Thursday, October 15, 2015

These Weather Apps Add Cute Dog Photos to Any Forecast!

A blizzard of weather stories has been blowing through newscasts recently. Drought in the West. Wildfires in the Pacific rainforests. Record rainfall and flooding in the Southeast. The news has been dark and dreary. However, one thing is guaranteed to make a thunderstorm feel like a sunny day: Dogs.

I was sure that someone had come up with a way to combine weather and puppies, and the Internet did not disappoint. I found several weather apps featuring tail-wagging forecasts to make any day better.

1. Weather Puppy by Weather Creative Inc.

Weather Puppy

I uploaded photos of my dogs into Weather Puppy. There are also plenty of picture sets to choose from, some free, some for a small fee. You can even support dog rescue by choosing that photo set.

This is by far my favorite of the dog apps. Users choose a set of photos to populate different weather conditions like Sunny Day, Rainy Day, and Sorta Cloudy. Some sets are free; others (including Glamour, Pug Life, Boo, and Cats & Dogs) will cost you a $1.99. The fun part for me is the ability to upload my own photos (that’s also $1.99). You can also choose one of its nonprofit partners (for example DogsTrust and Detroit Dog Rescue) and donate money to them. Weather Puppy partners with 16 nonprofit animal shelters and supports them with free ad space and in-app fundraising. Because the app uses content by Weather Underground, the data is complete, accurate, and helpful, with current conditions, hourly and 10-day forecasts, and radar.

  • Apple, Android
  • Free
  • Uses Weather Underground (by The Weather Channel)
  • Multiple languages

2. myBoo Weather by myplacesandme.com

MyBoo Weather

Dress up myBoo for the local weather. If he’s not dressed right, myBoo gets sad. Share your dressed-up Boo on Facebook to earn points and buy more clothes and accessories.

Popular Internet celebrity Boo, the Pomeranian with more than 17 million Facebook followers who’s known as “the cutest dog in the world,” is illustrated in this interactive iOS app. Users pet Boo and dress him for the current local weather in coats, sunglasses, shoes, collars, and other items. Shake the phone and he travels to other locations around the world. Use points (buy them or get them through Facebook shares) to buy more clothes and accessories for Boo. The weather data is accurate, but this app may appeal more to the younger set who would enjoy playing virtual dress up with an animated dog.

  • Apple
  • Free
  • Uses OpenWeatherMap.org
  • Multiple languages

3. Doge Weather

Doge weather apps

Doge Weather’s Dogespeak is a little too wow-heavy for my tastes. The version by Simplecto uses your location but includes a more creative — and more amusing — vocabulary. (Much load!)

So weather. Maybe accurate. Wow. If you’re a fan of the Internet meme featuring a Shiba Inu known as Doge, you’ll find these apps amusing. All are created by different people, but all do essentially the same thing: Translate current local weather into Dogespeak, which wanders across the screen. Very weather.

You can get your Doge weather in several ways:

Apple: Doge Weather by Relapse, LLC

  • $0.99
  • Uses Forecast weather API that powers Forecast.io and Dark Sky for iOS

Apple: Doge Weather — Such Forecast by Simplecto

  • $0.99
  • Uses Forecast weather API that powers Forecast.io and Dark Sky for iOS

Android: Weather Doge by VersoBit Ltd

  • Free
  • Uses OpenWeatherMap.org or Yahoo for weather data

Website: DogeWeather.com

  • Free

4. Weather to Walk Your Dog

Too hot? Too cold? Want to know whether the weather is okay to walk your dog? There are two apps that help you determine if walkies are on your radar, one for Android and one for Apple.

Weather to Walk – for Dogs by TranndeeApps

I don't have an Android phone so I had to rely on the Google store screen grabs. This app allows you to choose your breed (or breed closer to your mutt) and it will serve up a customized walk forecast based on the type of dog.

This app allows you to choose your breed (or breed closest to your mutt), and it will serve up a customized walk forecast based on the type of dog.

Sun that would cook a Husky may be just the right temperature for a Chihuahua. This app takes into account your dog’s breed when recommending if it’s time to chill or time to take a hike with your pup. I don’t have an Android phone, so I couldn’t test this one.

  • Android
  • $0.99
  • Multiple languages

Weather to Walk Your Dog by Christopher Farrell

You set the parameters for the weather circumstances under which you'd like to walk your dog. Check the app, and it will tell you if now is a good time. You can also see the rest of the day's forecast. This app would be more interesting if there were more photos, not that the Golden isn't cute, but it would be fun to see a more diverse selection of background pups.

You set the parameters for the weather circumstances under which you’d like to walk your dog. Check the app, and it will tell you if it’s a good time. You can also see the rest of the day’s forecast.

You set parameters such as optimal time of day to walk and minimum and maximum temperatures, and this app does the rest. It’s just the same cute dog in the background, however, whether you like it or not.

  • Apple
  • Free
  • Uses OpenWeatherMap.org

Read more about dogs and tech:

About the author: Susan C. Willett is a writer, photographer, and blogger whose award-winning original stories, photography, poetry, and humor can be found at Life With Dogs and Cats. She lives in New Jersey with three dogs and four cats (all rescues) and at least a couple of humans — all of whom provide inspiration for her work. Refusing to take sides in the interweb’s dogs vs. cats debate, Susan enjoys observing the interspecies interaction among the varied inhabitants of her home — like living in a reality TV show, only furrier. In addition to Life With Dogs and Cats, you can find more Lilah, Jasper, and Tucker (and the rest of the gang) on Haiku by Dog™,  Haiku by Cat™,  and Dogs and Cats Texting.  

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