Weather Gods 1.7.2

By Weather Gods (Scott), 3 August, 2018

Forum
iOS and iPadOS

Hi Everybody,

Release 1.7.2 should be hitting the App Store about now.

Despite being only a point release, it turned out actually to be quite large.

Where to start?

1. We added humidity to the weather wheel, Apple Watch and smart weather complications
2. The watch complications now track your GPS location, providing you select a GPS location in our watch app. It was actually quite hard work to get this working, without killing the battery.
3. You can include the location name in the large modular, I will be updating the other complications in the next release.
4. We have removed the reliance on observation data for the 'now' view. We found the data was not reliable enough for all locations, and in some cases, the weather stations just didn't report the data at all!
5. The cloud descriptions have been unified between the main app, watch app and widget.
6. We have re-worked our algorithms for when to show rain/ sleet/snow throughout the app. You should see and hear fewer instances of rain when the chance of rain is low.
7. Follow me allows the choice to have a three-day weather summary notification - configure in Device Settings in the Weather Gods section
8. We fixed the follow me distance trigger not always working
9. The follow me notification now plays our familiar Weather Gods sound :)

We also had a big push on improving the app accessibility with the help of Hamish who is an Accessibility Manager for a large bank. His suggestions have really helped the app. Thank you Hamish.

Accessibility:

1. we changed the swipe gesture for changing location from swipe left and right to swipe up and down. Works on the Home screen and the Weather Wheel
2. you can now swipe left and right in the weather wheel to advance backward and forwards a day at a time
3. you swipe up as well as down to change the timeline god
4. every screen (where applicable) should support the accessibility escape shortcut (magic z)
5. we have added headings to the Home screen and timelines
6. clearer labels throughout the app, for example, the day/night toggle used to read ‘day’ or ‘night’. Now it will say ‘switch to day’ or ‘switch to night’
7. the search dialog has been improved. We now indicate the number of results and also provide a quick (swipe right) method to cancel the search
8. managing favorite and recent locations should be easier with custom actions to delete or add as a favorite
9. search results have the full country name to aid identification
10. the weather sounds volume in settings is now a standard slider control
11. it should be easier to play and listen to all the weather sounds in the dedicated weather sounds screen

There are many other internal changes as well.

I would like to say a big thank you to all our beta testers who helped test the app and knock it into shape - this hasn't been the easiest of betas - the people testing the watch complication have shown an extraordinary level of patience as I tried out various algorithms :)

Finally, If you enjoy the app, and haven't left a review, then we would really appreciate a review on the app store, please. It helps with our ratings, which in turn drives downloads, allowing us to continue feeding, watering and developing the app.

Thanks
Scott

Options

Comments

By Tarja on Monday, August 27, 2018 - 12:21

Is it a bug? It says cannot locate you, tap to try again but still same letter.

By Weather Gods (Scott) on Monday, August 27, 2018 - 12:21

Hi Tarja,

Can you explain some more please about the bug?

Thanks
Scott

By Weather Gods (Scott) on Monday, August 27, 2018 - 12:21

Ah, okay, thanks.

The location tracking is normally pretty good.

Can you send me a feedback email please from the settings screen. It has some debug stuff which can help us.

Thanks
Scott

By Weather Gods (Scott) on Monday, August 27, 2018 - 12:21

Hi Everybody,

There have been a few instances of location services not working today, including myself. In the end, a phone restart fixed it for me.

If anyone else is having problems then please get in touch. I'm trying to figure out if the problem is widespread, a bug in the app, or if the Apple servers are playing up with decoding locations.

Thanks
Scott

By Justin on Monday, August 27, 2018 - 12:21

No issues here. The location deal is working on my end. One question I have is in the weather wheel, when it is hot, and it feels like whatever, it says caution, whatever, extreme. Does that refer to heat exhaustion/heatstroke? not exactly sure why it's there. Also one other thing I'm noticing, it has the both feels like and heat index in the wheel. They're both reporting the same thing, so it seems redundant in my view. Other than that, keep up the great work Scott!

By Weather Gods (Scott) on Monday, August 27, 2018 - 12:21

Hi Justin,

Thanks for reporting.

Yes, it is indeed referring to heat exhaustion/heat stroke.

https://www.weather.gov/safety/heat-index

Good point about the feels like and heat index - during the hot season they will be the same, changing when it gets cold.

I think I will keep it with humidity though, in case some people haven't enabled the feels like temperature.

By Justin on Monday, August 27, 2018 - 12:21

Ah, good idea. Actually, that's a great point. Never thought about disabling the feels like temperature. It's good, as some other weather services use that same feels like and heat index on their current conditions.

By DudeLove721 on Monday, August 27, 2018 - 12:21

Ever since updating to the latest version, my app opens to a blank screen/gradient. Re-installing didn’t fix the issue and although it worked after a restart, it’s not working again when I open the app now.

By Weather Gods (Scott) on Monday, August 27, 2018 - 12:21

Hi DudeLove721,

Sorry to hear about that - it does sound like the bug a few others have experienced.

I believe I have a fix in beta.

Would you like me to invite you to the beta? You can email me support@weathergods.cloud

Thanks
Scott

By taichong on Monday, August 27, 2018 - 12:21

Hello Scot, after I update my weather gods app on the latest version my daily summary notification fix, really glad it is. Nice job Scot! thanks.

Best

By Weather Gods (Scott) on Monday, August 27, 2018 - 12:21

Thanks, @taichong for letting me know. Glad it's working now.

By Weather Gods (Scott) on Monday, August 27, 2018 - 12:21

We have managed to narrow the problem down to users with an Apple Watch and now have a fix in beta and an update awaiting approval from Apple.

If anyone would like the fix then please email me support@weathergods.cloud

Otherwise, there should be an App Store update in a day or two.

Thanks again to the beta testers who helped me get to the bottom of this problem.

By Tarja on Monday, August 27, 2018 - 12:21

Today morning my app screen went blank and I tried to uninstall and reinstall but it didn’t help. I will also sent an email to request beta.