The Week in iOS Apps: Making weather simple
This week's roundup includes two different apps that aim to strip weather forecasting down to its barest essence.
Making weather simple
This week’s roundup includes two different apps that aim to strip weather forecasting down to its barest essence. Read on!
Anchor
The success of live-video apps like Periscope seems to have inspired some envy among audiophiles. Anchor is a free iPhone offering that lets you “broadcast” two-minute audio clips—“think mini podcasts,” the makers say—which can be shared on iMessage, Facebook, Twitter, SMS, or email, or embedded on a website or blog.
Catmania
Catmania lets you send cat-themed, personalized animated postcards and greeting videos through your phone. You could say it’s the cat’s meow, a purrfect offering. Certainly, we’re feline it.
Hello Weather
Weather apps—and there are no end of them—tend to go one of two directions: They either overload you with information, delighting the weather nerds who keep a close on on barometric pressure; or they strip it down to the essence, showing you the current weather, and maybe a short forecast. Hello Weather is the second kind.
Mood Listener
Mood Listener is kind of like Pandora, except that this SoundCloud-based app builds playlists for you based on your mood—you let it know how you’re feeling, and it will play songs that fit your mental state.
Quartz
Quartz is a new news app from the Quartz website, but it’s trying something different: News as SMS-style messaging. “We’ll send you messages, photos, GIFs, and links, and you can decide when you’re interested in reading more,” the makers say. Will it work? It’s certainly a fresh take on news delivery.
Sleep++
Sleep++ has always recorded your sleep and given you feedback on your nocturnal rhythms. Now the app has been overhauled with a new sleep analysis algorithm that “accurately differentiates between deep sleep, light sleep, restlessness and wakefulness.” Also among the new features: Support for time zone changes, to better and more accurately track your sleep as you travel.
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated has long offered its magazine as a standalone app. The new SI app does something different—it takes the mag’s website and makes it useful in the mobile format.
Wild Weather
You think Hello Weather has a simple format? Wild Weather strips it down even further: It gives you the current temperature and a nice, artistic rendering of what the weather outside looks like. It almost makes weather info seem soothing.
Others of note
WordPress now allows the creation of new blogs from within the app … Vine has added support for 3D Touch … The Walking Dead: No Man’s Land (pictured) challenges you to kill zombies. Duh.
