Comparison

FD Viewer vs Recon Weather

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read full description

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.

About

Recon Weather

This app offers advanced weather tracking with live radar, storm alerts, and detailed forecasts. It includes specialized features for weather enthusiasts, such as storm chaser feeds and scientific data visualizations. Enjoy an ad-free experience with no account required.

Highlights
  • Live MRMS radar
  • Storm chaser feeds
  • Severe weather alerts
  • Radiosonde data with skew-T diagrams
  • Wildfire tracking
  • NWS warnings with timers
  • GPU-accelerated radar with hail detection
Features
Read full description

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

FD Viewer3 screens
Recon Weather4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ratings volume: Recon Weather at 29 against FD Viewer's 1. Recon Weather also leads on update cadence (every 5 days vs every 2 weeks). FD Viewer's advantage is monetization model (free vs ad-supported). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

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 29 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

FD Viewer ships an update every 2 weeks, Recon Weather every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 7, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
FD Viewer versus Recon Weather: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFD ViewerRecon Weather
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better4.9 (29 ratings)
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings129 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree — betterAd-supported
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS16.0 — better17.6
Further details — not scored
Size2 MB60 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperNeil CormiaVincent Waelti

Customer experience

FD Viewer

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Recon Weather

All ratings29 ratings
Positive96.6%
Neutral0.0%
Negative3.4%
Written reviews7 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

FD Viewer

No in-app purchases

None

Recon Weather

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is FD Viewer free?
FD Viewer is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Recon Weather free?
Recon Weather is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, FD Viewer or Recon Weather?
FD Viewer is rated higher. FD Viewer averages 5.0 out of 5 from 1 ratings, while Recon Weather averages 4.9 from 29 ratings.
Do FD Viewer or Recon Weather have ads?
Neither FD Viewer nor Recon Weather shows ads.
Which is updated more often, FD Viewer or Recon Weather?
FD Viewer ships an update every 2 weeks, and Recon Weather every 5 days. Most recently, FD Viewer was updated on October 7, 2026 and Recon Weather on October 14, 2026.

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