Apple made a surprise acquisition of Dark Sky in March and there are signs that it’s already live in iOS 14. As part of this, the weather forecasting service is gradually being deprecated for non-Apple devices and clients. The Dark Sky shutdown is now complete for Android and Wear OS, but the website sees a reprieve.
Update 8/4: As promised, Dark Sky/Apple has refunded the $2.99 annual subscription. Following the app’s shutdown, customers today have been receiving the credits on their original payment method from “GOOGLE*DARK SKY.”
Original 8/1: The official Dark Sky app for Android was originally scheduled to stop working on July 1st. Ahead of that deadline, the phone/tablet and Wear OS clients were pulled from the Play Store, thus preventing new users from downloading. Existing ones can still access the listing directly, or by visiting their “My apps” library list.
However, in a last-minute update, the Apple-owned company said it was extending the deprecation by a month. August 1 is now here, and Dark Sky has stopped working. All weather data in the app returns a value of zero degrees, while there is an orange “The Dark Sky app has shut down” message.
Those that are still subscribed to the $2.99/year plan will receive a “full refund.” The Play Store is sending out the following email this morning:
The website was supposed to follow today, but Apple provided an unspecified extension on weather forecasts and maps. However, embeds look to now be disabled. This delay serves as a workaround for mobile users.
Your Dark Sky – Hyperlocal Weather subscription from The Dark Sky Company, LLC on Google Play has been canceled.
Looking further down the shutdown schedule, third-party weather apps using Dark Sky’s data will have access until the “end of 2021.” The API continues to function for existing customers, but new sign-ups are no longer accepted.
Be sure to check out our guide on the best Android alternatives to Dark Sky.
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