Oscar Weather (@oscars.love)

Oscar Weather

@oscars.love

Building a better weather app using open data. TestFlight 👉 https://testflight.apple.com/join/xf5iJcHh

Meet Oscar the cat! Feed, play, and furnish his space to make your weather app feel more personal. 🐱 I also shipped a few fixes, webcams on maps, and the iPad app got some love. Now on TestFlight 👉️ testflight.apple.com/join/xf5iJcHh #BuiltInPublic #IndieDev #Swift #iOSDev 🧵1/3

Oscar Weather

@oscars.love

Context: You might not know this, but Oscar is named after my cat that died in 2021 at 19 years old. It's wonderful to see him kinda live on for me and many more people around the world. On a lighter note, you can toggle webcams from windy.com to check for realtime conditions around the world. 2/3

Oscar Weather

@oscars.love

I have also invested some time into a better iPad layout which splits the app into two columns. I have also combined the hourly and daily sections into a more information-rich section. I think it's pretty nice but to all my iPad testers: let me know what you think! :) 3/3

Oscar Weather

@oscars.love

Soon™ on TestFlight 👀 #BuiltInPublic #IndieDev #Swift #iOS

Oscar Weather reposted

Philipp

@bolte.id

Autumn is in full force with a foggy morning. Brought the camera with me and did a smol shooting for my weather app @oscars.love. I’m so proud of it knowing all the work that went into it the last 5(?) years. I really need to finally get this on the App Store haha 😅 #BuiltInPublic #IndieDev

Oscar Weather

@oscars.love

In this update, I focused on polish and squashing a bunch of small bugs. Tapping a day now takes you to its hourly forecast, and ensembles have their own button there with a refreshed design. Now on TestFlight 👉️ testflight.apple.com/join/xf5iJcHh #BuiltInPublic #IndieDev #Swift 🧵1/2

Oscar Weather

@oscars.love

The hourly view title now shows day and time, every section has a "More >" link, and the stats below the current temperature can be changed with a long press. Weather station charts are now labeled "Last 24h", and the map jumps to the new place when you switch locations. Feedback welcome! 2/2

Oscar Weather

@oscars.love

Oscar's newest update brings early weather station support in Europe. Pin your favorite or nearest station's temperature to the top, glance at the three closest, or dig into the last 24 hours of data. Now on TestFlight 👉️ testflight.apple.com/join/xf5iJcHh #BuiltInPublic #IndieDev #Swift

Oscar Weather

@oscars.love

I want to get back to shipping earlier in the implementation process even if things are still rough and coverage is missing. Sorry to the all my US users 😄 All of this is possible thanks to data from EUMETNET and @dwdderwetterdienst.bsky.social, coming together on my own #OscarServer infra.

Oscar Weather

@oscars.love

21 Sept

The newest Oscar beta comes with a slew of new features: satellite cloud map layer, new hourly detail view, UI reordering, iOS 6 classic mode, on-device statistics, and a way to support Oscar in the future. Now on TestFlight 👉️ testflight.apple.com/join/xf5iJcHh #BuiltInPublic #IndieDev #Swift 🧵1/6

This is an experiment: Oscar can now be morphed into an iOS 6 inspired weather app. This can be unlocked for free via a fake IAP, as this will be a supporter-only skin after release. Oscar also tracks some interesting statistics locally that you can explore. These will never leave your device! 5/6

Oscar Weather

@oscars.love

21 Sept

Oscar has running costs and some users might want to support this free project. I won't paywall any features, just some app icons, stickers, and the iOS 6 classic skin. Oscar as a utility will stay free. If you have any feelings or wishes about this, please provide feedback. :) 6/6

I've reworked the hourly details view to be more compact and easier to understand. This is like the third iteration since the last update and I've been pretty happy with it! :) This also contains a Timeline/List variant. Let me know what you think. 3/6

Oscar Weather

@oscars.love

21 Sept

Some testers wanted to adjust values on the top shelf and even re-order/ adjust the sections. Both can be done now from the settings. 4/6

Powered by #Meteosat 3rd generation geostationary satellites, Oscar can now display a new near real-time cloud coverage, including a nowcast one hour into the future powered by #OscarServer. 2/6

Oscar Weather

@oscars.love

3 Aug

Over the past few weeks, I was experimenting with tab bar designs and got so much great feedback from friends. Turns out, the standard iOS tab bar is great! With a single tap, users can now switch between the current weather, their saved locations, and maps. #BuiltInPublic #IndieDev #Swift 🧵1/4

With the help of EUMETNET, I have also extended weather warning support across #Europe, including push notifications. Another big step to make Oscar useful across Europe! Of course fully enabled by Oscar Server. 🇪🇺 3/4

Oscar Weather

@oscars.love

3 Aug

And last but not least, for the single #Brazilian user I am aware of, I have added rain radar and notification support by ingesting data from Brazilian REDEMET. Their QA isn't the best so I am going to tweak it over the coming weeks. Now on TestFlight 👉 testflight.apple.com/join/xf5iJcHh 4/4

I have added a small heuristic that adjusts margins on the fly, so the tab bar does not cover sections like hourly or the radar chart upon launch. Also brand new: The locations overview. It provides a much better overview and you can even add custom labels and emojis to them to keep them apart!2/4

Oscar Weather

@oscars.love

2 Aug

Can we talk about how cool it is that projects like www.eumetnet.eu exist?! 🇪🇺

eumetnet.euHomepage - Eumetnet

Oscar Weather

@oscars.love

27 July

Oscar finally has a proper onboarding flow! I've already teased the personal hand-written note, but now you're also walked through the features and all necessary permission requests. I think it's really neat and offers users a first taste of what they can expect! #BuiltInPublic #IndieDev #Swift 🧵1/5

Oscar is getting more global by expanding coverage for rain radar and weather warnings to Taiwan! It joins the ranks of Europe and North America. 4/5

Oscar Weather

@oscars.love

27 July

I've also been struggling for a while with App Store screenshots. Based on #fastlane snapshot and a custom template engine, I'm now able to generate reproducible screenshots for different locales. Kinda cool! Now on TestFlight 👉 testflight.apple.com/join/xf5iJcHh 5/5

In an attempt to improve data quality, I've added new global map layers based on the high-resolution ECMWF IFS model with 9km resolution. IFS offers superior forecast results and resolution compared to NOAA's GFS model, which will be removed from Oscar in the future. Thanks to @open-meteo.com! 2/5

Oscar Weather

@oscars.love

27 July

I've also given the watchOS app some much-needed love, which now mirrors the iOS app more closely. You can even customize your watch face with a first set of Oscar complications! 3/5

Oscar Weather

@oscars.love

11 July

Thought adding a personal, handwritten note to the upcoming onboarding flow is a nice little touch. 👀☀️

Oscar Weather

@oscars.love

6 July

Oscar now ships with a reworked map! 🗺️ 🥳 Weather layers are now crisp, performant, and morph smoothly (Metal🤘 shaders FTW). For users in North America, Oscar's infrastructure now consumes @nws.noaa.gov's MRMS product to provide a high-resolution radar layer and rain notifications. 🧵 1/6

For Germany specifically, you can now toggle a weather warning layer that displays active alerts. Tap any warning to expand it and read the official warnings from @dwdderwetterdienst.bsky.social! 5/6

Oscar Weather

@oscars.love

6 July

I don’t think I’m overstating it: this is a big update. The work I’ve put into #SwiftOnServer and processing raw weather data from DWD, EUMETNET, and NOAA is finally paying off with better weather insights and real-time rain notifications. Now on TestFlight 👉 testflight.apple.com/join/xf5iJcHh 6/6

The new pressure layers (GFS & ICON-D2) provide a great overview of high- and low-pressure areas and how air masses with different temperatures are moving. The computed isobars can also be toggled on for the other map layers! 3/6

Oscar Weather

@oscars.love

6 July

I’ve also added a first version of value labels for the temperature and wind layers, making them much easier to understand at a glance. I’ve enabled isobars on this layer too, so you can see them in action! 4/6

The weather layer selection has also been overhauled, making it easier to understand and choose between the different map products. You can now toggle many visual settings, such as smooth motion during playback or marked storm cells, to better understand a storm’s direction and speed. 2/6

Oscar Weather

@oscars.love

28 June

Many cities across Europe set new heat records this weekend. I used the time to add a new climate section to Oscar that puts the current day into historical context by comparing it to the same date going back to 1940! The visualization is heavily inspired by Ed Hawkins’ Warming Stripes.

Oscar Weather

@oscars.love

28 June

Data is coming from ECWMFs ERA5 product which combines model data with worldwide historical observations. Now available on TestFlight 👉 testflight.apple.com/join/xf5iJcHh

Oscar Weather

@oscars.love

26 June

Finally got around to add moon phases 🌚 and a few more cool things like ensemble forecasts, weather model selection, EU-wide rain radar, and custom app icons. 🧵 (1/X)

In a first (and to be honest still rough) attempt, I've added EUMETNET's OPERA NIMBUS product, delivering a EU-wide radar composite in 15min/ 2km resolution. I am doing extrapolation into the future to provide radar-based rain forecasts and notifications.

Oscar Weather

@oscars.love

26 June

And last but not least, I've added some alternative app icons. These have been generated with the help of AI, so if you are a designer or enthusiast and interested in working with me on some human-made app icons, please shoot me a dm @bolte.id | On TestFlight 👉 testflight.apple.com/join/xf5iJcHh

Oscar Weather

@oscars.love

26 June

Finally got around to add moon phases 🌚 and a few more cool things like ensemble forecasts, weather model selection, EU-wide rain radar, and custom app icons. 🧵 (1/X)

Oscar Weather

@oscars.love

26 June

By tapping on the daily forecast, you can now explore different ensemble forecast from ECMWF, DWD, and NOAA. Oscar computes upper and lower bands across all members (= models runs) and an ensemble average. This visualizes different potential outcomes and a models certainty.

Oscar Weather

@oscars.love

26 June

In settings, you can now force a specific weather model for your forecasts. I've also added a user request which allows you to highlight specific time ranges in your daily forecasts to e.g. focus on daytime temperature ranges. Pretty neat!

Oscar Weather

@oscars.love

9 May

Hey 👋 I've been working for quite some time on a new weather app called Oscar! It's still in active development but I'd love to get some more eyes and feedback on it. So if you're into weather, feel free to join my TestFlight: testflight.apple.com/join/xf5iJcHh

A lot of time has also gone into custom weather map layers based on DWD ICON D2 and NOAA GFS weather models, scrubbable 2 days into the future. Included are precipitation, temperature, and wind forecast layers. I am still tweaking how this works but it's been amazing to use so far!

Oscar Weather

@oscars.love

9 May

There is much more to explore in the app, so please give it a try if this sounds remotely interesting to you. Huge shoutout to open-meteo.com, brightsky.dev, and to all the open-data initiatives around the world.

The app is going to be completely free and is leveraging open data. You can get current, hourly, daily, air quality forecasts globally. Some features like weather alerts, radar-based minutely rain forecasts for the next 2 hours, pollen forecasts, and notifications are Central Europe only for now.

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