Avlo Weather is in Private Beta! 🎉
After weeks of coding, the first Avlo app is out in private beta. Pro features, no ads, no account — here’s what went into it.
Today, I officially put Avlo Weather into Private Beta! It’s been a few weeks of work, and I think it’s finally at a point where it’s genuinely useful and not just a demo.
Originally posted on the old Avlo blog. Avlo Weather has since been renamed Nimbus, and some details have changed, including an optional account and our own notification server; see Nimbus 2.0 for where the app is now.
This post covers what the app does, (some of) how it’s built, and why I made it instead of just using one of the dozens of weather apps already out there.
Why build a weather app?
The weather apps I was using all had one of two problems: they were either too simple (basically just a number and an icon) or bloated with ads, paywalls, and dark patterns.
I wanted an app that felt premium and gave me real information — pro details, actual radar, etc — without asking me to create an account, watch an ad, or pay a monthly subscription for features that should just be included.
“No ads. No account. No upsells. Just the weather.”
That’s the whole pitch. If that sounds good to you, join the waitlist.
What’s in the app
- Hourly forecast. 24 hours of temperature, precipitation probability, and feels-like. The basics that every weather app should have.
- 7-day outlook. Self-explanatory — more features that every weather app should have for free.
- NEXRAD radar. Official NOAA MRMS radar via nowCOAST. If anyone has suggestions for other providers, hit me up.
- NOAA alerts. Live NWS alerts for your location with full detail.
- Saved places. Save cities with custom nicknames.
- Light & dark mode. Both a deep navy dark mode and a clean light mode — pick whichever one tickles your fancy.
How it’s built
Avlo Weather uses free public APIs. There is no backend, no server costs, no middleman.
- Open-Meteo for forecasts — free, open-source, excellent accuracy
- NOAA nowCOAST for NEXRAD radar — the same data professional meteorologists use
- NWS API for weather alerts — official government data, free
- Nominatim / OpenStreetMap for reverse geocoding
On data sources: Your location is used only to make API requests — it’s never stored or transmitted to Avlo. All requests go directly from your device to NOAA and Open-Meteo. I never see your data.
What’s next
The beta is intentionally small for now — I want to make sure it’s solid before opening it up more broadly. A few things on the near-term list:
- Home screen widgets
- Precipitation notifications
- Hourly precipitation chart
- More detailed conditions (pressure, dew point trend)
If you have feedback, bug reports, or feature ideas — the contact page goes directly to my inbox. I try to read every single email.
Avlo Weather is the first of many apps in the Avlo suite. More things are in progress 👀. I’ll post updates here as they develop.
