Latest technological advancements have transformed the weather forecast industry. With approx 88.7% of users alone in America, modern weather forecast apps are gaining high popularity in the market. These weather forecast apps while using hundreds of satellites, weather stations, and computers, aims to predict the correct weather for you. So vast is the popularity of weather forecast apps, that there are almost 8000 android apps and 2400 iOS apps that have ‘weather’ as a word in their title. To overcome this considerable market, you have to keep your best foot forward, and the key to that is UVP. UVP or unique value point in your app will make you stand out from the competition.
But before we dig deep into the concept, let’s check out for whom is it beneficial to develop a weather forecast app.
Weather Forecast Mobile App – Who is it for?
Despite some great success stories, the weather forecast app isn’t top-rated among startups, as it is quite challenging to monetize. However, there are still some potential businesses who can benefit from these weather forecast apps. To name a few, we have,
1. Travel Agency
A travel agency very well knows how weather can make a whole different impression of a trip then that expected. If you are on a beach vacation and suddenly it starts to rain heavily, then you won’t even step out of your room. That’s where these weather forecast apps come into play. It offers excellent advantages such as providing up-to-date insights on weather, creating a robust customer base for your brand, acting as a promotional channel for your offers, and so on. In short, a weather forecast app for travel business can be a great source to increase sales and brand value.
2. Online Media Publisher
Another potential use for a weather forecast app includes news networks, TV channels, radio stations, and so on. These stakeholders do not use the weather forecast app only to make direct profits. Instead, they use weather apps firstly to create and increase brand loyalty, and secondly to improve the customer base. So, the online media publishers can leverage the benefits of weather forecasting app to redirect the users to their main homepage, or publisher’s website. And we all know that the more the customer’s reach, the more is the ads revenue.
3. Local Authority
Finally, it’s crucial to develop a weather forecast app for the areas prone to natural weather calamities. For the people to live in these areas can be risky. Hence, local authorities need to invest in weather forecast app development. Besides providing accurate weather for a particular area, the weather forecast app will also help users to plan their activity, distribute local news and critical alerts, and to prepare the people for natural disasters in advance. In short, it’s a great way to tell people how much you care about them and to increase your social brand.
Benefits Of Weather Forecast App
A well-crafted weather forecast app is beneficial for several industrial sectors and individuals alike. To name a few we have,
1. On-Time Alerts
A robust benefit of using weather forecast app is on-time alerts. The mobile weather app provides real-time updates on the weather so that people can remain alert. It also helps people to prepare for natural calamities like hurricanes, or thunderstorms by providing real-time alerts. This benefit of mobile weather app saves a lot of resources that are vital to humankind.
2. Saves Time
Besides saving costs, mobile weather apps also help to keep a lot of crucial time. It seamlessly notifies people about the weather conditions while eliminating the use of TV or radio channels to get reported. It also enables the people to make necessary preparations anytime, anywhere. In short, it saves a lot of time and effort.
3. Government/Administration Assistance
While leveraging the great benefits like real-time alerts and mobile functionalities, the government too can send warning signals through a weather forecast app. The latest technologies enable the administration to know about any natural disaster in advance so that they can take necessary actions. Moreover, the weather app directly utilizes the satellite-based data so that users can be notified instantly.
4. Helpful in Aviation/Logistic Industry
Both the aviation, as well as the logistics industry, rely significantly on weather data. They need to have accurate weather information on specific locations to save useful resources. For instance, the aviation sector, after knowing about any natural calamity, changes the routes of their flights. Similar is the case with the logistics industry. So, both industries benefit from the mobile weather app by saving time and deliverables.
5. A Helping Hand to Farmers
Agriculture is another potential sector to benefit from the weather forecast app. Even though modern times have made huge technological advancements, the farming sector still depends on monsoon and favourable weather conditions. So, a well-designed weather app can be of great use to provide beneficial insights on weather conditions to help farmers get a higher crop yield. It also proves helpful to raise economy standards by forecasting daily, weekly, or monthly weather scenarios.
5. Facilitates Travel and Tourism Industry
The travel and tourism industry can leverage weather forecast app to make enormous profits. With seamless access to weather conditions of a particular location, they can schedule their trips accordingly to earn maximum revenues. Moreover, the customized weather mobile app also proves beneficial for military operations. There are many instances where the weather has played a critical role in deciding the fate of the war. So, military persons can also benefit from a weather forecast app.
Thanks to the latest technological advancements in weather forecast industry, the mobile weather apps are now proven to be a lifesaver. But the weather app only remains beneficial until and unless it gets accurate weather updates.
5 Best Weather Apps
Thanks to several trustworthy APIs, we can now have reliable weather reports at our fingertips. Let’s check some of these APIs
1. OpenWeatherMap
Open weather is an excellent source of weather data. It relies on almost 400,000 weather stations around the planet to provide useful insights on climate-related historical data, weather conditions and even pollution-related information. Moreover, you can also get UV index, precipitation rate, and wind direction through interactive localized maps. You can leverage this app to get historical data for up to 5 years and set alarms for specific weather conditions.
2. AccuWeather
Another prevalent weather mobile app in the market is AccuWeather. It is the most prominent weather app and provides information to over 2 billion people across the globe. It provides daily and hourly weather records while using thousands of real-time weather observatories. It also supports more than 100 global languages.
3. DarkSky
DarkSky was formerly known by the name forecast.io. Besides multiple language support, it also offers historical data and enables developers to get local weather data. Moreover, it shows precision while updating about the natural calamity, if any. It has a straightforward and optimum pricing model.
4. World Weather Online
WorldWeatherOnline is a weather forecast tool, specially designed for the travel industry. It offers real-time forecast and helps in planning cruises and snow holidays by notifying about surfing and skiing weather. You can also customize the features of this API as per your needs. The prices, however, vary according to the plan selected.
5. WeatherUnderground
WeatherUnderground is an API that belongs to the weather channel. It serves to provide critical weather information in as many as 80 languages. Besides that, it also offers local climate data, astronomical data, and historical weather data seamlessly.
So, that’s how the top weather mobile apps gather useful data for their valuable customers. Now, if you too, have made your mind to develop a customized weather forecast app, then you need to know it’s top features.
Key Features Of Weather Forecast App
The most critical aspect while developing a weather forecast mobile app is to opt the right functionalities. To break-down,
1. Earth-time Lapse
This feature offers the users to view historical changes in weather conditions of a specific location over a specified period.
2. Rain-Forecast
Rain-forecast is another vital feature that showcases the probability of rain along with windy, cloudy, or very cloudy indicators.
3. Climate Map
This feature will provide climate info like humidity, air temperature, sea level, and carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere.
4. Wind Indicator
This feature is handy for users like paragliders, kite surfers, windsurfers, and sailors. It provides vital insights on wind speed and direction.
5. Sunrise, Sunset and Moonrise
The essential feature of weather forecast app is to predict the day length. You can also include the /moonrise option to give more uniqueness to your mobile app.
6. UV Weather Map
That is another robust feature which is very useful in summers. UV weather map provides the sun’s UV radiation level over a specific part of the earth through the solar UV Index.
7. Weather Forecast
Last but not least, this feature fulfils the aim of weather forecast app. It seamlessly displays the present weather of a specific location along with daily, hourly, or even minute-to-minute updates.
Additional Features Of Weather Forecast App
Besides basic functionalities, your app should also have some other features that would make your mobile app outstanding.
1. Impressive Weather Visualizations
Besides providing valuable data on past weather conditions, you can also offer stunning visuals to make your weather app enjoyable. These appealing visualizations can help to lure more users and can increase your customer base.
2. Smart Notifications
This feature can add significant value to your mobile app. Smart notifications can help the users to stay updated or to make necessary arrangements to deal with the weather change.
3. Drought Monitoring
Drought monitoring is another ultimate feature for people involved in farming. This robust feature can help to minimize the losses due to drought by alarming the farmers in advance.
4. Hyper-local Forecast
This basic yet effective feature is very useful to predict thunderstorm, rain, and other vital changes in weather, it provides data with per-minute accuracy, while using current user location.
5. Temperature Trends
That is another cool and useful feature that showcases the temperature trends across a specific location to the users. The comment section adds more to this feature.
For a startup who is planning to invest in a weather forecast app, it is advisable to include the basic features in the initial days, and gradually add advanced features as per the needs.
How Much Does It Cost To Develop A Weather Forecast App?
After analyzing all the vital aspects involved in developing a weather forecast app, it is crucial to know how much does it cost to develop an app with all these great features. Like, other mobile apps, the cost for developing a weather forecast app also depends on multiple factors, like
1. Platform Opted
There are two major platforms for mobile app development, viz., iOS and Android. Both these platforms have their respective features and costings. So, you can choose one of the platforms for app development. Majority of people often choose both the platforms to target more audiences.
2. Features Selected
As discussed above, there are a lot of basic as well as advanced features for your mobile app. The development cost keeps on increasing as you select several features. For a low budget firm, it is advisable to select only the essential functions to compete with existing apps.
3. Design Aspect
There is no use of how many features your app has if it is not user-friendly. So the design aspect mainly focuses on building a user-friendly platform besides providing an interactive appearance.
4. Developer’s Cost
The development cost generally varies as per the geographical landscape. Moreover, the big and reputed firms are obviously going to charge more as compared to small firms. So, you should always try to go for a quality-focused firm. It may be possible that they charge a bit higher than other firms, but to sustain in this competitive market, you must go for quality over price.
Wrapping Up!
The weather industry has started to gain momentum. However, you need a strong development team to develop a robust weather forecast app to survive in the market. Although developing a weather forecast app doesn’t require many resources, but it is undoubtedly beneficial for your business. Moreover, developing a weather forecast app also does not require an in-house development team. That means you can hire a remote development team for your project. You only need to find the right mobile app development firm to bring a robust, feature-rich weather forecast app.
