Comparison

空玉 vs VortexWeather

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

Head to head
About

空玉

Features
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Soradama turns the weather into something you can keep. ■ The sky becomes an orb Soradama automatically records a sky orb when the app successfully fetches weather for your home location. Its appearance reflects the weather, temperature, humidity and time of day. It keeps one orb per day, based on your device’s date, and updates that day’s orb when you fetch weather again. Failed requests or viewing saved weather do not create a new orb. You can revisit the orbs in a monthly calendar. ■ A living background Clear, rain, snow, thunder, fog — the whole screen changes with the weather and the time of day. Rain runs down the glass. Snow drifts. The colors shift as morning turns to dusk. Open it at sunrise or sunset and you'll get something you won't see at any other hour. ■ The old calendar, quietly Soradama follows the 24 traditional Japanese seasons and the phases of the moon. On the day autumn begins, the app tells you. On a full moon, the moon itself appears inside the orb, at the right phase — calculated from astronomical algorithms, not approximated. ■ It also works as a weather app ・Current conditions, 24-hour and 10-day forecasts ・Umbrella index and laundry index, judged on the hours ahead ・Rain radar with a 60-minute forecast (Japan and nearby areas only) ・Sunrise and sunset, UV, wind, humidity, pressure, visibility, feels-like ・Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets ・Apple Watch app and complications ・Notifications before rain starts ・Works offline with the last forecast it fetched ■ No catch No account. No ads. No tracking. No paid features. Location information is used to retrieve weather and place names. Selected cities are saved on your device. Your home location is also saved and shared with the app’s widgets and paired Apple Watch for their existing features. Weather providers receive the coordinates needed for each request and may retain network logs as described in the privacy policy. The app does not link location information to your identity or use it for tracking. You can also choose a city without granting location access. Weather data: Open-Meteo Rain radar: Japan Meteorological Agency (Japan and nearby areas only)

About

VortexWeather

Access detailed weather data including hurricanes, radar, satellite, and forecast models. Offers free basic features and paid subscriptions for advanced capabilities like 3D viewers and extended forecast data.

Highlights
  • Live storm tracks and forecast cones
  • NEXRAD radar and satellite imagery
  • Forecast radar and satellite animation
  • Numerical forecast models (GFS, ECMWF)
  • Real-time lightning detection
  • 3D hurricane and radar viewers (Pro)
Features
Read full description

VortexWeather turns raw NOAA data into fast, interactive weather maps — hurricanes, radar, satellite, lightning, and full numerical models, all in one app. Free to download and use. Features marked (Basic) or (Pro) require a paid auto-renewable subscription — see Subscriptions below. Available in English, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional) and Thai. TROPICAL & HURRICANES • Live storm tracks and forecast cones from the National Hurricane Center • Wind radii and tropical watches/warnings • Spaghetti plots from 35+ forecast models (Basic) • Historical storm tracks (Basic) • Storm wind and precipitation animation with max wind swath and rain totals (Pro) • GPU-accelerated 3D hurricane viewer with wind particle animations and isosurfaces (Pro) RADAR & SATELLITE • National and single-site NEXRAD radar (reflectivity & velocity) • Forecast radar: loops continue into the HRRR model's forecast (Basic) • 3D NEXRAD volume scan viewer with cross sections, cell isolation, and tornado rotation tools (Pro) • GOES and Himawari satellite imagery • Satellite animation (Basic) • Real-time lightning FORECAST MODELS • GFS and ECMWF surface temperature, dewpoint, pressure, humidity, and wind — free with a VortexWeather account • Animated surface wind particle flow — free with a VortexWeather account • Upper-air heights and winds, CAPE, precipitation, cloud cover, and more (Basic) • High-resolution HRRR model and animated wind barbs (Basic) SEVERE, AVIATION & MORE • SPC outlooks, WPC forecasts, and live NWS alerts (Basic) • Aviation hazards: SIGMET/AIRMET/PIREP and METARs (Basic) • USGS earthquakes SUBSCRIPTIONS VortexWeather is free to download, with ads. A paid subscription removes ads and unlocks the features marked above: • VortexWeather Basic — $4.99 per month or $50.90 per year • VortexWeather Pro — $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year; includes everything in Basic plus the features marked (Pro) Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period, and your account is charged for renewal within 24 hours before the period ends. Manage or cancel anytime in your App Store account settings. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Terms of Service: https://vortexweather.com/terms Privacy Policy: https://vortexweather.com/privacy VortexWeather is provided for informational and educational purposes only. Always rely on official sources such as the National Weather Service and National Hurricane Center for life-safety decisions.

Screenshots

空玉4 screens
VortexWeather4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: 空玉 at none against VortexWeather's 4. 空玉 also leads on ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 2 days vs fortnightly). VortexWeather's advantage is iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.0). On price 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. VortexWeather sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. 空玉 asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

空玉 ships an update every 2 days, VortexWeather fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 28, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 5 level
空玉 versus VortexWeather: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
Parameter空玉VortexWeather
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Number of ratings—2 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 days — betterFortnightly
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
Monetization—Free with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, Apple WatchiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.015.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size7 MB66 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developerkiyotaka takanishiVORTEXWEATHER LLC

In-app purchases

None

空玉

No in-app purchases

4 purchases

VortexWeather

Subscriptions4
  • Basic Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Pro Monthly$9.991 Month
  • Basic Annual$50.901 Year
Show 1 more
  • Pro Annual$99.991 Year

Questions

Is 空玉 free?
空玉 is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is VortexWeather free?
VortexWeather is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do 空玉 or VortexWeather have ads?
VortexWeather shows ads; 空玉 does not.
Which is updated more often, 空玉 or VortexWeather?
空玉 ships an update every 2 days, and VortexWeather fortnightly. Most recently, 空玉 was updated on October 28, 2026 and VortexWeather on October 25, 2026.

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