WeatherMax+ vs Why Weather
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
WeatherMax+
Get precise, hyperlocal weather forecasts powered by the National Weather Service. Receive instant severe weather alerts, view detailed conditions, and plan your day with a beautiful, animated interface. Track multiple locations and access interactive radar maps.
- Hyperlocal grid-point forecasts
- Severe weather push alerts
- Animated weather backgrounds
- Minute-by-minute precipitation radar
- Interactive radar map
- Air quality and pollen index
- Multiple location support
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WeatherMax is back completely rebuilt from the ground up with a stunning new design and powerful features that put accurate, hyperlocal weather at your fingertips. WeatherMax+ delivers forecasts for your exact location, not just your city. Whether you're planning your morning commute or tracking an incoming storm, WeatherMax+ gives you the detail you need. Beautiful New Interface A fully redesigned dark interface with animated weather backgrounds, real-time particle effects, and glassmorphism cards that make checking the weather feel as good as it looks. Severe Weather Push Alerts — Always Free Get notified the moment a warning, watch, or advisory is issued for your location — tornado warnings, flash flood watches, freeze advisories, winter storms, and more. Delivered instantly, day or night, even when the app is closed, as Time Sensitive alerts that break through Focus and Do Not Disturb. Choose whether you're notified about everything, or only Severe and Extreme warnings. Hyperlocal Accuracy Forecasts for your precise coordinates. Not a regional average. Not a nearby station. Your exact location. Everything You Need • Current conditions with feels-like, humidity, wind & gusts • Hourly & 10-day forecast • Next-hour precipitation, minute by minute • Air quality index & pollen count • UV index & sun protection guidance • Sunrise & sunset times • Wind direction compass • Interactive radar map with future radar • Live map of active severe weather warnings • "What to Wear" daily recommendation • Apple Watch app Widgets Your Way Home Screen widgets show the next few hours and days at a glance, with the chance of rain and a 5-day forecast with high and low bars. They follow your °F/°C and mph/km/h settings. Ask Siri "WeatherMax will it rain today?", "WeatherMax weather" or "WeatherMax radar". No setup needed. Multiple Locations Save your favorite places and switch between them instantly — home, work, family, anywhere. Up to 3 free, unlimited with WeatherMax+. WEATHERMAX+ ESSENTIAL • Rain alerts — a push before it starts at your location • The full 2-hour future radar timeline (free includes the first 30 minutes) • Lightning on the map • Sky themes, including seasonal designs like Halloween • Lock Screen widgets, plus Details and Hourly chart widget styles • Apple Watch complications • Unlimited saved locations WEATHERMAX+ PRO • Everything in Essential • Pro map layers — storm outlooks, storm reports, wildfire, fire weather • Rain Countdown — a Live Activity on your Lock Screen and Dynamic Island • Rearrange your dashboard and choose your Conditions metrics • Alternate app icons, including holiday designs Severe weather warnings are free for everyone, and always will be. SUBSCRIPTION DETAILS WeatherMax+ Essential: $1.99/month or $14.99/year WeatherMax+ Pro: $3.99/month or $29.99/year Limited time: yearly plans start with 1 week free. New subscribers only, in select countries, through December 31, 2026. Payment is charged to your Apple ID at confirmation of purchase. Subscriptions renew automatically unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel in your Apple ID Account Settings. Any unused portion of a free trial is forfeited when a subscription is purchased. Terms of Use: https://weathermax.app/terms Privacy Policy: https://weathermax.app/privacy Weather data from Apple Weather, the National Weather Service, Environment and Climate Change Canada, and Open-Meteo.
Why Weather
This app goes beyond basic forecasts to explain the science and uncertainty behind weather. It features an AI meteorologist named Sky that answers your weather questions and provides daily narrative summaries of upcoming conditions. It highlights discrepancies between forecasts and real-time observations.
- AI meteorologist for answering weather questions
- Daily narrative weather stories
- Forecast uncertainty and disagreement flagging
- Ground truth badge for real-time observation discrepancies
- Animated radar and nowcast
- Morning weather story notifications
- Severe weather alerts
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Why Weather is the thinking weather app—for the weather-curious and the weather-nerdy. We explain the science behind the forecast, and the uncertainty behind the science. Most weather apps give you the play-by-play, we include the color commentary. MEET SKY Why Weather is the only weather app with an AI meteorologist you can actually talk to. Ask Sky why a front is moving in, what a radar pattern means, why pressure is dropping, or what a hook echo looks like. Sky explains the why, not just the what. TODAY'S WEATHER STORY Tap "Today's weather story" on the forecast screen—or your daily morning notification—and Sky writes a short narrative explaining what's actually going to happen. Not just numbers and icons: the why behind the day. What the front is doing, what to plan around, whether the rain is for real or just hedging. The same story that arrives in your morning notification is one tap deep into Sky's view. FORECAST IN FLUX When the National Weather Service explicitly hedges in their forecast discussion, we flag it. When a station nearby observes different conditions than the model predicts, we show the disagreement. The forecast isn't gospel; we don't pretend it is. GROUND TRUTH Forecasts lag reality. When the model says cloudy but radar at your spot shows rain—or the nearest weather station is reporting different conditions than the model predicted—we surface a "Ground truth" badge instead of doubling down on the wrong forecast. Tap it to see the disagreement spelled out, including the source we're trusting and why. ANIMATED RADAR + NOWCAST Watch precipitation move in real time. Premium unlocks the next-hour nowcast so you know what's coming before it arrives. PUSH NOTIFICATIONS THAT RESPECT YOUR TIME — A one-sentence weather story, every morning, links to today's full weather story — Severe weather watches and warnings, the moment they're issued — A heads-up before rain begins, with intensity context BUILT FOR WEATHER NERDS — Concept-of-the-day cards spanning core meteorology, named systems, planetary atmospheres, and climate science — Learn factoids that surface real atmospheric facts — Honest framing about model resolution ("rain in the area," not "rain at your house") — Ground-truth badge when live observations disagree with the forecast model PREMIUM Unlock all forecast sources, all map layers (wind, heat), the next-hour radar nowcast, 10 day forecast (from 7), and unlimited Sky responses. Monthly and annual subscriptions available. If you've ever wondered what's actually going on up there—not just what to wear today—Why Weather is built for you. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Why Weather at 5.0 against WeatherMax+'s 4.5. Why Weather also leads on update cadence (every 2 days vs every 3 weeks) and review sentiment (100% vs 78%). WeatherMax+'s advantage is monetization model (free vs freemium) and ratings volume (6 vs 2). On price, ads, in-app purchases 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. WeatherMax+ sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month and Why Weather sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Why Weather holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 6 and 2 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 78% of WeatherMax+'s written reviews are positive against 100% of Why Weather's.
WeatherMax+ ships an update every 3 weeks, Why Weather every 2 days. Both last shipped on October 9, 2026.
| Parameter | WeatherMax+ | Why Weather |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (6 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 77.8% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 6 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 2 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 16 MB | 15 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Chris Williams | Christopher Edward Risdon |
Customer experience
WeatherMax+
Why Weather
In-app purchases
WeatherMax+
- WeatherMax+ Essential Monthly$1.991 Month
- WeatherMax+ Pro Monthly$3.991 Month
- WeatherMax+ Essential Yearly$14.991 Year
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- WeatherMax+ Pro Yearly$29.991 Year
Why Weather
- Why Weather Premium Monthly$4.991 Month
- Why Weather Premium Annual$29.991 Year
Questions
Is WeatherMax+ free?
Is Why Weather free?
Which has better reviews, WeatherMax+ or Why Weather?
Do WeatherMax+ or Why Weather have ads?
Which is updated more often, WeatherMax+ or Why Weather?
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