Privacy @lemmy.ml xorollo @leminal.space 3 days ago

Privacy weather app?

I'd like to track hurricanes. All the apps I see collect all kinds of personal data. I just go to NOAA to see the advisories, but wondering if there is something better.

Edit: OS is Android 14 Edit: looking for radar (probably) or some other feature to track hurricanes (I don't know what tools there are besides radar, but if there's something else I'm interested).

29 comments

wX (Weather app geared towards storm chasers, meteorologists and weather enthusiasts)

https://f-droid.org/packages/joshuatee.wx/

https://gitlab.com/joshua.tee/wx
Breezy Weather is quite good.
- You're the second to suggest it. Just got it installed, and it looks really sleek. I'm a fan. I like the widgets too.
  
  It also has quite nice integration with Kvaesitso launcher.
- Wow that's a pretty app. Thanks for introducing me to it!
Check F-Droid and IzzyOnDroid. There are many weather apps.
Isn't it illegal for the NWS to make an weather app because of lobbyist?
- Really? News to me.
  
  Yea pretty mess up, your tax dollars pay for the data that weather apps use for free, then some of those apps charge you lol. It was a big issue when the Hawaiian fires happened.
I use QuickWeather and use the Open-Meteo integration. You can even selfhost it for better privacy probably.
- This looks really good. Definitely checking it out
OS?
- Android 14
  
  Sorry but now with the edit I can't recommend anything because the radars seem to always be very proprietary for some reason. I know some good weather apps. One of them has a feature called "weather emergency notices" or something like that. It can be what you're looking for but I'm not sure. "Breezy Weather" is the name if you're curious.
I use this one: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.daugherty.nws_remastered
is noaa bad?
- No, but it has static information, and it's not an app. The website isn't great on mobile either. It's got good information though, and I don't have to submit to location tracking.
  
  There's an open source front end called WX, it's a little harder to use but it's easy to adjust too.
  
  It has multiple different radars that work well in places that don't have much data
OpenWeatherMap seems promising, but their site uses Google analytics, have a lengthy privacy policy I'm not reading all of, and they have a bunch of paid subscription plans, so I'm rather pessimistic.
- Hmm, the app on google play store says it collects no information and shares no information with third parties. I'm hopeful about this one.
  
  ---actually, looks like a nice general weather app, but doesn't have hurricane tracking features
- Having Google analytics means it's the same as a Google owned website. You shouldn't recommend such services for privacy.
  
  What part of "I'm rather pessimistic" and complaining about their privacy policy sounds like a recommendation. It was more intended as a warning.
- I don't understand this obsession with only taking advantage of free labor and giving nothing back. Seems anti-thetical to the entire FOSS movement.
  
  Ah yes when I think of the FOSS movement I think of greedy corporations that only care about how much money they get out of their contributor's labor. FOSS has proven the exact opposite if anything: that economics are built on lies, and that people can and will produce useful projects without any economic gain.
windy.com with a VPN in a private browser window. They can't track you if they don't know where you are!
- This looks really good on my phone in Firefox, and it's pretty simple to save a bookmark to my homescren. I like it!

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