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The Weather App Comes to iPad Finally! 12 years after the first iPad, Apple released a native Weather app which doesn't point to a website with ads. Next year

The Weather App Comes to iPad Finally! 12 years after the first iPad, Apple released a native Weather app which doesn't point to a website with ads. Next year they should release a calculator.

frankjr 4y ago
I wonder what was the real reason behind this. Surely taking the iOS's Weather app and scaling it to bigger screens didn't take them 12 years. Anyway, I'm glad it's there.
- nojito 4y ago
  Integration with dark sky most likely.
- avrionov 4y ago
  MKBD asked Craig Federighi in 2020 [1]. Federighi said it would be very easy for Apple to just scale the iPhone Weather app to the iPad, but that's not something the company wants to do, instead looking to create an app that makes use of the larger screen of the iPad in every possible way [1] https://tech.hindustantimes.com/tech/news/apple-exec-explains-why-the-ipad-misses-out-on-these-two-apps-71593321843819.html https://tech.hindustantimes.com/tech/news/apple-exec-explain...
  - mason55 4y ago
    That's an answer but not a reason. Surely it didn't take Apple 12 years to figure out how to make an iPad-native weather app. Either they explicitly didn't want to make one for some reason or they just didn't care. If they actually wanted to make a weather app they could have done it.
    - threeseed 4y ago
      Because Apple does not have infinite development resources. There have always been far more important things to work on than an iPad weather app. In this case they happened to get it for free with their Dark Sky acquisition.
  - frankjr 4y ago
    Isn't that exactly what they have done though? I guess they were looking but didn't come up with something better.
  - Kon-Peki 4y ago
    > makes use of the larger screen of the iPad in every possible way For example, the Xsnow accumulation on the top in-app widgets! I wonder - if you shake the iPad, will it clear away?
    - seltzered_ 4y ago
      Funny, I switched to a linux tablet pc last year and at one point ran xsnow while running macos in virtualbox.
- jdminhbg 4y ago
  They acquired Dark Sky and have turned it into a new API service (WeatherKit) that's being released with iOS 16. Presumably the wait was that they built the API and dogfooded it as the basis for this new app. Why it didn't come with a weather app at release in 2010 I'm not sure, but why it hasn't come in the past few years is almost certainly because they were building it with their new in-house weather API.
- twoodfin 4y ago
  I’m guessing that sourcing quality, comprehensive weather data does not come cheap—Dark Sky was never a primary source, AFAIK. The cheapest iPad has been cheaper than the cheapest iPhone for some time now, and that licensing cost ate into margin more than they were previously willing to accept.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
Tempest1981 4y ago
WeaWow is an ad-free weather app; it works on iPad: https://weawow.com/ https://weawow.com/ > "Weawow is sustained by user donations."
kstrauser 4y ago
Hey, https://doesipadhaveweatherappyet.com https://doesipadhaveweatherappyet.com got updated!

The Weather App Comes to iPad Finally! 12 years after the first iPad, Apple released a native Weather app which doesn't point to a website with ads. Next year they should release a calculator.

frankjr 4y ago

I wonder what was the real reason behind this. Surely taking the iOS's Weather app and scaling it to bigger screens didn't take them 12 years. Anyway, I'm glad it's there.

nojito 4y ago
Integration with dark sky most likely.
avrionov 4y ago
MKBD asked Craig Federighi in 2020 [1]. Federighi said it would be very easy for Apple to just scale the iPhone Weather app to the iPad, but that's not something the company wants to do, instead looking to create an app that makes use of the larger screen of the iPad in every possible way [1] https://tech.hindustantimes.com/tech/news/apple-exec-explains-why-the-ipad-misses-out-on-these-two-apps-71593321843819.html https://tech.hindustantimes.com/tech/news/apple-exec-explain...
- mason55 4y ago
  That's an answer but not a reason. Surely it didn't take Apple 12 years to figure out how to make an iPad-native weather app. Either they explicitly didn't want to make one for some reason or they just didn't care. If they actually wanted to make a weather app they could have done it.
  - threeseed 4y ago
    Because Apple does not have infinite development resources. There have always been far more important things to work on than an iPad weather app. In this case they happened to get it for free with their Dark Sky acquisition.
- frankjr 4y ago
  Isn't that exactly what they have done though? I guess they were looking but didn't come up with something better.
- Kon-Peki 4y ago
  > makes use of the larger screen of the iPad in every possible way For example, the Xsnow accumulation on the top in-app widgets! I wonder - if you shake the iPad, will it clear away?
  - seltzered_ 4y ago
    Funny, I switched to a linux tablet pc last year and at one point ran xsnow while running macos in virtualbox.
jdminhbg 4y ago
They acquired Dark Sky and have turned it into a new API service (WeatherKit) that's being released with iOS 16. Presumably the wait was that they built the API and dogfooded it as the basis for this new app. Why it didn't come with a weather app at release in 2010 I'm not sure, but why it hasn't come in the past few years is almost certainly because they were building it with their new in-house weather API.
twoodfin 4y ago
I’m guessing that sourcing quality, comprehensive weather data does not come cheap—Dark Sky was never a primary source, AFAIK. The cheapest iPad has been cheaper than the cheapest iPhone for some time now, and that licensing cost ate into margin more than they were previously willing to accept.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

Tempest1981 4y ago

WeaWow is an ad-free weather app; it works on iPad: https://weawow.com/ https://weawow.com/ > "Weawow is sustained by user donations."

kstrauser 4y ago

Hey, https://doesipadhaveweatherappyet.com https://doesipadhaveweatherappyet.com got updated!