Meet my new favorite weather app that doesn’t sell your data

There’s a pretty good chance that whatever weather app you’re using isn’t just telling you the forecast, but also selling your data to insurance companies and the like. MyRadar, one of the most popular apps in the space, has been open about this, and while it gives users the option to opt out of the practice, it still isn’t the safest way to track the weather.

They do this by monitoring GPS and driving data, which can lead to a higher insurance premium if you’re like me and have a bit of a lead foot. It’s a practice that has drawn immense scrutiny, but also vast profits, so it won’t be ceasing anytime soon. Luckily, I have found a solution in the latest weather radar monitoring app on the market — Rain Viewer.

A weather fan’s best friend

Getting up-to-date information is hard, but Rain Viewer excels there

I’m going to let you in on a little secret — each radar you use probably gets its data from the same place. The U.S. Doppler weather radar network consists of around 160 large radars and 45 smaller ones, spanning the country coast-to-coast. This network is how most weather services get their data, and they all recieve it around the same time. Then there’s a race to push that data out in a usable format, and Rain Viewer routinely wins it.

I sat down with the founder and CEO of RainViewer, Oleksii Schastlyvyi, to discuss Rain Viewer’s output processes, data security practices, and a few more tidbits. According to him, the attention to detail by the relatively small team at Rain Viewer allows them to deliver the most information in the quickest timeframe. Most Rain Viewer users receive information within 5 minutes of their current time, and as a user myself, I can confirm this.

“As a competition part [of the app], we try to deliver the data as fast as we can,” said Schastlyvyi. “And this is our most prominent thing in the app, so that you can see the weather in as close to real time as possible.”

Rain Viewer tracks your location, but never sells it

Rest easy knowing your location and driving are safe and sound

My biggest question for Oleksii was, of course, what Rain Viewer does with the data it tracks? It should come as no surprise that most weather apps access your location, but what they do with that data afterward is where the differences are. We’ve already established that apps like MyRadar sell that data to third parties, so what happens to it once Rain Viewer gets it? According to Oleksii, nothing. It’s stored on internal servers and locked away.

“One of the main ideas I always keep active is the privacy of users,” said Schastlyvyi. “If you’re a subscriber, we completely disable all the trackers, like Facebook, Google Ads, everything. We don’t track you.”

The only data Rain Viewer keeps is your current location, which allows it to send you push notifications for severe weather in your area. If there was ever a reason I’d be OK with an app monitoring my location, that’s it. Additionally, Rain Viewer doesn’t require creating an account through various other pathways. All of that between-service data stays in its place. Rain Viewer’s job is to tell you the weather quickly and accurately. Nothing more, nothing less.

CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility is on the way

It’s in beta for now, but the team is hard at work

MyRadar’s CarPlay and Android Auto functionality might make it a great road-trip partner, but that’s exactly how it — and others like it —profit off your data. I like having a radar in my car as much as anyone else, but the good news is that Rain Viewer and its team are hard at work on releasing their own CarPlay and Android Auto apps. Currently, on their website, users can test a beta version of the mobile service the team is looking to bring to market. Schastyvyi said that an accurate timetable for its release would be hard to provide, but emphasized that the team is getting closer by the day.

Additionally, Rain Viewer is preparing to roll out companion software for Apple and other smartwatches. If you want to get in on the first floor of a weather app that routinely beats its larger competitors in data delivery time, security, and pricing, Rain Viewer is the app I’d bet to topple giants in the mobile weather app sector sooner rather than later.