Give the free version a whirl and see if it hooks you.