The best weather app for the UK depends on the question
There is no single best weather app for the UK. The big ones are all good, they mostly agree with each other, and each is strongest at something different. This guide says which to open for which question.
We make Sunny Hours, so we are biased about one row in the table below. Everything else comes from each app’s own listing and from independent research, all linked. Details were checked in October 2026.
The short answer
| If you want to know | Open | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Whether rain is about to arrive | Met Office or Apple Weather | The Met Office app has a rainfall map that includes the last six hours. Apple Weather gives next-hour precipitation for UK locations. |
| Whether there is an official warning | Met Office | It issues the UK’s National Severe Weather Warnings and sends them as notifications. |
| What next week looks like | BBC Weather | It shows hourly detail up to 14 days ahead for UK locations. Treat anything beyond a few days as a rough guide. |
| The weather somewhere abroad | AccuWeather | Worldwide coverage with minute-by-minute rain forecasts and radar. |
| When the sun will actually be out | Sunny Hours | It shows a sun score for every daylight hour of the next 10 days. |
How accurate are they?
The best public evidence is a University of Reading project that has been checking the Met Office and BBC Weather apps against real measurements at the university’s observatory since October 2024. Its first results, published in January 2025, covered 85,000 forecasts:
- Both were good on temperature. Each predicted temperatures to within 2°C up to three days ahead.
- They usually agreed. The two apps showed the same weather symbol more than 71% of the time for the next hour, and 57% of the time five days out.
- The Met Office was slightly better on temperature, more accurate on 5.4% more occasions.
- BBC Weather was slightly better on rain, giving the more useful forecast on 6.1% of occasions.
- Both forecast more rain than fell. The apps predicted rain in 17% of hours, and it rained in just under 10%.
These are early findings from one town over one autumn and winter, and the researchers say more data is needed. The last point is still worth remembering: a rain or cloud symbol is a statement about risk, not a promise that the whole hour will be wet or grey.
The apps
Met Office
The Met Office app is the national weather service’s own, rebuilt in January 2026. It forecasts from one hour to seven days ahead, with interactive maps for cloud, rain and temperature, plus UV, pollen, air pollution, and mountain and beach forecasts. It is free to download. Choose it for warnings, for watching rain move across the map, and for anything safety-related.
BBC Weather
BBC Weather is the simplest to read: an at-a-glance summary, chance of precipitation, a “feels like” temperature and hourly data up to 14 days ahead. It carries Met Office weather warnings, but its forecasts have come from the commercial forecaster DTN (formerly MeteoGroup) since 2018. The BBC and the Met Office announced a new partnership in July 2025, so that may change. Choose it for a quick read and a longer look ahead.
Apple Weather
Apple Weather is already on every iPhone and has no adverts. It gives hourly and 10-day forecasts, maps, UV index and air quality, and next-hour precipitation in the countries Apple lists, which include the UK. Choose it if you would rather not install anything.
AccuWeather
AccuWeather covers the whole world, with its MinuteCast minute-by-minute rain forecast, live radar, air quality and UV. It is free to download. Choose it for travel.
Sunny Hours
General weather apps lead with a symbol and a temperature for each hour. That works for rain. It works less well for the question people in the UK ask most of the year, which is whether there will be any sun and when.
Sunny Hours is built around that one question. It combines forecast sunshine duration and cloud cover into a sun score for every daylight hour, and shows 10 days of them as a colour grid. A day that another app summarises as cloudy often turns out to have a bright hour or two, and the grid shows you where they are. The forecast, the 10-day grid and worldwide location search are free. Widgets, rain overlay and daily sun notifications are part of a paid upgrade.
It is not a replacement for the apps above. It has no rain radar and no weather warnings. Use it alongside one of them.
Why a “cloudy” day often has sun in it
An hourly symbol has to squeeze sixty minutes into one picture. In broken cloud, which is most British weather, an hour might hold twenty minutes of direct sun and still be drawn as a cloud. A whole day summarised as “cloudy” can hide a clear spell at lunchtime.
Forecast models do estimate how many minutes of sun each hour will get. Most apps do not put that number in front of you. If sun is what you are planning around, such as a walk, a run or an hour in the garden, look for an app that does.
Which should you install?
Keep one general app for rain, temperature and warnings. The Met Office app is the safest default in the UK, and Apple Weather is a good one if you want nothing extra on your phone. Add a specialist for the thing you care about most. If that thing is sunshine, that is what we built Sunny Hours for.
Last updated 8 October 2026.