Predictably, the developer since relaunched the app, under the new name " Dark Hyperlocal Forecast" which probably isn't going to fare as well.Īfter it was announced that popular weather app Dark Sky had been acquired by Apple and would be shutting down its Android app, fans of the service were understandably upset. Given this developer was charging $6.50 for a lifetime ad-free experience as an IAP, that makes this seem a little slimier than first glance might suggest. That was unlikely to ever pass muster, though: the obvious issues aside, the fact that the app used Dark Sky's own weather API to gather weather data meant it would stop functioning at the end of 2021 anyway, as Dark Sky's new owner Apple plans to shutter access to it at that time. The developer claimed it never meant to pass off the app as official, calling it a "Dark Sky alternative" in the original app description, and repeated this sort of language in response to reviews that called out the app's deceptive nature. That's not a bad haul-and a shockingly decent review score-for an app that was around for just a short time, though many likely found it by attempting to search for Dark Sky and ended up on this app's listing by mistake. The app itself received surprisingly good reviews, racking up a 4.2 star rating with over 800 submissions from its 5,000+ users. Google declined to elaborate on the reasoning behind taking down the app, but we'd guess out and out trademark infringement and a plain intent to deceive users were reason enough.
The URL for that app now directs to a "Not found" page on the Play Store. Google confirmed to us via email last night that it pulled down the listing for a Dark Sky ripoff that had been on the Play Store for at least the last week, just hours after we'd reported on it.