Apple buys Dark Sky and immediately pulls Android app
Apple buys Dark Sky and immediately pulls Android app
Apple has bought the popular weather app Dark Sky, the team behind the app has announced today.
The app, which is renowned for its hyperlocal weather reports that give users a decent idea when rain will start and stop, could now be built into the iOS operating system’s weather app.
Unfortunately, while this might be great news for iPhone and iPad users, it’s terrible news for those on the Android platform. Apple is immediately pulling the Android and Wear OS version of the app from the Play Store.
If you have an existing subscription to the app, that will only continue until July 1, when the app will be shutdown. Refunds will be issued to those who still have an active subscription at that point.
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In a blog post, the developers wrote: “Our goal has always been to provide the world with the best weather information possible, to help as many people as we can stay dry and safe, and to do so in a way that respects your privacy.
“There is no better place to accomplish these goals than at Apple. We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to reach far more people, with far more impact, than we ever could alone.”
Apple is making a habit of snapping-up App Store big hitters in recent times, having also purchased long-time favourites like the utility app Workflow, the Beddit sleep tracking-app and the Shazam music discovery app. However, in that instance, the app is still very much alive and well on the Android platform.
What Apple will eventually do with Dark Sky remains to be seen, but in the past Apple has used these acquisitions to improve its own software and mobile apps. We can probably expect a much-needed overhaul of Apple’s built-in Weather app, which currently receives data from The Weather channel.
