FD Viewer vs Recon Weather
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
FD Viewer
Access and read detailed text weather products from the National Weather Service. This app reformats Area Forecast Discussions into a user-friendly interface, allowing easy navigation through sections and offices.
- Read Area Forecast Discussions (AFDs)
- View NWS offices on a map
- List offices by distance or alphabetically
- Paginated section navigation
- User-friendly reformatting of weather data
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Area Forecast Discussions (AFDs) are a text weather product released by the National Weather Service (NWS) Weather Forecast Offices to inform and elaborate on the public forecast. FD Viewer presents each office on a map and also displays a list of offices sorted by distance or alphabetically. Selecting an office will display the latest Forecast Discussion paginated by section. Swipe right or left to navigate through each section. This app merely reformats the web-based AFD information in a user-friendly format. All credit for the forecast information goes to all the hardworking people at the NWS. TBD: I plan to support in-app glossary popups that will describe some of the more arcane acronyms and phrases used in the forecast text.
Recon Weather
Watch live storm research missions, view detailed radar data, and receive real-time severe weather alerts that follow your location. Access forecast tools and see live video from storm chasers in the field.
- Live storm research missions
- Detailed NEXRAD radar
- Location-aware severe weather warnings
- Live POV video from chase vehicles
- Storm reports with photos
- Advanced forecast tools
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Recon Weather is a storm research mission you can watch live. RADAR Single-site NEXRAD down to base velocity and storm-relative velocity, a national mosaic, and a loop you can scrub frame by frame. Color tables you can change. WARNINGS THAT FOLLOW YOU Tornado, severe and flash flood warnings for where you actually are, delivered while the app is closed. Not a city you picked once. FROM THE FIELD Live POV video from chase vehicles. Storm reports with photos from the public. Pressure probes dropped in front of storms, reporting as they go. FORECAST TOOLS SPC and ECCC outlooks, mesoanalysis with CAPE, shear and helicity, WPC excessive rainfall, soundings and model data. No ads. No data brokers. Nothing sold. Optional tipping if you want to fund the next probe, and nothing is locked behind it.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: FD Viewer at none against Recon Weather's 8. Recon Weather's advantage is ratings volume (36 vs 1) and update cadence (every 4 days vs every 2 weeks). On price, rating, ads and monetization model 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. Recon Weather sells 8 one-off in-app purchases. FD Viewer asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for FD Viewer against 4.9 for Recon Weather. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Recon Weather has 36 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
FD Viewer ships an update every 2 weeks, Recon Weather every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and November 7, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | FD Viewer | Recon Weather |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | 4.9 (36 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | — | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 36 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks | Every 4 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 — better | 17.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 2 MB | 65 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Neil Cormia | Vincent Waelti |
Customer experience
FD Viewer
Recon Weather
In-app purchases
FD Viewer
No in-app purchases
Recon Weather
- Chaser Support$2.99
- Chaser Support$4.99
- Small Support$4.99
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- Chaser Support$9.99
- Chaser Support$14.99
- Medium Support$14.99
- Chaser Support$49.99
- Large Support$49.99









