Shade Should Be Your Next iPhone Weather App

Shade° ($1.99) by Henri Normak is an iOS 7-only weather app that combines the best features of all the other options. Everyone’s wishes are different, of course, but I truly believe that Shade should be your next weather app.

First, the interface found in Shade is one of the best available. While the goal of any modern weather app is to be “simplistic,” “intuitive,” or “minimalistic,” it has gotten to a point where those traits don’t matter anymore. Especially with an app like Shade, which requires iOS 7, these qualities are basic requirements for making it even worth considering. Not only does Shade possess those qualities, but I find that it provides the most information at your fingertips while keeping the clutter to a minimum.

Like the icon suggests, Shade’s interface is based mostly around graphical representations of the weather, and more specifically, temperature. Upon opening the app, a list of locations is shown, with current, high, and low temperatures, as well as a graph outlining the next 24 hours. While graphs may seem confusing, Shade incorporates them without complicating things.

Tapping on a location will show more information. The current temperature and condition is displayed in large type, with an expanded version of the graph beneath it. The great thing about the graph is that you can scrub along it like you would in the native Stocks app, and the information above will reflect where your finger is. This truly beats the typical list view that’s provided for hourly forecasts.

To see what’s expected for the next seven days, scrub to the end of the graph and release your finger. This will display a list of conditions expected for the next 10 days.

While Shade contains all of the simplicity of any decent weather app, it’s the only one I’ve come across so far that actually feels like it was built for iOS 7. You’ll also find that the use of color throughout the app helps you get a better idea of weather conditions.

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Finally, one of my favorite features of Shade is actually a feature that only the iOS 7 Weather app had up until now. Shade utilizes iOS 7′s Background App Refresh feature to make sure that little to no loading occurs while opening the app. While it’s expected that many apps will be updated to include this feature, Shade is one of the first to support it out of the box. The app will also send you notifications about precipitation, but they’re not necessarily on point like the ones sent by Dark Sky.

I have been using iOS 7′s Weather app up until now because of its design and ability to update in the background, but Shade has caught up in this category. You can find Shade in the App Store for $1.99. It requires an iPhone running iOS 7.