MetService 4+

It’s functional. Poor interface design. Dated aesthetic but it gives me the weather most of the time (it gets weirdly confused about the location from time to time).

As someone who actually paid for this app, I’ve come to terms that I get served ads. But now it tells me to follow Met Service on Instagram. Follow the people that predict weather on Instagram. Why? I mean ... how does this benefit anyone - they’re a Government department aren’t they? If I wanted to follow them on Instagram, I would but why in the world would I? Why do they care about followers?

Who’s advising them? Please, I implore you - get them to think about human centred design - get them to think who this app is for (and paid for). It wouldn’t cost much to scrap this mess and start from scratch ... and give us an app to be proud of. Come on people, if not for me ... then for New Zealand!

The new widgets for the lock screen are more visually appealing. A 6hr precipitation widget and a wind widget would be appreciated as Apple doesn’t offer something similar and island (including mainland) dwellers would very much appreciate quick access to this information. A wider homescreen widget and one based upon the computerised forecast would also be appealing. It’d also be nice to be able to look back on the past day for rainfall info.

One thing that would be good is push notifications for weather warnings. The emergency management centre warnings are really annoying and require an emergency to be declared before they are issued. Many people have the metservice app and sending push notifications through this would be preferable. The warnings are also better couched than EMA alerts which are written in a way that can generate unnecessary fear.

Original review: The old app was fantastic. I liked the content, layout and presentation - and the ability to personalise with photos. This new app has a horrible, dated design, causes my phone to freeze, makes it hard to check forecasts in other places and has ads in it. I can't think of anything nice to say about it.

Update: since the new app was launched, I have cycled between installing and deleting the app several times. Metservice has great content and while the website is good, an app is my preferred channel, so I’ve given it some more chances. It’s good to see the many improvements that have been made since it was first launched; it’s where it should have been on launch day.
I’ll probably end up deleting it again though and sticking with the website because of the little avatar. It’s minor but for me it’s an unnecessary design feature that has bugged me since its inception and now has baggage (and I have asked for it to be removable, at least, previously). I’ll try again in a few months.