Apple Buys Dark Sky in an Android Worst-Case Scenario

Well, it was fun while it lasted. Dark Sky arrived on Android four years ago this May. On July 1, it will shutter forever, and its website will stop offering forecasts. Eighteen months after that, at the end of 2021, it will pull the plug on its application programming interface. RIP to the best, most beautiful weather app on Android. Cause of death: acquisition by Apple.

Dark Sky will continue to exist on iOS for the foreseeable future, although it seems likely that its best features will be subsumed into the platform’s stock weather app. Android users, though, who pay out a $3 annual subscription for the privilege of receiving its hyperlocal forecasts and to-the-minute rain alerts, will be left out in the cold. Not only that, but the loss of the Dark Sky API will leave popular weather alternatives like Carrot scrambling for an alternate source for their info.

“Our goal has always been to provide the world with the best weather information possible, to help as many people as we can stay dry and safe, and to do so in a way that respects your privacy,” wrote Dark Sky cofounder Adam Grossman in a blog post announcing the move. “There is no better place to accomplish these goals than at Apple.”