WeatherBug: Weather Forecast

Weather

6.7~~/10~~

Our score

★ 4.6 Google Play·10M+ installs

Reviewed by Editorial Team, ScoredApps editorial · updated 2026-10-01

Screenshots

WeatherBug promo screen claiming 11 billion+ weather alerts sent last year, with tiles for Hourly Forecast, Wind Speed, Storm Tracker, Lightning and Local Pressure

Now tab for San Francisco showing 68°F and partly cloudy above Air You Breathe at 24 Fair, pollen at 2.3 Low and a fire risk card

Maps tab radar over West Palm Beach, Florida with storm cells and buttons for Storm Tracker, 1-hr Future Radar and Lightning

Hourly details for Thursday, October 9, 2025 listing 67°F, 74% humidity, SW 11 wind, 58° dew point and 29% cloud cover at 2 PM

Spark Lightning Map of South Florida with distance rings around a pin and the closest strike in the last 30 minutes at 0.1 miles

Air You Breathe screen rating air quality 48 Moderate, with PM2.5, PM10, ozone, NO2, SO2 and CO readings listed as top triggers

About WeatherBug: Weather Forecast

WeatherBug gives away its full forecast kit: a 10-day outlook, more than 140 hours of hourly data, over 20 map layers and Spark lightning tracking. Ads and location data pay for it. The app's privacy policy, written by owner GroundTruth, an advertising company, says precise GPS data may be sold. Removing ads costs $1.99 a month or $10.99 a year; opting out of data sales is a separate menu step.

App information

DeveloperxAd, Inc.

Version6.8.1-2 (Android) · 6.8.0 (iOS)

Size259 MB (Android) · 249 MB (iOS)

Price / In-appFree

Contains adsYes

In-app purchasesYes

Content rating13+

Requires (Android)Android 9.0+

Requires (iOS)iOS 16.0+

Offline modeNo offline mode documented; forecasts, radar and alerts need an internet connection

Interface languagesEN, FR, DE, JA, PT, ES

Store rating (Google Play)4.6 from 1,928,457 ratings

Installs10M+

Updated by developer2026-09-10

Data checked2026-10-01

Specs come from the official store listings and were last checked on 2026-10-01. Developers change pricing and requirements — check the store page before installing.

WeatherBug Review: Lightning Alerts for Free, Paid For With Your Location

What the free tier covers, and what $10.99 a year removes

The core forecast costs nothing: the 10-day outlook, over 140 hours of hourly data, NWS and NOAA warnings for U.S. locations and a heads-up when rain or snow is 15 minutes away. Ads are the bill. The subscription FAQ opens by asking why there are so many. Play reviews from 2026 describe ads wedged between the hourly and 10-day lists and, in August, ads that played sound until the developer said its ad partner had fixed them. Ad-free costs $1.99 a month or $10.99 a year after a 7-day trial; there is no Family Sharing. The App Store also lists Premium plans at $3.99 and $24.99 that the FAQ never explains. Prices vary by region and can change.

Spark lightning tracker after its 2026 redesign

Spark plots strikes from the Earth Networks Total Lightning Network, run by the company that sold the app in 2016, and shows how far they are from you: distance rings around your position and the closest strike of the past 30 minutes, in miles. An update promoted from September 14, 2026 added 30-minute playback and per-strike details. The new map split opinion. Play reviewers object to a darker background and to strikes drawn in blue as well as yellow, which the developer says marks how recent each one is, and Spanish-language reviewers say strike density now shows only when zoomed in.

GroundTruth, background location and the 'may sell' notice

Since November 2016 the app has belonged to xAd, now trading as GroundTruth, an advertising and data company. The privacy policy, effective February 4, 2026, says location may be collected even when the app is not in use and shared with GroundTruth for ads, and lists precise GPS coordinates as sensitive data it may sell. Google Play's Data safety form marks precise location and fitness info as shared for advertising; Apple's label lists health and fitness, location, identifiers and usage data as used to track you. In 2018 The New York Times found precise location from the iOS app reaching 40 companies. For the previous calendar year, it reports acting at least in part on all 1,248 deletion and 734 opt-out requests.

WeatherBug vs The Weather Channel and AccuWeather

On listed U.S. App Store prices, ad removal costs about the same across the three: The Weather Channel sells Ad Free at $1.99 a month or $9.99 a year, AccuWeather's ad-free Premium costs $1.99 or $12.99, and the yearly plan here sits between them at $10.99. Apple's labels show both rivals also using location for cross-app tracking, but only WeatherBug adds health and fitness data. Stability is weaker: of the 150 newest English Play reviews, from September 15 to 30, 2026, 61 give one or two stars, citing widgets that stopped updating, smaller fonts and alerts for deleted locations. Part of that concerns a redesign beta the FAQ says can be switched off in the main menu.

Pros

10-day forecast, 20-plus map layers and severe weather alerts are free
Spark shows the closest lightning strike of the past 30 minutes, with playback
Precipitation alert fires when rain or snow is 15 minutes away
Air You Breathe splits air quality into six pollutants, from PM2.5 to CO
In-app State Privacy Rights menu lets residents of 19 listed states opt out

Cons

Privacy policy says precise GPS data may be sold to third parties
Location may be collected even when you are not using the app
61 of the 150 newest English Play reviews give one or two stars
No Family Sharing, and the FAQ never explains the $24.99 Premium plan

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Verdict

We scored WeatherBug 6.7. Free forecasts, Spark lightning tracking and 15-minute precipitation alerts earn a strong core score; dense ads, a shaky September 2026 redesign and a policy that allows selling precise GPS data pull it down. Take it for lightning distance alerts, and use the opt-out if your state offers one. Skip it if you won't share location with an advertising company, or need home-screen widgets that update reliably.

Core function8.510-day and 140-hour forecasts, 20-plus map layers, Spark lightning, NWS alerts and air quality, all free.

Ease of use6.5September 2026 redesign drew complaints about smaller fonts, broken widgets and a radar that is hard to find.

Monetisation6.5Ad-free at $10.99 a year matches rivals, but free users get dense ads and Premium plans go unexplained.

Performance6.061 of the 150 newest English Play reviews give one or two stars, often for load failures and widgets.

Privacy & permissions4.0Owner GroundTruth may sell precise GPS data, may collect location in the background and lists fitness data for tracking.

6.7out of 10 · weighted average of the five scores above

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Frequently asked questions

Is WeatherBug free to use?

Yes. The 10-day forecast, more than 140 hours of hourly data, over 20 map layers, Spark lightning tracking and severe weather alerts are all free. The trade-off is heavy advertising plus location data used for ad targeting. The paid plan is sold as ad-free, not as a change to data collection.

How does the WeatherBug lightning tracker work?

Spark plots strikes from the Earth Networks Total Lightning Network and measures their distance from you. The map shows distance rings and the closest strike of the past 30 minutes; a September 2026 update added 30-minute playback and strike details. Alerts, lightning included, are switched on per saved location under Settings, Location Alerts.

How much is WeatherBug ad-free?

It costs $1.99 a month or $10.99 a year in the U.S., bought in the app after a 7-day free trial that still asks for a payment method. Plans don't work with Apple Family Sharing or Google Play Family Library. The App Store also lists Premium at $3.99 a month or $24.99 a year. Prices vary by region and may change.

What happens if I cancel my WeatherBug subscription?

You keep the ad-free version until the billing period ends; then the app returns to the free, ad-supported version and stops charging. Cancel in your Apple account's Subscriptions or in Google Play's Payments & subscriptions. If ads still appear while you pay, the FAQ suggests Restore Purchase on iOS.

Does WeatherBug sell your location data?

Its privacy policy says it may. Precise GPS location is listed as sensitive data that may be sold or shared with third parties, and location may be collected when the app is not in use and shared with owner GroundTruth for ads. In states with privacy laws, opt out under Menu, About/Privacy, State Privacy Rights, or deny location access and pick a city by hand.