Hollis Johnson/Business Insider
Dark Sky, the app, being used on an iPhone.
- Apple just bought the company behind beloved weather app Dark Sky.
- The move officially kills the Android version. "The app will no longer be available for download," the company said in a blog post. "Service to existing users and subscribers will continue until July 1, 2020, at which point the app will be shut down."
- It's huge news for the creators of Dark Sky, who initially pitched the app on Kickstarter and raised just shy of $40,000.
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The acclaimed weather app Dark Sky is Apple's latest acquisition, the app's developers announced on Tuesday.
"Our goal has always been to provide the world with the best weather information possible, to help as many people as we can stay dry and safe, and to do so in a way that respects your privacy," the company said in a blog post. "There is no better place to accomplish these goals than at Apple."
It's big news that comes with big implications for current Dark Sky users.
For iOS users, things will remain relatively unchanged. "There will be no changes to Dark Sky for iOS at this time," the note says. "It will continue to be available for purchase in the App Store."
For all the Dark Sky users on Android, however, things are a bit more complicated: "The app will no longer be available for download. Service to existing users and subscribers will continue until July 1, 2020, at which point the app will be shut down. Subscribers who are still active at that time will receive a refund."
Dark Sky is also available for Apple Watch.
That unfortunate detail aside, the news is huge for the developers of Dark Sky.
The app went from scrappy startup to Apple subsidiary in just 5 years. Dark Sky originally launched on Kickstarter in 2015, where the idea raised just shy of $40,000. The terms of the Apple deal weren't disclosed.
