AccuWeather: Weather Forecast

AccuWeather Review: Precise Rain Timing, Pushy Ads and a Pricier Way Out

Free tier: 30 days logged out, 45 days with a free login

Without an account, the app shows 30 days of daily forecasts and 72 hours of hourly data. A free login with Google, Apple or email makes you a Plus member and raises that to 45 days and 120 hours, with more saved places. The paywall shows in hourly graphs: Temperature and Air Quality stay open, while Rain, Humidity and UV Index need Premium+ or a short ad through Watch for Rewards, which unlocks one graph for a limited time. The support FAQ openly addresses full-page ads, and free users cannot move the MinuteCast card pinned to the top of the Today screen.

MinuteCast: a 60-minute dial with a four-hour forecast behind it

MinuteCast forecasts precipitation type, intensity and start and end times for the next four hours at a resolution of about 0.5 square miles (1.3 sq km), fine enough to pin to a street address. The dial reads like a clock face: the current minute sits at the top and the ring runs clockwise through the next 60 minutes, color-coded by type and intensity, and tapping the center opens all four hours. Settings > Today swaps the dial for a chart. Coverage is listed as 210 countries and territories, yet the FAQ admits some locations get no MinuteCast at all. US locations also get lightning alerts for strikes within 15 miles.

Premium+ at $4.99 a month, and what happened to the old ad-free plans

Premium+ is the only paid tier on sale: $4.99 a month or $29.99 a year in the US App Store, up from $1.99 and $19.99 at its May 2022 launch, with a free trial on the yearly plan for eligible accounts. It removes ads and adds AccuWeather Alerts from staff meteorologists graded Potential, Threat or Imminent, for the contiguous US only, plus 90-day daily forecasts, a 10-day HourCast, every hourly graph and 12 saved places. The ad-only Premium and one-time Platinum still work for past buyers but are no longer sold. WeatherBug still sells ad removal alone at $10.99 a year; The Weather Channel's Premium also costs $4.99 a month and adds 72-hour future radar. Check the current price in the app; it varies by region.

Location: optional, but Apple's label lists tracking

Location is optional: search places by hand or set a fixed Default Location. Android widgets and the status-bar temperature need "Allow all the time" to follow you, and the iOS listing warns it may use location while closed. Apple's privacy label lists location and usage data as used to track you across other companies' apps. The privacy policy, revised October 31, 2025, says precise location from the apps is sold or shared with analytics and ad providers only with consent, switchable under Settings > Privacy Settings. In 2017, researcher Will Strafach found the iOS app sending Wi-Fi router details to Reveal Mobile even with location off; the company pulled that SDK, TechCrunch reported.