Weather Live is an Android app that aims to deliver up-to-date and accurate weather information no matter where you are in a good-looking and fun app that has a lot to offer. It features hourly, daily and weekly looks at the weather where you are, will notify you of upcoming storms, torrential rain, dangerous ice and so much more besides. With satellite maps showing rain and incoming pressure, accurate wind speed and direction, visibility, sunrise and sunset, moonrise and moonset, Weather Live has a long list of boxes, all of them ticked. Customizable layouts to tailor the experience to you, as well as access the weather on an Android Wear smartwatch, too. With so much on offer, this might be one of the best weather apps out there, so let’s find out whether it is or not.
There are two versions of Weather Live to download, the free version or an ad-free version which also unlocks the animated rain and weather maps, too. Once launched, you’ll be given a view of your current location in the default setup, which does look pretty nice as it is.
Right away however, I came across a recurring theme, which was pop-ups that appeared on display asking me to check out new apps or rate Weather Live. Whether or not this is just part of the free version is unclear, but it was certainly off-putting and carried on happening every time that I launched the app.
A key feature of Weather Live is being able to take a look at animated maps of the rain and other incoming weather patterns.
This is a feature which is only available in the paid version, but the free app will give users the opportunity to try this out by watching an ad, which I thought was a fairly reasonable compromise.
Another selling point of Weather Live is that it’s customizable for users looking to make adjustments to how the app looks using different layouts.
The variety of layouts should suit different tastes, making Weather Live the sort of app that will appeal to a wide-range of users.
Each of these layouts looks distinct from one another, for instance the screen above and the screen below are different, but they still get across similar information.
Users have further control over the app by changing what sort of information is shown on any given layout.
There are other notable features users can adjust besides the look and feel of the app, like the Nightstand Mode and other tweaks and settings. All of these are very nice to have, and some of them – like the ability to turn the app on when plugged in – could be good ways of encouraging people to reuse their devices.
Weather Live also features a pretty handy temperature readout in the notification tray on Android as well.
Compared to the one that most users will be familiar seeing – the Google Now notification – Weather Live has more info to offer, and it also looks nicer, too.
After spending quite some time seeing just what Weather Live has to offer, it’s easy to say that this is one of the more fully-featured weather apps on Android. It’s not all perfect however – for one thing, I didn’t appreciate the constant pop-ups every time I launched the app asking me to try out another app or rate the app. For another, the settings are complicated: I might know what all of these settings mean, but for an app of this caliber a tutorial would be nice to give new users a helping hand. Still, with such a good-looking display that shows off the weather nice and neatly – also adjusting to the time of day – and lots of information on offer, this is clearly a winner. The customization options are appreciated, but for a lot of people it will be the animated weather maps that will get people excited, and for good reason, it’s like having a personal weather forecast whenever and wherever you want one.
Ratings
- Speed (4/5) – While not blazingly-quick, the app never takes longer than a few moments to load.
- Theme (5/5) – Subtle and familiar, Weather Live is an app that looks good and offers people a lot of different options to customize things to their tastes. Besides, the animated maps and backgrounds are very good-looking, too.
- Features (4/5) – The animated maps for rain and weather fronts are certainly a high point, but elsewhere this offers many similar features to other weather apps out there. With more customization options however, this does have a lead over other weather apps out there.
- Overall (4/5) – With so many features available and all-around good look and feel, Weather Live is one of the best weather apps available in the Play Store. The animated maps are certainly a high point for many, and will be worth the extra cash for some people.
Pros
- Good-looking and familiar interface that will work out well for a lot of people.
- Lots of customization options ranging from different layouts and what information is displayed to how the app behaves and runs.
- Animated weather maps for both incoming rain and weather fronts is a nice, professional touch that many advanced users will really appreciate.
- Simple enough for everyday, casual users to appreciate, but also complicated enough for those looking to get the absolute most out of the app.
Cons
- Pop-ups asking to try out another app or rate the app can be quite annoying overall.
- Doesn’t offer any animation in the default weather view, sadly.
All-in-all, Weather Live is an Android app that has a lot to offer those looking to find out what the weather is doing with great accuracy and an attractive interface. The free version could do with some of the pop-ups being scaled back, but the paid-version of the app appears to be a good value. The animated maps are a great addition and there’s lots of options here to make Weather Live feel and look just as you want it to as well.