The 6 Best Weather Apps for Android Phones

You don't need to stay with your default Android app

Man standing under an umbrella in the rain checking his Android weather app

 Shannon Fagan / DigitalVision

by Brad Stephenson
Brad Stephenson is a freelance tech and geek culture writer with 12+ years' experience. He writes about Windows 10, Xbox One, and cryptocurrency.
Updated August 07, 2019

Downloading a quality weather app for your Android tablet or smartphone is one of the first things you should do after getting a new device. The default Android weather app works well enough, but several great alternatives provide better service and a much more engaging experience.

These apps require a currently supported version of Android and access to the Google Play Store.

01
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Carrot Weather: Entertaining Weather Forecasts

Carrot Weather Android weather app
The Carrot Weather Android app is full of quirky phrases and trivia.

 Grailr LLC

What We Like

  • Loads of fun trivia about different locations.

  • The dynamic animated backgrounds are consistently entertaining.

  • Charming, customizable personality.

What We Don't Like

  • In-app purchases are required to unlock the widget and Time Travel feature.

  • The weather widget is barebones.

Carrot Weather is a fully-featured weather app that displays everything you'd want from temperature and humidity to UV levels and wind speeds. What really sets Carrot Weather apart from its rivals is its dynamic animated backgrounds, which change depending on location, and the numerous quirky phrases that populate its screens.

02
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Dark Sky: Accurate Weather Forecasts

Dark Sky weather app on Android
The Dark Sky Android weather map features high quality imagery.

 The Dark Sky Company

What We Like

  • Accurate weather reporting.

  • Most must-have features are free.

What We Don't Like

  • Many of the app's features, such as the down-to-the-minute weather report, require an annual subscription.

  • Dark Sky is only available in the US, UK, Ireland, and Puerto Rico.

Dark Sky has a reputation for being one of the best Android weather apps and it's well deserved. The app features detailed weather forecasts that can be broken down to the minute instead of the hour and there are a variety of digital maps for viewing current and historical weather patterns all across the globe.

Dark Sky also boasts an animated radar view of storm fronts which can be viewed in real-time; these will appeal greatly to the weather enthusiasts out there.

03
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Weather Underground: Forecasts By the People

Weather Underground app on Android
Weather Underground collects data from thousands of users.

 Weather Underground

What We Like

  • Special Health screen that lists UV, air quality, and flu danger levels.

  • Customizable weather widgets.

What We Don't Like

  • The app contains ads which require a $1.99 payment to remove.

  • No option to compare weather data with other sources.

Weather Underground is an app powered by its own community who own more than 250,000 personal weather stations. This may sound a bit untrustworthy at first, but the company has been around since 1995, is the source of weather reports for numerous companies, and its forecasts are genuinely reliable; perhaps more so than some of its rivals, depending on your location.

The free Weather Underground app is packed full of features from basic weather data and widgets to information on flu outbreaks. There's even a National Weather Service Radio feed to listen to.

04
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Arcus Weather: Aggregated Weather Forecasts

Arcus Weather app on Android
An Android weather app with light and dark themes.

 Labrys Software

What We Like

  • Weather data is collected from a variety of sources.

  • Android weather widget is free.

What We Don't Like

  • Radar feature doesn't work outside the of the U.S.

  • Down-to-the-minute weather forecasts are limited to the U.S. and the U.K.

Arcus Weather is a free Android weather app that creates forecasts based on the average of what other services predict, with the aim of producing the most-accurate weather report. Almost all of the content in Arcus Weather is free, with the exception of some features like adding more than two custom locations and removing ads, which require in-app purchases of around $2.

05
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Today Weather: Most-Stylish Android Weather App

Today Weather app on Android mobile and tablet
Today Weather features a strong emphasis on visual design.

Today Weather

What We Like

  • Stunning app design with a functional and attractive look.

  • Addition of daily pollen count will be appreciated by some users.

What We Don't Like

  • Pollen count only works for U.S. locations.

  • Radar quality isn't on par with the rest of the app.

Few Android weather apps have put as much effort into their design as Today Weather. Today Weather boasts a clean, easy-to-navigate layout with numerous small touches, such as its mini animated weather icons.

This Android weather app renders forecasts against randomly generated photos that match the weather and location chosen from a library of over 1,000 images. You're also given the option to take your own photo of your surroundings, which you can use when sharing a weather report by email or social media; very few weather apps allow this feature.

Today Weather allows for the pinning of numerous locations through its widget and also provides information on sunrise and sunset times and moon cycles.

06
of 06

1Weather: Best-Looking Android Weather App

1Weather app on Android
The 1Weather app has some really stylish icons.

 OneLouder Apps

What We Like

  • Visually impressive with animated icons and dynamic weather backgrounds.

  • Options to use your own photos as background imagery.

What We Don't Like

  • The 12-week forecast sounds impressive but should be used as a rough guide only.

  • Severe weather alerts are for the U.S. only.

1Weather is easily one of the best-looking weather apps on Android. This app features professionally designed icons and graphs that manage to make even the most-mundane weather data engaging, and its dynamic backgrounds that change depending on the current weather conditions really set it apart.

In addition to all of the usual weather forecast information, 1Weather also includes a video series called the PrecisionCast that features up-to-date weather reporting and predictions for the next 12 weeks.