Yr vs NIWAWeather
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Yr
This weather app offers a visually engaging way to check forecasts with animated skies and detailed hourly breakdowns. It provides real-time air pollution, pollen, and UV data, along with immediate rainfall alerts. Forecasts are delivered by a reputable meteorological institute.
- Animated weather visualization
- Hourly and daily forecasts
- Now-cast rainfall alerts
- Air pollution, pollen, and UV data
- Weather observations
- Long-term forecast graphs
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New Yr on iPhone and iPad is different from anything else you’ve seen in weather forecasting: Scroll through a beautiful and animated sky to see how the weather changes hourly, and get all the need-to-know details at the same time. And if there will be rainfall within the next 90 minutes we'll let you know through our now-cast. The weather visualization makes it a fun experience to check the weather – even when it’s raining! Check details day by day and hour by hour in the long-term forecast, or study the details in the graph. Under "Around you" you get an overview of air pollution, pollen spread and UV forecast, as well as the latest weather observations in your area. Forecasts are delivered by the Norwegian Meteorological Institute. ABOUT US: Yr is a weather service jointly produced by NRK and the Norwegian Meteorological Institute. Our primary goals are to secure life and property, while delivering useful and accurate weather forecasts to our users, preparing them for all kinds of weather. This year we are celebrating our ten-year anniversary, and with millions of users every day we are proud of being one of the most popular weather services in the world.
NIWAWeather
Get detailed hourly and long-range weather forecasts for New Zealand, including temperature, humidity, rain, wind, and UV. Access seasonal outlooks, tide predictions, and daily video updates from meteorologists.
- Hourly temperature, humidity, rain, wind, cloud, UV forecasts
- Seasonal outlooks with long-range predictions
- New Zealand tide forecasts
- Daily meteorologist video updates
- Data management for environmental resources
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Whether you're working near the estuary, at the lake, on a glacier or in the office you can know what to expect for the days ahead. * Hour-to-hour temperature, humidity, rain, wind, cloud cover and UV forecasts * Seasonal outlooks with long-range rain and temperature forecasts * Tide forecasts around New Zealand * Daily videos from our in-house meteorologists The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) is a Crown Research Institute (CRI) and New Zealand’s leading supplier of atmospheric, freshwater, environmental and marine science services. Our purpose is to enhance the economic value and sustainable management of New Zealand's aquatic resources and environments, to provide understanding of climate and the atmosphere and increase resilience to weather and climate hazards to improve the safety and wellbeing of New Zealanders. We collect, store and manage data on NZ’s weather, climate, marine and freshwater resources and other important environmental parameters. We deliver data via a range of tools and services that help Kiwis manage their interactions with the environment and its resources more productively and sustainably.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: NIWAWeather at 5.0 against Yr's 4.3. Yr's advantage is review sentiment (61% vs 29%) and update cadence (every 10 days vs every 2 months). On price, ads, in-app purchases 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
NIWAWeather holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Yr has 203 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 61% of Yr's written reviews are positive against 29% of NIWAWeather's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Yr ships an update every 10 days, NIWAWeather every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 7, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Yr | NIWAWeather |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.3 (203 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 60.5% of reviews — better | 28.6% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 203 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 10 days — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Best chart rank | #84 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 16.4 — better | 17.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 130 MB | 49 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | NRK | NEW ZEALAND INSTITUTE FOR EARTH SCIENCE LIMITED |
Customer experience
Yr
NIWAWeather
Bugs and requests
Yr
Reported bugs
4 issues- Crashes on iOS 11 and newer
- Location tracking issues
- Widget not working as expected
- Inability to delete or reorder saved locations
Requested features
5 requests- Add humidity data
- Provide offline caching of weather data
- Implement Apple Watch support
- Allow changing between Celsius and Fahrenheit
- Bring back previous graph/chart layouts
NIWAWeather
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Yr
No in-app purchases
NIWAWeather
No in-app purchases









