New Media Technology News
New Media Technology News

BBC announces weather app on Android and iOS

BBC Weather today launched a mobile application for iOS and Android devices in the UK. The free app enables you to keep ahead of the weather by taking BBC Weather’s accurate and in-depth information with you on-the-go.

BBC announces weather app
As soon as you open the app it will automatically detect your location and give you an instant overview of the weather conditions wherever you are. It also gives quick access to the 5-day forecast with the option to look up further detail such as hourly UK forecasts, and three hourly forecasts for international locations, for the next 48 hours. You can find other destinations from the UK and abroad with a simple search and save them to a customisable list of your favourite places.

The app lets you make the most of this summer’s big events with Glastonbury, Wimbledon and the British Grand Prix all approaching. With regular updates for the weather and other information including UV, pollen count, wind speed and humidity, you’ll always know when to take out the brolly, put on the sun screen, or stock-up on hay fever supplies. And when the summer has been and gone, you can still keep ahead of the snow, sleet and showers.

The app follows a huge increase in users accessing BBC Weather’s services from mobile devices over the last year, and brings the breadth of its highly trusted information into a simple, clean and intuitive design. The look and feel is consistent across iOS and Android with subtle differences, such as navigation and search, that are designed to be instantly familiar to users of each platform.

All information and data can be found in either version of the app, but Android users can also add a widget on the device’s home screen and share favourite locations over NFC (Near-Field Communications) by simply touching two compatible devices together.

Liz Howell, Head of BBC Weather, said: “The new BBC Weather app is the perfect companion for this summer’s great British sport and music events. We know that our audiences really want that at-a-glance forecast when they’re out and about, with the option of digging for further detail when they need or want to. That’s exactly what we’ve delivered, squeezing in all of our trusted data into an app that’s simple to use and looks fantastic.”

James Metcalfe, Senior Product Manager for Weather, BBC Future Media, said: “We’re making BBC Weather truly mobile with the launch of our new app. As so many of our audiences access BBC Weather from iOS and Android devices, we can now offer them an even better way to keep ahead of the weather on-the-go. This represents a significant milestone in our commitment to provide a world-class weather service to audiences across four screens – desktop, mobile, tablet and connected TV.”

The app is freely available to download now on iOS from the Apple iTunes App Store and on Android via Google Play.