Decision guide · checked 16 October 2026

How to choose a personal weather station history app.

A personal weather station history app should preserve what your own sensors measured, show how complete the archive is, and separate observations from forecasts. Look for readable charts, explicit gaps, appropriate units, local-time handling, export, privacy boundaries and a clear explanation of how alerts refresh.

History and forecasts answer different questions

Question	Personal station history	Regional forecast
What is represented?	Measurements reported by sensors at a chosen station	Estimated future conditions for an area
What should be visible?	Timestamps, gaps, archive coverage, units and aggregation	Forecast period, probability, model updates and location
Typical use	Review a garden, property or microclimate over time	Plan around likely upcoming weather

Many people need both. A station-history tool does not replace an official forecast or warning service, and a forecast app may not preserve the long-term readings from your own hardware.

Six checks before choosing

Connection: verify that the app supports the provider, hub or export path you actually use.
Coverage: confirm how much history the provider makes available and whether gaps are shown rather than hidden.
Charts: look for the metrics, time ranges and units you need, plus accessible value inspection.
Climate context: distinguish raw history from derived monthly summaries, records and comparisons.
Privacy: identify where credentials and observations travel, what stays on-device and whether an account is required.
Exit path: prefer a documented export so your measurements are not trapped.

Which station connection do you use?

WeatherTracking connects to Weather Underground, Tempest, Ambient Weather, Home Assistant, Davis WeatherLink Live and an Ecowitt LAN gateway. Choose the connection your station actually exposes. A hardware brand alone is not enough to establish compatibility.

Weather Underground, Tempest or Ambient Weather: use the credentials required by that source. Available history depends on the provider and your station’s archive coverage.
Home Assistant: connect to your instance and map its weather sensor entities. Historical readings depend on what Home Assistant has recorded and retained for those entities.
Davis WeatherLink Live: use the local WeatherLink Live interface. Access to this local source requires network reachability; this connector does not retrieve a WeatherLink cloud archive.
Ecowitt LAN: the gateway must expose the local HTTP get_livedata_info endpoint. WeatherTracking reads supported fields from that response. Model, firmware and available sensors matter; this is not a claim that every Ecowitt gateway or sensor is supported.

Does a local connection include old readings?

The Ecowitt LAN and Davis WeatherLink Live connectors build local history from observations fetched by the app. They do not backfill an older gateway archive. Seven days of history in the free plan is a viewing limit, not a promise that seven days of data appear when you first connect.

For these local sources, check that the phone can reach the gateway, allow local network access when iOS asks, and confirm that a fresh observation appears before relying on a chart. A connection that works at home does not imply remote access when you leave that network.

Keeping observations on the device also does not mean continuous collection. WeatherTracking refreshes in the foreground and during background time granted by iOS. Alert rules are evaluated after successful refreshes; notification timing is not guaranteed.

Where WeatherTracking fits

WeatherTracking is for reviewing your own station’s observations on iPhone and iPad, with charts, visible archive coverage and CSV export. The public app requires iOS 17 or later. It stores fetched observations locally, with no WeatherTracking account or subscription.

The free app includes one station, current conditions, maps, up to seven days of history, CSV export and one local alert rule. An optional one-time Pro purchase adds climatology and records, extended/custom history, multiple stations, comparisons and advanced data-health tools. Pro does not create missing measurements or remove a provider’s limits. Apple shows the current local price before purchase.

For the current offer and product screens, see the WeatherTracking product page. For connection help, see WeatherTracking support.

Primary sources

Keep the weather your station measured.

Start with one station, up to seven days of available local history and CSV export for free. Optional Pro is a one-time purchase. iOS 17 or later.

Download on the App Store