This Isn't A Golden Snitch, It's A WeatherSnitch
WeatherSnitch™ 2 ($1.99) by SnitchWare Inc. is another option for getting weather information on your iPhone.
As much as I love shiny new weather apps, these definitely don't replace the best method of checking the weather -- going outside. However, sometimes we just want to know without getting up, right? Ah, the joys of our iPhones.
WeatherSnitch 2 appears to be an elegantly designed weather app with a dark interface (this seems to be the trend lately). The visuals seem pretty soft and chic, especially when you touch the buttons for location and settings at the top. I found the blue glow of the icons to be soothing.
Like with all weather apps, the first thing you need to do is determine the location. Your home location would be best to start with, since you probably spend more time there than anywhere else.
The app can use your device's location or you can manually enter in your own. When you successfully add a location, tap on it to select it and display the location on the main screen.
There will be three different ways to view forecast information: Month, Week, and Day.
In Month view, you will see the temperatures for up to two weeks, along with a small icon representing the conditions for that day. Tapping on a day will display the high and low temperatures. Swiping left or right on the calendar will show you the moon phases.
Week view will show you the same information you find in the Month view, except in a list. You'll see the high and low temperatures, wind speeds, and chance of rain. An icon depicting the forecasted conditions will appear in the middle column.
Day view consists of two parts: an hourly "ribbon" at the top that will show you an icon, temperature, wind, and rain chance, while the bottom has the overall information for the day. You will find information such as Feels Like, Humidity, Clouds, and more in the overall day view. The ribbon is nice because the colors change and blend together depending on the temperature and time.
Regardless of which viewing mode you're in, the bottom half of the screen will contain even more information about today. You will get stuff like sunrise and sunset times, visibility, and gusts. The most important thing is probably going to be the Currently and Feels Like temperatures.
However, I also noticed that there are about three things in this "today" view that also show up in the "Day" view. This makes the app seem repetitive. Why does this information need to be displayed twice?
Settings gives you the option of what day is the start of the week, unit toggles, and even a badge on the app that shows the temperature.
In the end though, I don't think I will be replacing my current weather app, Shine, with WeatherSnitch 2 for several reasons.
Despite the good looking dark interface, I found the app to be too cluttered. All those details about current conditions (when you view the Day) seemed to be repetitive, and I have a screen full of small text. I have to look carefully at the screen to see what I'm looking at, or for.
This doesn't work for me, as I like to be able to quickly see the necessary information, then get out of the app.
I'm not sure about you, but I hate badge counts on my icons. Perhaps it's because I'm constantly getting notifications on my phone (email, Twitter, phone, messages, Facebook), but I certainly don't need another.
For those that like temperatures shown on badges, you'll be satisfied with WeatherSnitch. For people like me, you'll be disappointed to know that there is no way to turn the badge off.
Another issue I have is that the arrows representing wind direction seem to spin endlessly. This only happened in the latest update, and I'm not sure why this is. Is the wind just out of control? Doubtful. I hope the developer can fix this in yet another update.
WeatherSnitch certainly has the potential, but it's just not quite there yet.
