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Why are there so few open source weather apps for iOS, compared to the very many that are on Android?
(lemmy-u6723.vm.elestio.app)
this post was submitted on 23 Aug 2023
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People say it's the price (to develop), but it's not IMO. It's the community. Lots of developers use iOS (in the US), but in my experience, power users who develop FOSS in their free time have a high propensity to be Android users. There's just so much more freedom in the platform.
Add this to the fact that outside of the US Android is more popular as the device costs are lower and there is less blind brand loyalty due to that, so developers in those countries focus on the platforms they use.
I believe the latter was the case with the current FOSS weather app I use (Breezy Weather).
Update: This is personal experience, but I've never met a free-time FOSS app creator (or contributer) that didn't develop for the device they use. And I've met a lot of them.
Final edit: Weather apps may be biased with age. With React Native and Flutter taking over new apps, platforn agnostic apps may slowly go away over time. But which FOSS dev wants to build a new weather app when there are so many (for Android) already?
iOS is kind of annoying to develop for. You kind of need to be entrenched in the Apple ecosystem to do it.
I also think there’s the niche part of it. Weather apps are kind of niche, if I’m going out I only care about the temps and whether or not it might rain, and iOS already has a great built in app for that. I love FOSS, but I’m not sure I care enough about my weather app to seek out a FOSS alternative to the default one.
Also I’m not sure Android has a weather app by default? I have a Pixel 6 as a work phone but don’t think I’ve ever checked for a weather app on it.
IOS has a preinstalled weather app and people just use that. For whatever reason. Everything is so integrated, I guess 3rd party weather apps wouldnt even display correctly. On Android, simply use a Notification and thats it.
Apple bought darksky and has been integrating all of the technology into their app so it is becoming the best one without having to bother looking for another. You have to be a super weather nerd to even want to bother looking for something else. I happen to be that much of a weather nerd and use a third party app. There’s tons of them in the App Store.
I saw they use some british Weather stuff? I just always assume these models are way worse than something like DWD in Germany. Thats why I currently use a KleineWettervorschau, an app for the DWD but not by them, as they had stupid legal problems as they, as a state institution, have an app without Ads, wow crazy.