AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
If you have a smartphone, you probably have a weather app, and if you have a weather app, you probably wish it was better.
ADAM GROSSMAN: I think everyone in their mind has this idea of what the ideal weather app should be and what they're looking for and how it should work and how it should display information.
RASCOE: Adam Grossman is a developer who helped create the popular Dark Sky weather app, which was sold to Apple in 2020. His team is back with a new weather app called Acme. And I know you're probably saying, great, another weather app that'll trick me into leaving my umbrella at home. But, look, Acme may not be any better than the others at forecasting. Instead, it might tell you if there's a rainbow nearby. And who doesn't need a rainbow these days? Acme is toying with sending users push notices about uplifting weather events like rainbows or beautiful sunsets. Grossman wants users to have a relationship with Acme.
GROSSMAN: To me, the platonic ideal of a weather forecast is actually your TV meteorologist. You watch the evening news or whatever, and the meteorologist has a knack of being able to explain what is going on.
RASCOE: Maybe you don't care about rainbows or sunsets. Maybe you'll never buy the Acme app. Perhaps you just like to live in the moment, you know, experience the weather as it comes. But either way, Grossman says we can all have a bit more fun with the weather.
GROSSMAN: The weather shouldn't just be about the bad stuff. Like, hey, there's a thunderstorm coming, hey, you're going to get rained on. It should be fun - right? - in a way. And I think there's something magical about having your app tell you, go outside right now, there's a good chance there's a rainbow, here's where to find it in the sky.
RASCOE: Now, if only there was an app to find that pot of gold. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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