I wanted to experiment with a weather widget that shows the current conditions with an easy-to-read, at-a-glance forecast.
I stumbled upon the Glance Weather Widget in the Google Play Store, and having used it for a week, it has proven more thought-provoking than a weather app or widget usually is.
However, while it’s an interesting take on a weather widget, I’m going to delete it. Here’s why it has taken an unfortunate turn.
Visual weather forecasting
More colors, fewer numbers
Let’s start with what’s good about the Glance Weather Widget, and who may benefit from using it.
Unlike a weather app, it’s purely a weather widget and lives on your home screen. There’s no app experience at all, making it simple and lightweight.
It utilizes colors more than numbers to help you quickly understand the forecast, but you will need to put in some time learning how it operates, as at first it doesn’t look like it makes much sense.
On the left of the widget, you get a basic overview, while next to it, you can see how the weather is expected to change over the coming hours.
The temperature has sensibly been kept as a number, but the shading at the top of the main panel relates to cloud cover and clear skies, while the lower part relates to the temperature.
For example, if the panel is blue or green, it’s colder, and yellow to orange denotes it’ll be warmer. If the upper panel is blue, expect clearer skies, and it’ll fade from white to grey as it becomes cloudier or night falls.
Additionally, the blue spots at the top of the widget denote the amount of rainfall expected, and the lines in the lower half show wind strength.
See what I mean? It takes a bit to understand what you’re seeing, but it quickly clicks.
More data available
Just a tap away
It’s entirely possible to leave the widget like this, but if you tap it, you access a medium and a longer range forecast, so there’s more depth if you want.
Customizations include temperature in Celsius or Fahrenheit, the option to have actual temperature or the feels-like temperature displayed, and to enlarge the widget if you find the standard size too small.
I really like how you can add multiple Glance Weather Widgets to a single Home screen for different locations, creating this colorful and highly unusual look.
I’m not a weather obsessive, but I like to plan any trips out around the awful UK weather, and the Glance Weather Widget has helped do that without the need to delve into a weather app in a different, more colorful way.
A lesson in how not to retain users
Why I may not continue with it
By reading this, it’s probably clear I rather like the Glance Weather Widget, which should mean I’d happily recommend it to other people. Unfortunately, I’ll only do so with a warning, and it’s a lesson all app developers should note.
The Glance Weather Widget isn’t free. This isn’t the problem, though. It’s that the developer seems to have gone out of their way to make it difficult to understand when you’ll pay for the widget, how much it costs, and how often you’ll have to pay.
The Google Play page says there are in-app purchases, but the app description is irritatingly vague.
It says the free trial period is “generous,” and a “small subscription” will eventually be required. When, how much, and how often is a mystery.
Things aren’t any clearer after you download it either.
The app’s splash page says “free trial” at the top, but there is absolutely no information on when it will end or how much it will cost when the time is up.
Dig into the Play Store’s description, and you’ll find details of a payment, but it’s not clear if this is per month, per year, or a one-off.
This poor communication means that if you missed the in-app payment message in Google Play, there’s a very good chance you won’t know the widget will require a payment until it asks for one.
Don’t make it difficult
Be upfront
Payments are a normal part of any app store, and a lot of apps have in-app purchases. A lot of people are also happy to support developers by buying apps or paying for a subscription.
Obfuscating payments, or deliberately not making it clear how much a service will cost, comes across as shady, and suddenly being asked for a payment for something a user may have thought was free will not be a welcome surprise.
It’ll make people stop using the app, and for what purpose? No one wants to feel tricked into anything, and in the incredibly competitive world of apps, one bad experience is all it takes to delete it and move on to the next one.
That’s what I’m going to do, which is a shame, as the Glance Weather Widget is a cool alternative take on mobile weather forecasting.
I’m just not prepared to wait around to find out about the pricing structure, when it absolutely should be made clear from the outset. It’s not much to ask.
