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Snowflake Weather — Incredibly detailed weather app
Snowflake is an incredibly detailed weather app, covering almost everything you could possibly want to know about current conditions and forecasts. Snowflake is privacy focused, with no ads, no analytics, and no creepy tracking.
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Ton
Hunter
New weather app from the makers of iStat Menus (a product with its own weather module). Snowflake has an optional Plus mode with lots of extra features and options.
The regular version has:
- Incredibly comprehensive weather data.
- iPhone and iPad app.
- Apple Watch app.
- Apple Watch complications.
- Today Widget.
- Siri Shortcuts.
- 4 weather providers.
- 4 themes and automatic day/night theme switching.
- No ads, no analytics, and no creepy tracking.
Snowflake Plus features
--- Snowflake Plus ---
Snowflake Plus is an optional subscription that adds maps, background refresh for watch complications, and many customization features.
- Multiple weather providers.
- 4 themes with automatic theme switching.
- 6 icons.
- 15 day forecast when using TWC.
- Animated rain and snow radar map layer.
- Clouds map layer with animation.
- Combined radar and clouds map layer.
- Wind Speed map layer.
- Temperature map layer.
- Dew Point map layer.
- Pressure map layer.
- Humidity map layer.
- 24 hour rainfall map layer.
- 24 hour snowfall map layer.
- Animated forecast rain and snow radar map layer.
- Animated forecast cloud map layer.
- Customize what’s shown in current conditions.
- Hide rows in current conditions.
- Switch to a compact version of current conditions.
- Today Widget: Customize what’s shown in current conditions.
- Apple Watch: 15 day forecast when using TWC.
- Apple Watch: Customize what’s shown in current conditions.
- Apple Watch: Customize what’s shown in hourly forecasts.
- Apple Watch: Background data to keep complications up-to-date.
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So, first year cost of ownership for premium functionality: Carrot Weather $35, Weather Line $10, Snowflake Weather $10.
Second year cost : Carrot $35, Line $10, Snowflake $5
5 years total cost of ownership: Carrot $175, Line $49, Snowflake $30
Now tell me how wrong @bjango got the price and Snowflake is a bad bet... (In my opinion they can safely sell perpetual license for $39, compared to Line's $49)
@bjango @utestme
Nobody is arguing about the total cost of the app. They are arguing about the barrier to entry which is higher than Carrot Weather and Weatherline.
Carrot Weather has a unique appeal to it in that it offers a distinct, playful, user interface that even non-weather geeks will like. Weather Line is super clean, minimal, yet still functional. Snowflake Weather doesn't really have a massive differentiation when put up against those two apps. It isn't playful, it doesn't really look different than any other weather app, it's not minimal and clean, it's just...more nerdy. So it's not that different, but yet at $4.99 it's more expensive than both Carrot Weather and Weather Line.
Also, the base level of Carrot Weather which matches Snowflake Weather closely in function is $4.99/year. That would put Carrot Weather at $8.98/year and not $9.98 for Snowflake Weather. But CW goes beyond and offers even more features than all of the other apps mentioned and if you want that you can pay more.
I really like Snowflake Weather, but they are raising their barrier to entry by charging more initially and not really having a visual reason as to why they are different.
Just my 2 cents.
@bjango @utestme @iamjmw Cheers for the feedback. You’re right, and this is a very competitive space. “More nerdy” is an interesting take, but that is an intentional choice in many ways. The built-in weather app for iPhone does a great job of being minimal. Our take is to show as much as possible, and try to keep the design clean while also having a very high data density (those things are often in opposition). In terms of features, what are we missing? Weather warnings? Push notifications? This is just our initial release, but I think we have a pretty full featured app with only a few very minor holes to plug. Also, we’re a small self-funded team, so we don’t need to take over the world to have a nice, viable business.
Looks cool, but what's up with the "Mac" tag at the top, got me excited for a second. (PS, it's not available on Mac)
@kalmichael Hey! I believe most of the weather data providers do hyperlocal weather observations by interpolating nearby stations. There’s 3 data providers for the US in Snowflake (we have 4 total, but one is Australia only). You can switch between them if you have Snowflake Plus, so you can find one that gives you the most accurate data.
I concur with the other Hunter. I did purchase the app. However, I think it should have been free to download with some but limited functionality. If the users want the other features such as radar, then they can opt in for the monthly, quarterly or yearly payment. Also, for the price that this app is asking for, a future radar should be included. Not just up to 15 mins to the current time. Don’t get me wrong, the app is beautiful and full of options but the pricing will limit the users wanting to purchase it. If you had a better pricing model, you will gain and retain more users willing to pay if the cost provided an incentive.
@haitianwatcher We pay for the weather data and we’re a self-funded company. Making the app free isn’t a viable option, unfortunately.
Love the look of this, but you could have been a bit clearer on the cost. When people see an app that costs $4.99 they immediately think, “Sweet! A pay once and play app. No subscription!” But then they find out that it’s another $4.99 for the first year.
You would have eased people in to that better and avoided bad reviews by making the app free with limited functionality and then increasing the yearly cost to something like $7.99.
The app looks awesome and I’ll definitely give it a buy.
@iamjmw Thanks for the feedback. I’m glad you saw all the info before buying. The issue with weather data is that the costs are ongoing. We wanted the app to be useful without a subscription, and that meant charging something up-front.
Wow! I don't know any use case i need it, but all this data and graphs looks amazing. *data visualisation geek*
@alisa_smelkova Thank you! If you have suggestions or find any bugs, please let us know.
