Comparison

Cloud Identifier vs Spotter Tools Pro

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

Head to head
About

Cloud Identifier

Instantly identify clouds with AI by taking a photo of the sky. Get detailed insights like cloud type, rarity, storm potential, and composition. Track your discoveries and explore a built-in cloud guide.

Highlights
  • Instant AI cloud identification
  • Detailed cloud insights (type, rarity, storm potential)
  • Personal cloud discovery tracking
  • Built-in cloud encyclopedia
  • Simple point-and-scan interface
Features
Read full description

Identify clouds instantly with AI. Simply take a photo of the sky and get detailed, fascinating insights about the clouds above you. Each scan reveals rich information, including cloud type, rarity, storm potential, composition, mood, a poetic title, and a confidence score — helping you understand both the science and atmosphere of the sky. Keep track of your cloud discoveries with personal stats and saved scans. See which cloud types you encounter most and uncover rare formations you may never notice otherwise. Explore clouds in depth with a built-in cloud guide, designed like a mini encyclopedia. Learn how different clouds form, change, and signal weather patterns in a simple, visual, and enjoyable way. Designed for curiosity and ease of use, the app lets you point, scan, and understand the sky in seconds — no prior knowledge required at all. Terms of Use: By using this app, you agree to the Apple Standard End User License Agreement (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Spotter Tools Pro

This app provides advanced weather data for enthusiasts and professionals, including detailed radar, live lightning, satellite imagery, and storm chaser streams. It offers robust reporting tools for spotters and customizable alerts for severe weather events.

Highlights
  • GPU-rendered NEXRAD radar
  • Live lightning and satellite imagery
  • Worldwide tropical weather
  • Spotter Network reporting
  • GPS beacon and Chaser Mode
  • Animated and composite radar
  • Sounding analysis
  • Live storm chaser streams
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Spotter Tools Pro is a severe weather app for weather enthusiasts, storm chasers, and trained spotters. GPU-rendered NEXRAD radar, turn-by-turn directions, live wind flow, soundings, lightning, satellite, worldwide tropical, air quality, five forecast models, IBW alerts, live chasers, and thousands of live cameras. Plus Spotter Network reporting and Chaser Mode. Buy once. No subscription, no ads, no third-party trackers. TURN-BY-TURN DIRECTIONS Drive to any address, town, or map point with your route drawn over live radar and warnings. Turn banner with distance and arrival time, spoken prompts that lower your music, and automatic rerouting. Start from search or a long-press. SPOTTER NETWORK REPORTING & BEACON Tornado, funnel cloud, wall cloud, hail, measured wind, flood, flash flood, and damage, each with the exact fields Spotter Network expects. Reports queue offline and auto-upload. Foreground and background GPS beacon with a configurable interval. RADAR: LEVEL 2, LEVEL III & TDWR Crisp at any zoom. Single-site Level 2 decoded on-device: Reflectivity, Velocity, Correlation Coefficient, Spectrum Width, and Storm-Relative Velocity. Plus WSR-88D Level III, dual-pol (ZDR, CC, KDP, HCA), derived products (VIL, Digital Precip Rate, rotation), storm tracks, mesocyclone and TVS markers, a VAD Wind Profile, and the 45-site TDWR network. Add a Mesoanalysis layer (SPC-style severe parameters) and a Storm Cell Deep Dive. Dual-view split-screen compare. 16 .pal color tables, or import your own. ANIMATED & COMPOSITE RADAR Loop recent volumes. Add a GPU-crisp CONUS MRMS mosaic drawn from the full product catalog, including the FLASH flash-flood suite, with up to 12-hour playback and tap-to-read values. LIVE WIND & SOUNDINGS Animated surface-wind particles colored by speed. On-device skew-T soundings, hodographs, and full analysis: tap anywhere for a profile (balloon or HRRR). LIGHTNING, SATELLITE & TROPICAL Live GOES GLM lightning; GOES East and West satellite (Infrared, Water Vapor, Visible, GeoColor) with a radar-synced cloud loop; and worldwide tropical: outlook areas, storm cones, spaghetti tracks, intensity, and wind-arrival times. WEATHER MODELS Overlay HRRR, GFS, RRFS, NAM, and ECMWF guidance (reflectivity, temp, wind, CAPE, precip) with a time bar. OBSERVATIONS & LAYERS RTMA surface observations (temperature, dew point, theta-e, wind, gusts), MRMS observed precipitation, METARs, EPA AirNow air quality, and WPC surface fronts and pressure centers. LIVE STORM CHASERS Watch major chasers stream live via YouTube and Facebook Live, right on the map. Live badges show who's on air. LIVE TRAFFIC & SKY CAMERAS Tens of thousands of DOT cameras across 37 states, plus FAA, Windy, NOAA buoy, USGS volcano, NPS, ALERTWildfire, and curated webcams. Live video where offered, stills elsewhere. SMART PUSH ALERTS Background NWS warnings with a polygon preview. Filter modes: Standard, Outbreak, and PDS/Emergency only. Watch zones: current location, home, city, state, or nationwide. Severe-alert tone, plus optional Critical Alerts so a Tornado Emergency or PDS warning sounds through silent mode and Focus. Each warning shows an estimated population inside the polygon. NWS & SPC ON THE MAP - 50+ NWS warning polygons, toggleable - Tornado and severe thunderstorm watch boxes - SPC Mesoscale Discussions and WPC flood discussions, full text on tap - Outlooks: convective Day 1 to 8, thunderstorm, excessive rainfall, fire weather, winter storm severity, CPC 6 to 10 day, drought - SPC storm reports plus the live Spotter Network feed MORE City and place search, long-press map menu, distance and bearing tools, freehand drawing, and storm-track projection. Optional account and opt-in Presence to see other users on the map. Per-event colors, county and state lines, 6 themes (OLED black). Privacy Policy: https://spottertoolspro.vercel.app/privacy Terms of Service: https://spottertoolspro.vercel.app/terms Support: spottertoolspro@gmail.com

Screenshots

Cloud Identifier4 screens
Spotter Tools Pro4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Cloud Identifier at Free against Spotter Tools Pro's $19.99. Spotter Tools Pro's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and update cadence (every 3 days vs every 4 months). On rating 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Cloud Identifier is free to download; Spotter Tools Pro costs $19.99 up front. Cloud Identifier sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per 7 days. Spotter Tools Pro asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Cloud Identifier against 5.0 for Spotter Tools Pro. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Spotter Tools Pro has 6 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Cloud Identifier ships an update every 4 months, Spotter Tools Pro every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 9, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 3 level
Cloud Identifier versus Spotter Tools Pro: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCloud IdentifierSpotter Tools Pro
PriceFree — better$19.99
Rating5.0 (1 ratings)5.0 (6 ratings)
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings16 — better
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsEvery 3 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
Best chart rank—#59 — better
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS18.515.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size26 MB157 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSheng Yong LohDUSTIN GARNER

Customer experience

Cloud Identifier

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

Spotter Tools Pro

All ratings6 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Cloud Identifier

Subscriptions2
  • Cloud Identifier - One Week Premium3 Days trial$3.997 Days
  • Cloud Identifier - One Year Premium$29.991 Year
None

Spotter Tools Pro

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Cloud Identifier free?
Cloud Identifier is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Spotter Tools Pro free?
Spotter Tools Pro costs $19.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Cloud Identifier or Spotter Tools Pro?
Cloud Identifier and Spotter Tools Pro are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 1 and 6 ratings respectively.
Do Cloud Identifier or Spotter Tools Pro have ads?
Neither Cloud Identifier nor Spotter Tools Pro shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Cloud Identifier or Spotter Tools Pro?
Cloud Identifier ships an update every 4 months, and Spotter Tools Pro every 3 days. Most recently, Cloud Identifier was updated on October 9, 2026 and Spotter Tools Pro on October 7, 2026.

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