The 5 Best Weather Apps for Android Phones

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

by
Brad Stephenson - Lifewire Writer
Brad Stephenson
Freelance Contributor
Brad Stephenson is a freelance tech and geek culture writer with 12+ years' experience. He writes about Windows 10, Xbox One, and cryptocurrency.
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Brad Stephenson
Updated on February 16, 2020

Download a quality weather app for your Android tablet or smartphone and be prepared for whatever conditions the weather sends your way. The default Android weather app works well, but several great alternatives provide better service and more engaging experiences.

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

01
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Entertaining Weather Forecasts: Carrot Weather

Android Carrot weather
What We Like

  • Fun trivia about different locations.

  • Entertaining dynamic animated backgrounds.

  • Charming, customizable personality.

What We Don't Like

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

  • The weather widget is barebones.

Carrot Weather is a fully-featured weather app that displays everything 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 quirky phrases that populate its screens.

02
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Forecasts By the People: Weather Underground

Android Weather Underground
What We Like

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

  • Customizable weather widgets.

What We Don't Like

  • Contains ads, pay $1.99 to remove.

  • Can't compare weather data with other sources.

Weather Underground is powered by its community that owns more than 250,000 personal weather stations. This may sound untrustworthy, 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 the location.

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

03
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Aggregated Weather Forecasts: Arcus Weather

Android Arcus Weather
What We Like

  • Weather data is collected from a variety of sources.

  • Android weather widget is free.

What We Don't Like

  • Radar feature only works in the U.S.

  • Down-to-the-minute forecasts in the U.S. and U.K. only.

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. Most 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.

04
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Most-Stylish Android Weather App: Today Weather

Android Today Weather
What We Like

  • Stunning app design with a functional and attractive look.

  • Daily pollen count.

What We Don't Like

  • Pollen count only works in the U.S.

  • Radar quality doesn't match the rest of the app.

Few Android weather apps have put as much effort into the design as Today Weather. Today Weather has a clean, easy-to-navigate layout with numerous small touches, such as its 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 a photo of your surroundings, which you can use when sharing a weather report by email or social media. Few weather apps offer this feature.

Today Weather features the ability to pin several locations and get information on sunrise and sunset times and moon cycles.

05
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Best-Looking Android Weather App: 1Weather

Android 1Weather
What We Like

  • Animated icons and dynamic weather backgrounds.

  • Use your photos as background imagery.

What We Don't Like

  • Use the 12-week forecast as a rough guide only.

  • Severe weather alerts only for the U.S.

1Weather is one of the best-looking weather apps on Android. This app features professionally designed icons and graphs that make mundane weather data engaging. Its dynamic backgrounds change depending on the current weather conditions.

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

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