Apple Buys Dark Sky Weather App, Shuts Down Android Version

Apple has acquired Dark Sky, a weather app popular for its short-term weather predictions and radar maps. Dark Sky’s Android app will be shut down.

“Our goal has always been to provide the world with the best weather information possible, to help as many people as we can stay dry and safe, and to do so in a way that respects your privacy,” Dark Sky co-founder said in a blog post announcing the acquisition. “There is no better place to accomplish these goals than at Apple. We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to reach far more people, with far more impact, than we ever could alone.

The iOS version of the app won’t change. Users who want access to Dark Sky can download it on an Apple device and pay a one time fee of $3.99 for access to the service. Android users paid a yearly subscription fee of $2.99 for its version of the app.

“Service to existing users and subscribers will continue until July 1, 2020, at which point the app will be shut down,” Grossman said in the blogpost. “Subscribers who are still active at that time will receive a refund.”

Apple declined to comment on this story.

Dark Sky is popular with its fans because of its intuitive user interface and minute to minute breakdown of the weather. Weather predictions are never perfect, but Dark Sky provided a reasonably accurate breakdown of expected weather conditions down to the minute. I often checked it before setting out for a run on a cloudy day, making sure I could beat a possible rainstorm.

It was also popular because it’s one of the few weather apps that promised not to sell its users’ personal information.

Now I, and many other web and Android based Dark Sky users, will have to find another service. But it won’t be one with a connection to Dark Sky, which used to license its API to third party weather apps. That’s also ending. “Our API service for existing customers is not changing today, but we will no longer accept new signups,” Grossman said. “The API will continue to function through the end of 2021.”

Dark Sky did not immediately return our request for comment.