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Privacy respecting weather app for Android

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Re: Privacy respecting weather app for Android

#41

Post by Timshel »

throwaway892238 wrote: post #24

I really like Rain Alarm ( https://app.rain-alarm.com/ ). They do collect data, but they are very explicit about what they collect, how it is treated, and when it is removed. Even if you don't want to use it due to personal reasons, you have to respect them putting this info right at the forefront, as most try to hide it. Also, I didn't even realize until now, but the app's functionality is available via the web ( ht…

Goal of CCPA and GDPR is to make not disclosing illegal so they don't really gain any points ...

The web functionality is not available if you refuse tracking so nothing there too ..

Re: Privacy respecting weather app for Android

#42

Post by 1f60c »

wickedsight wrote: post #23
jonas-w wrote: post #4

The developers [0] of this app have a whole series of different Privacy Friendly Apps, if you search for "org.secuso" on f-droid you can see them all. [0] https://secuso.aifb.kit.edu/index.php

That's pretty awesome. The page with an overview of all their apps is right here: https://secuso.aifb.kit.edu/english/105.php

I was curious how a foreign university obtained a .EDU domain, but apparently, foreign universities could register a .EDU domain before 2001.

Re: Privacy respecting weather app for Android

#43

Post by kennydude »

Some of the color choices look a little ugly, at least by the screenshots.

Also, kinda surprisingly, Android has the capability to allow for different sources of data through different apps providing it. So they could have allowed for choice of weather service through other "apps" (even if those other apps provided no user interface). It's kinda sad how under-used Android can be tbh,

Re: Privacy respecting weather app for Android

#44

Post by muppetman »

Markoff wrote: post #9
muppetman wrote: post #5

I've never understood why Weather apps are such a huge thing. I just type into Google "Weather" and it tells me that weather. If I was worried about privacy I'd bookmark the local government weather website. Why the need to install an app for a simple query? People are obsessed with them though, they're massively popular so I'm missing something.

Because Weather.com is not the most accurate data source in many places. For instance in Prague by my research Dark Sky is the most accurate, then there is big gap and it's followed by Wunderground/AccuWeather and possibly Weather.com (though I think Wunderground/Weather are often same if chosen specific location)

Weather itself is so random though. It was dark and hailing a 5 minute drive from my house the other day (it was still sunny with a few clouds on the horizon) I live in a town of 65k people so the weather is for that town. But the forecast was either perfect or totally wrong that day.

Re: Privacy respecting weather app for Android

#45

Post by muppetman »

danuker wrote: post #11
muppetman wrote: post #5

I've never understood why Weather apps are such a huge thing. I just type into Google "Weather" and it tells me that weather. If I was worried about privacy I'd bookmark the local government weather website. Why the need to install an app for a simple query? People are obsessed with them though, they're massively popular so I'm missing something.

I use one because it is much easier to tap once than to have to type anything (like "weather").

I get the simple bit but don't both iOS and Android have built in apps/shortcuts? Weather apps just seem to be like Flashlight apps these days, all promising to be the brightest but actually none better than any other all while slurping up your data.

Re: Privacy respecting weather app for Android

#46

Post by tasuki »

Markoff wrote: post #9
muppetman wrote: post #5

I've never understood why Weather apps are such a huge thing. I just type into Google "Weather" and it tells me that weather. If I was worried about privacy I'd bookmark the local government weather website. Why the need to install an app for a simple query? People are obsessed with them though, they're massively popular so I'm missing something.

Because Weather.com is not the most accurate data source in many places. For instance in Prague by my research Dark Sky is the most accurate, then there is big gap and it's followed by Wunderground/AccuWeather and possibly Weather.com (though I think Wunderground/Weather are often same if chosen specific location)

What model does Dark Sky use? I find its interface a bit too simplified, though it does have all the important info.

I'm Czech and always looking for better weather apps. Mostly using our local Windy[0], which shows a comparison of the GFS, ECMWF, Meteoblue, and ICON models.

[0]: https://windy.com/

Re: Privacy respecting weather app for Android

#47

Post by barsonme »

autoexec wrote: post #15

It seems like a privacy respecting app shouldn't leave your privacy dependent on the ongoing and unwavering benevolence of the developer or the services their app uses. For a weather app that would mean not sending my location data anywhere, but also not sending the locations I want the weather for anywhere either since if you know that most of the time you'll be able to tell where I am or where I will be. The ideal…

Or, you could use cryptography.

Re: Privacy respecting weather app for Android

#48

Post by bierjunge »

1f60c wrote: post #42
wickedsight wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's pretty awesome. The page with an overview of all their apps is right here: https://secuso.aifb.kit.edu/english/105.php

I was curious how a foreign university obtained a .EDU domain, but apparently, foreign universities could register a .EDU domain before 2001.

It's the KIT (Karlsruhe Institute for Technology, former Technical University of Karlsruhe) in south western Germany. IIRC they have the oldest computer science institute in the country and sent/received the first emails in Germany. So yes, they have some standing in the research community, but they renamed in 2008 or 2009 and still got a new .edu domain.

Re: Privacy respecting weather app for Android

#49

Post by deng »

Used it for a while, but unfortunately, the data at Openweathermap was just way off for my location (Germany). Switched to FOSS Weather (https://f-droid.org/en/packages/de.baumann.weather/), which is a wrapper around wetterdienst.de. Unfortunately, this app is no longer maintained, but it still works perfectly fine.

Re: Privacy respecting weather app for Android

#50

Post by salil999 »

autoexec wrote: post #15

It seems like a privacy respecting app shouldn't leave your privacy dependent on the ongoing and unwavering benevolence of the developer or the services their app uses. For a weather app that would mean not sending my location data anywhere, but also not sending the locations I want the weather for anywhere either since if you know that most of the time you'll be able to tell where I am or where I will be. The ideal…

> For a weather app that would mean not sending my location data anywhere, but also not sending the locations I want the weather for anywhere either since if you know that most of the time you'll be able to tell where I am or where I will be.

This doesn't even make sense. How do you want a weather app to not send "locations you want the weather for"?

Also, updating a local copy of every weather place on the planet doesn't scale at all. There's so many places that it won't fit on a single device.

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