Rain Alarm Pro

Summary

To those of you who live in regions of the world where there's an Indian Summer / beginning of summer / tropics: please enjoy the lovely weather on our behalves. Meanwhile in the north western hemisphere, autumn has set in and this means gloomy weather galore. Oh, and don't forget that winter is coming. However, before the onset of winter (and the third season of Game of Thrones!) we can expect a lot of autumnal showers.

Rain Alarm Pro is an app that sets out to warn users of potential showers. Read on to find out how well the app performed in our test runs.

Test device: Samsung Galaxy S2 (I9100G)
Android version: 4.0.4
Root: No
As of version: 1.6

Rain Alarm Pro: the app's name leaves little to the imagination. That's right, we're talking about a precipitation (rain or snow) alarm application.

Aside from the alarm function there is also a status bar which lights up with LED or makes itself noticeable via vibrate, as well as a bunch of other useful features such as weather maps and widgets.

The animated radar image let's you see exactly what's coming your way, while the widgets help keep a close eye on everything.

A lot of settings options let you dictate your user experience when it comes to graphics and certain features.

Start up the app and the first thing you'll see is a map that displays your current location. Hit the play button to check out a 120 minute weather preview that shows the rain clouds in your vicinity.

The apps are pretty extensive and allow you to regulate everything according to your personal preferences. This includes the search radius within which rain clouds are to be scouted, as well as the update interval of weather data and the animation speed.

Check out the advanced settings to change the units or add more than one location. A cool feature: you may select how big or small a rain cloud has to be in order to set off an alarm.

I found notifications to be absolutely reliable: every time the app announced rain clouds they showed up within a short time. This can be super useful when you're planning an outdoor event or excursion.

Bottom line:

Rain Alarm Pro comes with a bunch of options and the settings are equally generous. This is the kind of app that's a huge help to people who enjoy the outdoors but not necessarily the rain.

Rain Alarm Pro comes with sleek, basic looking graphics. The radar map is easy to follow thanks to its colour scheme.

Once you've made adjustments to all the settings the main focus lies on the app's widget and alarm feature.
There are two widgets to choose from: 2x1 and 1x1. There is also a basic widget motif (open and closed umbrella) as well as a more complex one (three bars that stand for the intensity, size and distance of oncoming rain clouds). Different design are available for both options.

Everything works nicely on the whole and is easy to use. The alarm is reliable and sounded up before every shower.

Rain Alarm Pro takes a while to warm up (i.e. analyse the weather for your location and vicinity) but once this is done is runs very smoothly and without any lags or jolts. It didn't crash on us at all.

Rain Alarm Pro costs EUR 3.75 and can be found in Google Play. The price is rather steep but worth it.

The pro version supports the Sony SmartWatch.

A free version of the app is also available but search radius, animation interval, animation rate and search interval settings can't be changed. There are also fewer widgets motifs and manual locations aren't an option. Ad banners are displayed.

If you are looking to user Rain Alarm Pro for a longer period of time we would advise purchasing the full app. This way you can benefit from the app's full scope of features and you support the developers.