Raining Bell vs Taiwan EEW
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Raining Bell
This app provides advanced weather forecasting by integrating real-time radar and satellite data. It offers early warnings for rainfall and potential disasters up to three hours in advance, with personalized alerts and a smart voice assistant for natural language interaction.
- Real-time radar monitoring
- Satellite data integration
- Rainfall prediction up to 3 hours
- Early warning system
- Location-based services
- Push notifications
- Smart voice assistant
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“Raining Bell” integrated with “Firefly” Smart Weather Service App Raining Bell is an industry–academia collaborative project that applies real-time radar-monitoring technology to meteorological disaster- prevention services. It integrates nationwide radar observations with FORMOSAT-7 satellite data and employs data-assimilation and radar-echo extrapolation techniques to establish an early-warning system capable of predicting rainfall trends up to three hours in advance. The user interface, designed by the National Science and Technology Center for Disaster Reduction (NCDR), combines location-based services and push notifications to deliver timely, convenient weather information. The latest version incorporates the Firefly smart voice assistant powered by the TAIDE large language model (LLM). Users can interact naturally in Mandarin or Taiwanese to check weather conditions and receive proactive alerts about rainfall and potential disaster risks. By combining real-time forecasts from the Central Weather Administration (CWA) with Raining Bell’s observation data, the system provides intelligent, localized, and personalized weather services. This app was developed under the guidance of the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) through the joint efforts of NCDR and the National Center for High-Performance Computing (NCHC). The software was produced by ThinkYes Technology Co., Ltd. By integrating AI with disaster-prevention technology, Raining Bell offers a weather service that is both real-time and human-centered. This product represents experimental research results; for official weather forecasts, please refer to announcements from the Central Weather Administration.
Taiwan EEW
Receive real-time earthquake alerts with countdowns and local intensity information. Customize alert thresholds to be notified of moderate or small earthquakes. This app provides crucial seconds to prepare for seismic events.
- Real-time strong earthquake alerts
- Countdown and local intensity display
- Push notifications with alarm sounds
- Customizable alert thresholds
- Official partner of Central Weather Bureau
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Join the Public Beta: https://testflight.apple.com/join/uspRXGt7 For discussion and reporting issues: https://discord.gg/KrJV77bdJA 【Official Partner of the Central Weather Association】 臺灣地震速報 Taiwan Earthquake Early Warning (EEW) 〈 Real-Time Strong Earthquake Alerts 〉 Get earthquake data from the Central Weather Bureau immediately after an earthquake occurs, displaying a countdown and estimated local intensity. Push notifications with alarm sounds provide you with crucial seconds to prepare and respond to an earthquake. You can customize the earthquake alert threshold, ensuring you never miss a moderate or small earthquake that might be overlooked by national alerts. ※ Earthquake Warning Criteria: Magnitude 4.5 or above and/or estimated intensity of 3 or higher in any area nationwide. ※ The "CRITICAL Notifications" feature is limited to moderate or large earthquakes with an estimated intensity of 3 or higher. 〈 Earthquake Reports 〉 This feature will return in a future update, stay tuned! ※ Earthquake warnings may have inaccuracies and false alarms. Use them as a reference during emergencies, and rely on the Central Weather Bureau's final earthquake report. ※ This application is currently in the testing phase, and some features and information may contain errors. We appreciate your understanding. Data Source: Central Weather Bureau, Ministry of Transportation and Communications Produced by Lin Tzu-Yu Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
Raining Bell and Taiwan EEW both sit at 5.0 stars, but that hides the real split: 97% of Taiwan EEW's written reviews are positive against 27% of Raining Bell's. Taiwan EEW also leads on ratings volume (15 vs 3). Raining Bell's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 7). On price, rating, update cadence and ads 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. Taiwan EEW sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Raining Bell asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Raining Bell against 4.9 for Taiwan EEW. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Taiwan EEW has 15 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 27% of Raining Bell's written reviews are positive against 97% of Taiwan EEW's.
Raining Bell ships an update monthly, Taiwan EEW every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 20, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Raining Bell | Taiwan EEW |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (3 ratings) — better | 4.9 (15 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 27.5% of reviews | 96.6% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 3 | 15 — better |
| Update frequency | Monthly | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | 15.4 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 10 MB | 132 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | ThinkYes Technology Co., Ltd. | Tzu-Yu Lin |
Customer experience
Raining Bell
Taiwan EEW
Bugs and requests
Raining Bell
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Taiwan EEW
Reported bugs
9 issues- Notifications not received
- Location not updating to current position
- App shows false alarms (notifications when no earthquake)
- Historical data is no longer visible after updates
- Persistent notification count badge
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- Notification bug in current version
- App sometimes doesn't sound or notify
- Text in notifications is too short to read fully
- App shows error messages (garbled text, internal test messages)
Requested features
10 requests- Restore historical data view
- Link with location services
- Add more regions/cities (e.g., Pingtung, New Taipei, Taoyuan, Yunlin)
- Option to choose notification intensity
- Automatic location detection
Show 5 moreShow fewer
- More detailed display options
- Interconnection with national systems
- Louder alarm sounds
- Ability to select specific counties/cities for notifications
- More comprehensive historical records
In-app purchases
Raining Bell
No in-app purchases
Taiwan EEW
- 每月定期定額贊助$1.991 Month
- 每月定期定額贊助$3.991 Month
- 一次性贊助$0.99
- 一次性贊助$1.99
- 一次性贊助$4.99
Show 2 moreShow fewer
- 一次性贊助$19.99
- 一次性贊助$49.99








