API update

I got this email today from Apple

Introducing WeatherKit

Hello there,
We wanted to let you know about a change coming to Dark Sky. Beginning on March 31st, 2023 the Dark Sky API will no longer be available. To prepare, we encourage you to learn more about WeatherKit, a new Apple API available on iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, and web that provides access to the new Apple Weather forecast data.

You can learn more at https://developer.apple.com/weatherkit/.

As always, we appreciate your support, and will continue to update you with any future changes.

Thanks,
The Dark Sky Team

Was just reading the same email. Looking at the (meager) details it sounds like just basic Apple Developer membership (free) would give you 500,000 API calls per month.

I haven't had a chance to take a look at this yet, but I'm curious to see what Apple has to offer.

After looking into things a bit more deeply, I have a few reactions.

Was just reading the same email. Looking at the (meager) details it sounds like just basic Apple Developer membership (free) would give you 500,000 API calls per month.

The way I'm reading the docs, accessing the WeatherKit API requires enrollment in the Apple Developer Program which is US$100 per year, not the same as a free Apple Developer Account that gives access to betas of Apple software, etc. (I'm a member of the latter -- I've never enrolled in the paid program). The paid program allows you to do things like publish apps to TestFlight, etc., which is not something I've ever needed to do. You need a paid account to create the access tokens needed to use the API.

Providing wider access under a single developer access token wouldn't be feasible. Consider:

• One user making an API call every 15 minutes is 96 calls per day.
• 96 calls per day is 2,880 calls per month (30 days).
• 500,000 API calls / 2,880 would support roughly 175 full-time users.
• 1,000,000API calls is US$50 per month, or US$700 per year (total -- including enrollment fee).

So it looks like the most economical way to use the API would be US$100 per year to enroll in the Apple Developer Program as an individual.

Bummer

It would be great if Apple were to have an "enthusiast" tier for something like 5,000 calls per month, but this isn't a product targeted to enthusiasts, and I don't expect that'll ever happen.