iOS developers can now subscribe to WeatherKit API - 9to5Mac

Following the release of iOS 16 to the public on Monday, Apple has now announced that developers can finally subscribe to get more WeatherKit API requests. With this API, third-party apps can get data provided by Apple Weather as part of the Dark Sky transition.

Back in 2020, Apple acquired Dark Sky – a popular weather forecasting platform that was available for both iOS and Android. As the Android app was discontinued, Apple began implementing some of Dark Sky’s features natively in iOS. With iOS 16, the company introduced WeatherKit, a new API that provides third-party apps with access to weather information.

WeatherKit API

During the iOS 16 beta testing period, developers could try out the new service at no extra cost. While the API will continue to be available for free with some limits, developers can now subscribe to increase the number of requests their apps can make to the WeatherKit API.

As detailed on the Apple Developer website, every member of the Apple Developer Program has access to 500,000 WeatherKit API requests per month. However, if an app needs more requests, the developer needs to pay for a subscription.

WeatherKit brings valuable weather information to your apps and services through a wide range of data that can help people stay up to date, safe, and prepared. It’s easy to use WeatherKit in your apps for iOS 16, iPadOS 16, macOS 13, tvOS 16, and watchOS 9 with a platform-specific Swift API, and on any other platform with a REST API. Up to 500,000 API calls per month are included with Apple Developer Program membership. And now, Account Holders can subscribe for more calls in the Apple Developer app.

Apple has three different subscription plans available:

• 1 million requests per month: $49.99
• 2 million requests per month: $99.99
• 5 million requests per month: $249.99
• 10 million requests per month: $499.99
• 20 million requests per month: $999.99

The Apple Weather service (which uses data from Dark Sky) replaces The Weather Channel as the data source for iOS’s native Weather app, which will now also be available on iPad and Mac for the first time with iPadOS 16 and macOS Ventura, both coming in October.

Dark Sky will be officially shut down on January 1, 2023. As noted by user @23box_, the app now redirects users to the Apple Weather app.

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