Repository
https://github.com/SecUSo/privacy-friendly-weather
Introduction
If I'm not mistaken, I've reviewed about two or more weather applications and this should make it the third. I love it when I'm able to predict the weather, It's really a cool thing. After all, no one wants a bad weather to be an obstacle to his/her plan.
Yup Yup Yup! Going through my Steemit blogs, I discovered that I have reviewed a total of 4 awesome projects owned by the SECUSO group. In today's review, I'll be reviewing a weather app. Not just any weather app, but a Privacy Friendly weather app from the SECUSO group.
This will make it the 5th project of the SECUSO group which I've reviewed.😇
The Privacy Friendly weather app is as simple as all the other projects if the SECUSO group. Honestly, it is the simplest weather app I had ever seen; (a weather app that is very simple and still achieves its primary goal). Without wasting any time, let's see what the SECUSO group has done again! 😊
What is Privacy Friendly Weather App?
The Privacy Friendly Weather app is a free and open source mobile application, which tells the present and future (predicted) weather condition of a chosen place. The functions of the app include; searching and adding locations, showing a piece of detailed weather information about the locations, and performing a radius search.
The app has a total of 4 releases and the latest version is the version 2.1.1. It was launched about 3 months ago (March 28). One of the things that interest me is that the app weighs only 4.80 MB.
The app is available to all F-Droid and Google Play users. You can also download it directly by clicking here.
Features of Privacy Friendly Weather app
Just like I said, the privacy-friendly weather app is a very simple app. It does nothing but shows the present and future (predicted) weather condition of a place. After going through the informative intro of the app, There are three other features in the app.
- Main: On the Main, the weather condition of a selected location is shown. It shows the current weather details (humidity, pressure and wind speed) of the selected location. Directly below the weather details is the 'course of the day'. The course of the day shows the predicted weather condition per 3 hours intervals. Scrolling down a bit, there's a prediction for 5 days. These days includes the present day and the next 4 days. Finally, at the bottom of the page is the sunrise and sunset timing for the selected location.
To view the details of another location (which must have been added by the user), the user has to either swipe from the right to the left or click on the location. At the top right corner is a refresh button. While on the app, a user can click on the refresh button to get the weather details updated (though the app automatically updates itself).
After I launched the app, I went through the interesting intro of the app and was prompted to add a location. I added my preferred location and the app was fully launched. I went through the Main page and I saw detailed info of the weather condition of the location I had input.
- Manage Locations: After a user has added his/her first location, there's every tendency that he/she will want to add another. The mange locations feature is used to add or delete a location (you can add new locations or delete the previous ones).
When I went to the manage locations feature, I saw a plus icon at the down right corner of the screen. I clicked on it and I was prompted to enter the location I wanted to add. I was almost done with typing 'Manchester' when the app gave me suggestions.
I selected the specific Manchester I wanted to add and clicked on the add button. Just then, the location was successfully added.
To confirm that it was added, I went to 'Main' and behold, it awaited me.
- Radius Search: The radius search is one interesting and most unique feature of the Privacy Friendly Weather app. It allows the user to search for the currently best weather around a given location. What the user has to do is to type in the name of the location, select the edge length of the search square (how far the search should go), and the number of locations to retrieve.
I used this feature, and it was superb!
I selected 'Manchester', set the edge length of search square to 150 KM, set the number of locations that'll be retrieved to 10, and clicked on the search button. Immediately after clicking on the search button, the locations with the currently best weather conditions around Manchester were shown to me.
Suggestion
Instead of comparing the Privacy Friendly Weather app with another weather app, I'll suggest a feature to the app. The Privacy Friendly Weather App already has everything that is necessary. I don't find any fault in the app and can't find it slacking. I just want to suggest one feature.
When a user clicks on any of the search results (location) from a radius search, I suggest that the location which is clicked should open detailed weather info concerning itself. Just the same way an already added location shows its weather information.
How to use the app
- Download and install the latest version of the app using the links I provided earlier.
- Launch the app and go through the introduction/user guide. On the last page of the intro, you'll be prompted to add a location.
- After you've added the location, then click on the okay button.
- Make sure your data connection is on, so you'll get the current weather details of the location you added.
- Once your data connection is on, the app automatically updates the weather information.
- To add more locations, you'll have to click on the 'manage location' option. It can be found when you click on the three horizontally arranged lines at the top left corner of the screen.
- To perform a radius search, click on the 'radius search' option, then type in your preferred location. After setting up the edge length of the search square and the number of locations to retrieve, click on the 'search' button.
- Except from the information I provided, you can also get more information by clicking on the help option.
Conclusion
This is another interesting project from the SECUSO group and I'm pleased to see how simple and light the app is. Honestly, I rate the Privacy Friendly Weather app 5/5 stars.