My favorite Android weather app is actually two apps and four widgets in a trench coat

Ask anyone at Android Authority what their preferred Android weather app is, and you’ll likely get a different answer each time. Some will vote for Pixel Weather; others might go with Breezy Weather. Then there’s Gradient Weather, which has a few fans of its own, while some are happy to stick to OEM apps instead. Whatever the answer might be, it’s more than likely that it’ll include a single app.

My response requires a lengthier explanation.

Back in the glory days of Weather Timeline, I too used a single weather app, but when it folded in 2018, I needed a new solution. After searching and searching for several years, jumping between various apps in the process, I eventually settled on a novel solution: two apps and a rather elaborate setup.

Before I detail this setup, I should probably answer the burning question: Why on earth do I need two weather apps? Well, I don’t necessarily need two apps, but you wouldn’t use a broom to do a mop’s job, right? Both tools are designed to clean the floor, but each accomplishes this goal in very different ways. That’s essentially what these two weather apps accomplish on my phone — they both showcase relevant weather data but in two distinct yet useful ways.

So, which two apps do I use? Specifically, I rely on Meteogram Weather Widget and Weather & Radar.

Two weather apps are better than one

Most Android weather apps present information using visual elements — essentially numbers, indicators, and icons. This design, while offering a useful snapshot of a particular time, be it the highs or lows of the day, or the current conditions, has a limitation. They often neglect to display how conditions change throughout the day. Some apps do mitigate this by providing hour-by-hour breakdowns or textual explainers, but these are limited to a handful of core indicators and cut out important intricacies. My setup is designed to fill in these gaps.

This is why I favor Meteogram Weather Widget as my primary weather app. It displays an array of weather indicators plotted on a “meteogram” — a time-based graph that charts changing weather conditions. It supports tens of indicators from dozens of weather providers, making it well-suited to detailed, customizable setups like mine. No other weather app comes close.

Although looking at these graphs can be overwhelming if you aren’t used to them, this design focus makes Meteogram a hugely customizable app that can be endlessly tweaked.

I’ll admit that graphs do have their own blind spots. For one, you can’t exactly visualize how far or fast an incoming weather system is, where lightning is currently striking, or where snow might be falling. To cover this particular gap, I use Weather & Radar.

As its name suggests, it’s a brilliant radar app that showcases past, present, and future overhead conditions. My part of the world regularly gets its annual rainfall from cold fronts, and this app lets me see them progress across the Atlantic towards me in a way no traditional weather app or graph could. The app provides an entirely different yet complementary look at the sky, and when used alongside Meteogram’s hard data, it makes for a wonderfully detailed weather solution. It even works on Android Auto.

I’m well aware that this sounds like an awful lot of faff to quantify something that’s solved by simply looking up or sticking my hand out of the window. However, I can’t deny that I love the amount of data this setup affords me. There is a practical element at play here, too. The more data one has on hand, the more informed the decisions will be.

How I use Meteogram and Weather & Radar together

Of course, spelling out these apps is only one part of the equation. How do I set them up on my phone? For a quick visual demonstration, see the screenshots above.

As you might’ve noticed, these are stills of my home screen. I should clarify that I barely ever open these apps. Instead, they live on my launcher as a series of widgets. Thankfully, there are plenty of great Android launchers that support widgets without making my home screen feel cluttered. My current favorite is AIO Launcher, but I’ve used Kvaesitso and Microsoft Launcher to support this setup before.

Now, for the actual setup.

I use four widgets in total: three separate Meteogram widgets and the Weather & Radar widget. All three Meteogram widgets include common indicators, namely wind strength and direction indicators along their bottom axis, current temperature, pressure, wind speed and gust strength, and rain probability and totals; however, each has a unique mission and showcases different indicators.

Importantly, while the meteograms look a bit of a mess with various colorful squiggles running across them, each indicator is assigned a particular pattern, line thickness, color, or position on the graph. Rain, cloud cover, and precipitation chance use a combination of color shading and columns. These differences allow me to distinguish one indicator from the other relatively easily (admittedly, after years of using and viewing them).

Here’s a more detailed explanation of what each widget accomplishes, what they display, and the data sources I use:

The nine-hour widget

As its name suggests, this meteogram spans the current time up to nine hours ahead. It therefore covers the briefest period of the three widgets, but displays the most pertinent information for preparing my day.

In addition to the common indicators I mentioned above, it also shows the current cloud cover by height, the chance of fog, the UV index, the dew point, the feels-like temperature, and the wet-bulb temperature. These indicators give me a good idea of how comfortable a day outside might be, the visibility on the roads, whether doing the washing is a good idea, or if I need to pack an umbrella.

Since this widget showcases a brief snapshot of the future, I want the data to be as up to date as possible. The data in this widget primarily comes from Visual Crossing, which updates hourly on the hour, keeping it fresh.

The four-day widget

This particular meteogram overlaps with the 9-hour widget, but advances a further 80 or so hours ahead. When viewed on a Wednesday, this widget offers a glimpse of the entire weekend’s weather. On a Monday, I can effectively assess the conditions for the workweek ahead.

In addition to this broader outlook, this widget crams in almost every available indicator, including more exotic options. Ground temperature (a great way to gauge how much heat is carried over from the previous day), thunderstorm probability, Kp index (an indicator that quantifies the strength of solar flares and is related to aurora generation), and ozone (another indicator that goes hand-in-hand with UV levels) are all present here. I don’t necessarily need any of these indicators — it’s all a little indulgent and overly nerdy on my part — but I thoroughly enjoy seeing the relationship between these various weather indicators, more common conditions, and real-life weather conditions as I experience them.

Notably, this widget also includes a practical header section that displays numerical readings of current conditions, as shown on the meteogram.

This meteogram’s primary weather provider is, once again, Visual Crossing. This helps keep the offered data consistent, but certain indicators require other providers. For instance, Tomorrow.io provides data for cloud base height, a useful metric for understanding if clouds will interact with our famous local mountain and increase the chance of unexpected rain.

The week-ahead widget

The third and final meteogram starts where the four-day widget ends and continues for an additional week. As I’m writing this article on September 9, this particular widget ends in the early hours of September 20.

It’s worth noting that weather forecasts beyond four days are highly inaccurate — they shouldn’t be used for mission-critical planning. However, this meteogram certainly gives me a good idea of whether a hike or a road trip might be possible, or if a theater show is a better bet. Given the inaccuracies of data stretching this far into the future, I keep the indicators to a minimum. I do want to know potential wind conditions, precipitation, temperature, and pressure, and that’s pretty much all that’s presented by this meteogram.

Once again, I use Visual Crossing for this data since it offers 15 days of hourly data in advance, but I have also used Open-Meteo, AccuWeather, and Tomorrow.io in the past. It’s also worth noting that Meteogram Weather Widget supports national weather agency info, too, which might be a more accurate option for some users.

The Weather & Radar widget

Finally, bringing up the rear is the lone Weather & Radar widget. To set up this widget, you pick a location, select a Radar type (my preference is “WeatherRadar,” which shows clouds and rain over a topographical map), and choose a zoom level.

Now, I can see exactly what the overhead and forthcoming conditions are, which adds context to the meteogram data shown above.

Using these four widgets stacked on top of one another is simple. To check the weather, all I need to do is scroll down on my home screen, view the meteogram that best suits my needs at the time, or view the radar, and call it a day.

If I need a snapshot of the immediate weather forecast, I don’t have to scroll far. The nine-hour widget is positioned one flick away in my AIO Launcher setup. Just below it are the header details for the second widget, which also display all current info in text form. When I need an extended look at potential conditions a weekend from now, that’s an even smaller flick of the thumb away. I find this far easier than looking through traditional weather apps.

Should you drop your weather app setup for mine?

Although I’ve found the weather app combo of my dreams, I don’t think you should switch from your current weather app to my setup. If you’re already using an Android weather app that works for you, provides reliable forecasts, and is easy to use, don’t switch simply for the sake of switching. Given the variety of weather apps used by my Android Authority colleagues, weather apps are more personal than we care to admit.

I’ll certainly admit that my particular setup is peculiar, intricate, and so highly customized to my particularly quirky needs and tastes that I don’t believe it would work for anyone else. Finding the sweet spot for each of the meteograms in this setup took years of steady tweaking, learning, and understanding to get just right. What you’re seeing is the result of my constant tinkering over many, many days.

Then there’s the small issue of cost. Meteogram Weather Widget is free to use, but access to its full range of indicators and weather providers requires a modest subscription fee. Given the value I get from it, it’s a no-brainer for me, but you might be just as well served by using a free weather app. Weather & Radar also requires a fee to remove ads.

You won’t have this problem with Pixel Weather, but I certainly wouldn’t give up this setup for any single Android weather app. These two apps have given me a greater understanding of the current weather conditions. They’ve helped me predict systems more effectively. They offer explanations for why conditions are the way that they are, and help me plan with confidence. It’s why I’ll always make room for Meteogram Weather Widget and Weather & Radar on my phone.

What do you think of my weather setup? Too much? Not enough? Drop a comment below.