Cloudburst Beta
A downloadable app
Coming to Playdate Catalog 08.19.2025!
Real-time weather. On your Playdate.
Curious what the forecast looks like? Easy! But...your laptop's out of reach, your phone's battery is dead, your smart assistant's brain is busted, and your curtains are shut. It's just you, and your Playdate. What can you do? Well, here is your answer! Leveraging state-of-the-art networking capabilities, Cloudburst is a fully seamless, on-line enabled weather app for your Playdate!
Get the forecast here, there, or anywhere — it's compatible with cities around the world! (And don't worry, it works with Fahrenheit or Celsius — metric or imperial.) See detailed stats such as hourly forecast, precipitation, wind, and more. Change settings to your heart's content, and even use it as a low-power screensaver — the perfect desk buddy. No external tools or setup required, just download and go — it's weather, untethered.
Download
Install instructions
You'll need a Playdate (or Playdate Simulator) to use this app. You can get the app onto your system by sideloading through usual means. (Not sure how to do that?)
Comments
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This looks like a neat idea! What data source do you use for the weather?
the app hooks up to https://www.weatherapi.com/ — i'm not sure where specifically their data comes from, but they say it's "provided in partnership with several data providers, government and metreological agencies"
Hi, I'm on firmware 2.7.3 released yesterday and I don't know if it's related or not but I am not seeing the clock update in multiple views unless the menu gets some interaction. Not sure if this is intended, but I'd assume the clock should update in real time even if we don't poll for new weather data, right?
it shooouuuuld! this is most likely a me thing; i'll look into it. by interaction, do you mean something like opening & closing the weather details panel with the crank?
Yes or hitting the menu button or toggling the screen. I was checking to see how the dark/light invert at noon worked and was confused when the colors changed but the clock did not. Waited for a few minutes and nothing changed so I hit the menu and noticed it jumped into the correct time when I minimized it.
I toggled some settings to turn off the dynamic light/dark to see if that was it but I couldn't get it to change.
If it makes a difference I don't use the system wide ntp time sync and I use the manual setting.
hmmm, i don't think auto/manual time would make a difference ... that is supremely weird that the *screen* is updating, but not the *clock*. those logics should be tied together?! i'll take a look when i can!
I’m having trouble getting the app to recognise any cities in the UK; it picks some slightly obscure alternatives in the US. Might in future it be possible to show a list of possible matches?
Otherwise love the UI and attention to detail, will look forward to seeing it launch on the catalog.
so this is a funny thing — the old API i was using could actually return multiple possible results for a given query, so i did actually have a completely functional flow for choosing from among a list. this new API. however, will unfortunately only return a single entry; whatever it thinks is the closest match. it's nice because it accounts for fuzzy entries a lot better, but yeah if you're trying to find a specific place it takes some fiddling with the input. does it work if you try inputting something like "[city name] UK", or maybe a postal code? i know ZIPs work if you're based in the US, but i'm not sure how the API functions otherwise...
This morning it has correctly located 'Cambridge' (UK), however yesterday it did not and including 'UK' in the name led it to show weather for UK, Chelyabinsk, Russia.
I am also seeing a crash every time I change the location. Entering my post code caused a crash, then a second crash when relaunching the app (followed by reverting to the previous location on the 2nd relaunch).
hey, these crashes should hopefully be fixed in the latest version (v1.0.0b4)! let me know if you're having any problems.
So far so good: no crashes and it correctly recognises UK cities and postcodes!
Had a repeatable crash when changing location in the menu. Excellent app though!
this is a weird thing that's only happening to like some people; i think it might be an issue with the firmware (headers being included in the response when they shouldn't be)? i'll look into it and figure out how to fix it as soon as i can.
for the record, if you re-launch the app after changing your location, it should reflect your new entry anyhoo — from what i've seen, that does get a chance to get saved to disk before this crash.
thanks for reporting and i'm happy you're enjoying the app!
psst, this crash should be fixed in v1.0.0b4! let me know if you have any more problems with it
great work! thanks, will do
rae, this is fantastic
thanks! :3
hi!
have u a date of the release of the stable version?
hi! the app is approved for catalog and will release at a currently-undetermined date in the future; i think i'm going to time the final v1.0.0 release to happen then.
it'll launch on catalog for $5. the stable version will also release here on itch, for free; and there oughta be minimal difference between the two (maybe a nebulous "just-for-fun" leaderboard, at best? nothing that matters)
Perfect, because i try to install the app from itch but i don't have the beta version in the Playdate. So i'll wait for the release on Catalog. thx u!
no problem! by the time it releases in catalog, the OS version with networking capabilities should be available for everyone
This is sooo nice and a perfect upgrade for when my playdate is acting as my desktop clock (every day). The weather and air quality are always dynamic here in California's central valley so I'm always checking these things!
happy to hear you're enjoying it! if there's any other data you'd like to see, let me know — i have access to a surprising amount of stuff with this API, so i can see what's available :)