Every one of us deals with weather and accurate data can help us make better decisions. The weather apps nowadays for both iOS and android help people understand what exactly to expect from the change in weather. Their alerts keep us updated on any variation.
Although weather forecasting has come a long way and helps people to be aware of various conditions. If you live in an area where weather frequently changes from torrential rain to sunny in minutes, it is better to have appropriate preparations in place. The best solution is, of course, a weather application.
The weather applications get updates about the latest information relating to forecasts. They help track information for every minute and always help us to remain a step ahead. The best weather apps have API integration of a meteorological service provider. They help seamlessly avail weather data onto any platform, software, or system. You can check the latest API on the block at https://tomorrow.io/weather-api/.
Understanding the Requirements
The availability of the latest technology in this sector has made the best weather apps to serve as pocket weather channels. It means that users have evolved with time. Apart from getting information about short-term weather changes, they also want to know how it will be next week, month, or the year ahead.
You must undertake both primary and secondary research to identify the exact requirements of a weather app. The apps currently present on iOS and android help understand the day’s duration, timings of sunrise and sunset, and even the amount of rainfall.
Nowadays, people want to know about the UV level, the feels-like temperature, wind speed, and humidity levels. If you are planning to create our weather application that will make others curious, you should have certain features in it. You will get an idea of these in the next section.
Recommended Features
Making a mark in a virgin market is always easy vis-à-vis creating value for a saturated or well-informed audience set. Since you have already considered weather app creation as your startup idea and have accumulated research data for the same, it is wise to understand the features that people often opt for:
- Users like to have historical temperature trends and changes in diverse areas. You can add comments like today’s temperature is X degrees, which is lower than last year. It can also include a note on temperature variations and have suggestive precautionary measures.
- The agricultural industry needs accurate and precise information on weather changes for planning their crops. If you can help them with drought monitoring tools and forecast them correctly, you are bound to have a dedicated audience from this industry.
- Creating the most accurate weather application for android or iOS needs proper planning and subscribing to efficient data sets. You can choose to add a global climate change map which can be handy for the users to get regular updates from one dashboard.
While the above features are what researchers have found to be relevant for a larger audience, you can customize them as per the requirement of your target. However, it is worth mentioning that whichever features you choose, it is ideal to consider them during the initial stages of the weather app development process. It helps you to have a well-planned and functional structure from day one.
Key Design Elements
The basic design of your application or the principal design philosophy should have inbuilt characteristics which should help it identify with the target users. You should prioritize functionality over any other aspect while choosing these elements for your app design. Keeping the above principle in mind, you can choose to have:
- Quick notifications for current weather forecasts – Push notifications are a vital aspect of weather applications today. It helps people to be aware of any sudden change in weather conditions. So plan to include in-app notifications in your app design basics.
- Prediction based on user location – A vital aspect of a weather app is to be hyper-local. It means your application should guide the user with accurate data regarding any upcoming storm, rain, or any other natural calamity in their location.
- Visualizations with appealing maps – A crucial aspect of any weather forecasting app is its depiction of information. You should have stunning maps that will help users to explore historic as well as future weather data.
This article does not have an exhaustive list of dos and don’ts for your new weather app. It also does not include any information about the technical aspect of designing a weather app. However, it can help you to understand the crucial variable of your startup – your customers.
