Comparison

-40 Weather vs Swellwire

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

Head to head
About

-40 Weather

This app displays temperatures in both Celsius and Fahrenheit simultaneously, eliminating the need for manual conversion. It features a professional-grade radar that draws weather maps directly on your device, offering smooth animations and detailed storm tracking for the US and Canada. You can also access forecasts, alerts, air quality, and marine conditions.

Highlights
  • Dual temperature scales (Celsius & Fahrenheit)
  • On-device radar with animated maps
  • Storm tracks and warning areas
  • Swipeable city forecasts
  • Hourly, daily, and extended forecasts
  • Air quality and pollen forecasts
  • Marine conditions and tides
Features
Read full description

-40 is the one temperature where Celsius and Fahrenheit are exactly equal. It is also a weather app that shows you both scales at once, so you never have to convert, with radar built the way the professionals build it. BOTH SCALES, ALWAYS Every temperature appears in °C and °F side by side. Choose which one leads in Settings. RADAR THAT RUNS ON YOUR PHONE Most weather apps show you radar. -40 Weather runs it. Instead of downloading finished pictures of the weather, the app downloads compact radar data built from NOAA measurements and draws the map on your device. Pan and zoom instantly, watch a smooth animated loop, and see where storms are heading next. Storm tracks, warning areas and storm reports are layered on top, and you can zoom in for high-resolution detail. Covers the United States and Canada. YOUR CITIES, ONE SWIPE APART Save as many places as you like and swipe between them. Add your current location or search for any city in the world. FORECASTS AT A GLANCE Current conditions, feels-like, highs and lows, a 7-day forecast, hourly detail, wind, precipitation, and sun and moon times. First light and last light show the usable daylight before sunrise and after sunset. Morning, midday and evening cards suggest what the weather feels like, from sweater weather to beach weather. ONE TAP TO THE DETAILS Tiles on the home page show live values and open hourly, precipitation, wind, moon, air quality and pollen, and the Field Guide. WEATHER ALERTS See active alerts from the National Weather Service right on the main screen, with optional notifications. AIR QUALITY AND POLLEN Check air quality and a 5-day pollen forecast covering tree, grass and weed pollen. ON THE WATER Marine conditions, tides, and estimated fishing windows for coastal and inland waters near you. These are estimates and are not for navigation. BUILT TO SIP YOUR BATTERY Location uses a coarse fix instead of constant GPS tracking, and weather alerts arrive by push instead of the app checking in on a timer. DYNAMIC ISLAND AND LIVE ACTIVITIES Optionally keep the current temperature on your Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island. MADE YOUR WAY Pick a color theme, including one that shifts with the temperature, and choose metric or imperial units. The bottom bar uses Liquid Glass on iOS 26. Works on iPhone and iPad. Weather data comes from OpenWeather, the National Weather Service and NOAA, Open-Meteo, Google and other sources listed in Settings. Forecasts and alerts are for general information and are not a substitute for official warnings.

About

Swellwire

Visualize global ocean conditions with a 3D globe. Get detailed forecasts for swell, wind, and weather at any coastline, from immediate conditions to two weeks ahead. Plan your next surf session or marine activity with comprehensive data.

Highlights
  • Interactive 3D globe with weather overlays
  • Live wave height and energy data
  • Detailed surf spot forecasts
  • Buoy data integration
  • Searchable surf spots and buoys
  • Favorite spots sync across devices
  • 16-day forecast extension (Premium)
Features
Read full description

Swellwire turns the world ocean into a planner. Spin the globe, drop into any coast, and read the swell, wind, and weather in seconds—right now, tomorrow, or two weeks out. WHAT YOU GET • Interactive 3D globe with live wave-height, wave-energy, wind, and temperature overlays. Pan, pinch, and tap to explore any shoreline on the planet. • Surf spot forecasts: wave height, period, direction, wind, and a clean at-a-glance read before you commit to the drive. • Buoy data from major coastal networks, surfaced inline on the same map you're already using. • Search any surf spot or NOAA buoy by name and jump straight to its forecast. • Favorite spots sync across devices, so your home break, your travel list, and your weekend backup are all one tap away. • Wave-energy color legend lets you compare a heavy four-foot day against a soft five-foot day at a glance. FREE OR PREMIUM Free includes the full globe, every overlay, and a 7-day forecast for every spot. Premium extends every forecast to a full 16 days — long enough to see swell windows before they're obvious to everyone else. WHO IT'S FOR Surfers planning the next session, the next trip, or the next swell. Sailors, kiters, foilers, divers, and anyone whose day depends on what the ocean is actually doing. WHY A GLOBE INSTEAD OF A FLAT MAP Swell doesn't care about map projections. A storm in the South Indian Ocean lights up reefs in California a week later — on a globe you can see why. Watch a long-period swell wrap around continents in the wave-energy view and a forecast starts to read like a story. ACCOUNT AND PRIVACY Sign in with Google to sync favorites and unlock the 16-day upgrade. Swellwire never posts on your behalf, never sells your data, and never emails you unless you ask. QUESTIONS AND FEEDBACK Email support@swellwire.com — we read every message. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

-40 Weather4 screens
Swellwire4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: -40 Weather at none against Swellwire's 2. On price, rating, ratings volume 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

Both are free to download. Swellwire sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. -40 Weather 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 -40 Weather against 5.0 for Swellwire. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2 and 2 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 7 level
-40 Weather versus Swellwire: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
Parameter-40 WeatherSwellwire
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (2 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings)
Number of ratings22
Update frequencyEvery 5 days—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.016.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size11 MB6 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJacob EglyNevada Scientific Inc.

In-app purchases

None

-40 Weather

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Swellwire

Subscriptions2
  • Swellwire Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Swellwire Yearly$39.991 Year

Questions

Is -40 Weather free?
-40 Weather is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Swellwire free?
Swellwire is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, -40 Weather or Swellwire?
-40 Weather and Swellwire are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 2 and 2 ratings respectively.
Do -40 Weather or Swellwire have ads?
Neither -40 Weather nor Swellwire shows ads.

Other comparisons