Forecast Bar vs Rain Tracker
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Forecast Bar
Get hyper-accurate, hyper-local live weather and forecasts with customizable widgets for your home and lock screens. Track storms with advanced radar, receive AI-powered weather summaries for your calendar, and get timely alerts for celestial events and severe weather.
- Hyper-local live weather and forecasts
- Customizable home and lock screen widgets
- NOAA-powered radar with live lightning
- AI-powered Smart Weather Stories
- Aurora visibility and sunset alerts
- Severe weather and precipitation notifications
- Hourly and daily visual forecasts
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*** Featured by Apple, Lifehacker, Macworld and Cult of Mac! *** Forecast Bar offers hyper accurate, hyper local live weather and forecasts right at your fingertips, and is customizable to fit your needs. With 12+ Home Screen and Lock Screen Widgets, including a multi-city widget to see weather in up to 4 locations at once. Forecast Bar includes a beautiful and powerful Apple Watch App with 100+ customizable complications, including hourly and daily visual forecasts, Graphs to visualize several different data points, or a Custom Modular with 3 customizable lines. The Watch app is fully customizable, with 3 custom data points you can add, a customizable hourly data point. You can also customize your backgrounds with several options including using your own images, as well as custom font and font size throughout the app. == Completely Redesigned for iOS 26 and Liquid Glass == Track storms like never before with our all-new NOAA-powered radar featuring live lightning strikes, aurora forecasts, and marine warnings. Watch precipitation approach in real-time right from your Lock Screen with our new Live Activity—see exactly when rain starts and ends without opening the app. Smart Weather Stories transforms forecasts into personalized AI summaries. Connect your calendar to get advice tailored to your plans: "Light rain during your 2pm meeting—bring an umbrella." Never miss a stunning sky with aurora visibility alerts, eclipse notifications, and Beautiful Sunset alerts. Now with iOS 26 Liquid Glass design. == Built Different == Crafted by a 2-person team over a decade. Trusted daily by users who call it "the most accurate weather app" they've used. Always improving—because your weather app should be. == Stay Informed with Push Notifications == - Personalized daily weather reports for any location, at any time you wish - Push notifications for severe weather alerts in the United States - Precipitation alerts sent reliably from our servers (Gold only) - Custom notifications and alerts! You can configure 14 different data points to look out for what matters to you. For example, get notified in the morning when wind during the day will rise above a certain speed, or if temperatures overnight will drop below freezing. (Gold only) - Beautiful Sunset alerts that give you a heads up when a stunning sunset (or sunrise!) is heading your way. Get your cameras ready! (Gold only) - Get notified when earthquakes hit near you! (Gold only) == Weather at a glance, or in depth == - Quickly check the current conditions or forecast for 14 days at a glance, including a succinct summary - Tap on any day's forecast to see an hour-by-hour breakdown - Gorgeous animated weather backgrounds - Apple Weather provided minute-by-minute rain forecasts - Tap again to see rich, interactive charts of even more details like dew point, pressure, visibility, UV index and more - Choose between a compact and highly visual view for weather at up to 8 locations at a time - Animated weather radar in the United States, Europe and Australia, including future radar forecasts, as well as 10+ other powerful visualizations - Forecast Bar supports iPad multitasking in Slide Over and Split Screen All subscriptions to Forecast Bar include a free 7 day trial Subscriptions will be charged to your iTunes account at confirmation of purchase. They will automatically renew at the end of your subscription period unless canceled at least 24 hours prior to the end of the current period. Your account will be charged for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period. You can manage your subscriptions or turn off auto-renewal at any time from your iTunes account settings. Cancellation of the current active subscription period is not allowed. Our privacy policy and terms of use are here: http://forecastbar.com/privacy-policy-for-forecast-bar.pdf and https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Rain Tracker
Manually log your daily rainfall measurements from your home rain gauge. Visualize your data with daily, monthly, and yearly charts. Supports multiple gauges and data export/import.
- Manual rain recording
- Daily, monthly, yearly charts
- Multiple rain gauge support
- Data export to CSV
- Data import from CSV
- Metric/imperial unit selection
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*** Important - This app does not automatically pull any rainfall data. All data must be manually entered *** Rain Tracker is a rain diary app that allows you to record daily rain figures from your backyard rain gauge. Rain Tracker will create daily, monthly, yearly charts based on your measurements. Rain Tracker makes rainfall simple to record. Just tap on a calendar date, or new rainfall button select rainfall amount, tap save and you're finished. No sign up or other information required. RainTracker allows for recording with multiple at home rain gauges. Features: • Simple rain recorder • Monthly rainfall calendar view • Monthly rainfall list • Daily bar and line charts • Monthly bar and line charts • Yearly bar and line charts • Compare Months or years in Line chart • Choose your measurement metric millimetres or inches • Choose calendar start day of week Monday or Sunday • Record rain to multiple gauges • Export rain fall Data to CSV • Import rain fall Data from CSV Rain recording fields: • Rain • Gauge • Date • Time • Notes
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Forecast Bar at 4.5 against Rain Tracker's 3.0. Forecast Bar also leads on ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (fortnightly vs every 6 months). Rain Tracker's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 7) and iOS requirement (14.0 vs 16.1). On price and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Forecast Bar sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $0.49 per month. Rain Tracker asks for nothing beyond the download.
Forecast Bar holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 3.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Forecast Bar has 2.8K ratings behind it against 44, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 62% of Forecast Bar's written reviews are positive against 46% of Rain Tracker's.
Forecast Bar ships an update fortnightly, Rain Tracker every 6 months. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Forecast Bar | Rain Tracker |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (2.8K ratings) — better | 3.0 (44 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 62.3% of reviews — better | 46.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 2.8K — better | 44 |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly — better | Every 6 months |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Ad-supported — better |
| Best chart rank | #114 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 16.1 | 14.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 293 MB | 7 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Higher Bar, LLC | Callum Hill |
Customer experience
Forecast Bar
Rain Tracker
User reviews
Forecast Bar
From 2.8K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Highly customizable
- 👍 Accurate forecasts
- 🌟 Great app design and interface
- ⌚️ Excellent Apple Watch support
- 💻 Available on multiple platforms (iOS, macOS, tvOS)
Room to improve
- 🐛 Bugs and stability issues after updates
- 🕰 Slow location updates and radar loading
- 💰 Subscription model can be expensive
- 🌍 Limited functionality for non-US users
- 🔄 Inconsistent sync between devices
Rain Tracker
From 44 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Easy to use
- 👍 Simple and effective
- 👍 Good basic tracking
- 👍 Great for tracking rainfall
- 👍 Nice clean look
Room to improve
- 🐛 Cannot import data
- 🐛 Cannot enter partial inches
- 🐛 App closes when entering data
- 🐛 Clunky interface
- 🐛 Cannot delete default gauge
Bugs and requests
Forecast Bar
Reported bugs
5 issues- Widgets not working as expected
- Temperature display issues on Apple Watch
- Alerts and notifications not working properly
- Frequent app crashes and freezes
- Inconsistent location tracking and updates
Requested features
6 requests- Pressure charts and graphs
- More customization options for widgets
- Improved Apple Watch app and complications
- Ability to choose weather data source
- Pollen and air quality information
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- Standalone Apple Watch app functionality
Rain Tracker
Reported bugs
10 issues- Cannot import data from old phone
- Export format not same as import format
- Access error to import file
- App closes when entering data
- Cannot delete the first rain gauge as it's default
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- Cannot enter a partial inch (rounds up or down)
- Data rounded to one digit in calendar display
- Cannot amend entered rainfall
- Yearly totals crashing the app
- Fault in gauge settings - cannot save new color
Requested features
21 requests- Option for one-time pay to remove ads
- App available in French
- Default time for checking gauges should be 9:00 am
- Yearly total button
- Annual graph for seasonal comparisons
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- Ability to record .5 and show on calendar
- Ability to put decimal points (e.g., 5.5)
- Separate recordings and graphs for different rain gauges
- Ability to edit or delete entries
- Year to date function
- 12 months to date function
- More analytical data
- Link iPad and iPhone data
- Export data function
- Year on year comparisons chart
- Ability to share data
- Weekly/monthly and yearly summaries
- Allow another family member to join the same rain gauge
- Change color of gauges
- Improve graphics
- Put back previous chart display
In-app purchases
Forecast Bar
- Bronze Subscription (1 Month)$0.491 Month
- Silver Subscription (1 Month)$0.991 Month
- Bronze Subscription (iOS Only)$5.991 Year
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- Silver Subscription (iOS Only)7 Days trial$11.491 Year
- Gold Subscription (iOS Only)7 Days trial$19.991 Year
- Silver Family Subscription7 Days trial$22.991 Year
- Gold Family Subscription7 Days trial$39.991 Year
Rain Tracker
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Forecast Bar free?
Is Rain Tracker free?
Which has better reviews, Forecast Bar or Rain Tracker?
Do Forecast Bar or Rain Tracker have ads?
Which is updated more often, Forecast Bar or Rain Tracker?
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