Offline Weather Apps for Android: 4 Compared

Updated August 2026 · Verified against the Play Store listings on 18 August 2026 · every app re-read against its own listing and its developer's own pages

No weather app forecasts without a connection. What the good ones do is keep the last forecast readable when the signal goes, and two of the four here publish a deliberate offline mode rather than just caching whatever was on screen. This page separates the two, and says plainly which app documents what. For everyday connected use, our roundup of the best weather apps for Android covers the wider field.

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Privacy and free data sources

free and open source · no in-app purchases · F-Droid build 6.2.1_freenet, added 9 June 2026 · requires Android 6.0 or newer · F-Droid publishes no rating for any app · checked 18 August 2026 · F-Droid listing

The pick for anyone who would rather not hand a weather app to an advertising business. It is not on Google Play, and that is a decision the project states rather than an oversight, which changes how you install it and how it updates.

• Good: The project states the privacy position in its own README: "No trackers/automatic crash reporters".
• Good: It runs on free data: the same README says it "Fully works with Open-Meteo (FOSS source)", and the F-Droid build carried here is the _freenet flavour that uses freely hosted sources.
• Good: F-Droid says the build is signed by the developer, and the listing shows 6.2.1_freenet added on 9 June 2026, so it is actively maintained.
• Con: It is not on Google Play, and the project files publishing there under the heading "Features that will not be implemented", so do not wait for it to appear.
• Con: F-Droid publishes no rating, no review count and no install figure for any app, so the usual signals are simply absent here.
• Con: The F-Droid listing declares that it can access location in the background, which is worth knowing on an app you install for privacy reasons.

Skip it if you want one tap from the Play Store, because this one needs F-Droid, its own repository or a GitHub release. Choose it over the Play Store apps when the point is to avoid advertising and tracking entirely, since it is the only entry here with no commercial tier at all.

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A planned trip off grid

4.8 stars from 410,289 reviews · 10M+ installs · free to install · in-app purchases $4.99 to $299.99 per item · no ads · by Windy Weather World · listing updated 10 August 2026 · checked 18 August 2026 · Play listing

The one entry here with an offline mode the vendor names and documents, and the one where the money question matters. Read the badge before installing: on its own feature list, offline is a paid feature and the free equivalent is a different, lighter thing.

• Good: Windy.app documents what the mode is for on its own offline mode page: "Get the weather forecast even with no Internet connection in the outdoor area you are going to travel."
• Good: The same page says turning it on is deliberate rather than automatic: "To activate the Offline Mode you need to push only two buttons - one for the Map and one for the spots."
• Good: No advertising label on the listing, and 4.8 stars from 410,289 reviews, the best rated app in this comparison.
• Con: Offline is a paid feature. On Windy.app's own features list both "Offline Mode" and "Offline Forecast for Favorite Spots" carry the Pro badge, which the page's own legend defines as "available in the Pro version only".
• Con: The free "Low Internet Mode" is a separate entry on that list and is not the same thing, so budgeting for a subscription is the honest starting point if offline is why you install it.
• Con: Its data safety section declares that it may share data with third parties, and in-app purchases run to $299.99 per item.

Skip it if you will not pay a subscription, because the feature you came for is the one behind it. Choose it over Flowx when you want the offline behaviour documented on a vendor page rather than inferred from a changelog.

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Model maps without ads

4.2 stars from 7,678 reviews · 500K+ installs · free to install · in-app purchases $1.99 to $19.99 per item · no ads · by Flowx Weather App · listing updated 14 August 2026 · checked 18 August 2026 · Play listing

The most openly argued of the four: the developer publishes a business model page explaining why there are no ads. The page also publishes something this guide previously got wrong, which is that the app does collect analytics.

• Good: The no-ads position is the developer's own, on a business model page: "No Ads." and "Flowx used to contain ads but I removed them.", with "Our only revenue is from subscriptions."
• Good: Offline mode is real and dated: the release notes record "Offline Mode is back." in Android release 4.114 on 29 July 2025.
• Good: The listing was updated on 14 August 2026 and sells at the mildest range here, $1.99 to $19.99 per item.
• Con: It does collect analytics, which this page used to deny. Its own privacy policy says "Flowx does collect crash (debug) logs, app interactions and device identifiers" and that "These data are collected via the third-party service provider Sentry".
• Con: Read that alongside the sentence above it, because the developer draws a line the reader should see: "Flowx does not collect, store, share or sell any personal information from app users."
• Con: Only 7,678 reviews and a 500K+ install band, the smallest audience here, and flowx.io documents no mechanism for downloading model map data.

Skip it if you object to third-party analytics, because Sentry is named in the policy. Choose it over AccuWeather if you want no advertising at all, since AccuWeather carries the ads label and Flowx does not.

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Radar and a familiar interface

3.5 stars from 2,575,777 reviews · 100M+ installs · free to install · in-app purchases $0.99 to $79.99 per item · carries ads · by AccuWeather · listing updated 17 August 2026 · checked 18 August 2026 · Play listing

Included because it is the app most people already have, and corrected because this page used to recommend it for offline use on the strength of an untested impression. Nothing AccuWeather publishes describes an offline mode.

• Good: 100M+ installs and 2,575,777 reviews, by far the largest record here, so its behaviour is widely documented by other users.
• Good: Actively maintained: the listing was updated on 17 August 2026, the day before this check.
• Good: It is free to install and needs no subscription to show a forecast, which the offline specialists here cannot all say.
• Con: It carries the Contains ads label, the only app in this comparison that does.
• Con: 3.5 stars from 2,575,777 reviews, the lowest score here by more than half a star.
• Con: AccuWeather documents no offline mode on its own support site, so this page no longer claims one on its behalf, and its data safety section declares third-party sharing.

Skip it if offline is the reason you are reading this, because that is the one thing it does not document. Choose it over the others only for everyday connected use, where its radar and its familiarity are the point.

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What offline actually means

The word offline does two different jobs in this category, and the difference decides which app you want.

• Cached last forecast. Every weather app keeps something on screen after the signal drops, because the data it already fetched is still in memory. That is not a feature anyone builds, it is what happens by default, and its usefulness depends entirely on how old the data is.
• A documented offline mode. Two apps here publish one. Windy.app describes downloading a forecast and a map area before you travel, and badges it Pro. Flowx records offline mode returning in a dated release note. Everything else in this guide is the first kind.

That is why the single most useful habit costs nothing and belongs to no app: refresh on purpose while you still have a connection, then check the timestamp so you know how old what you are looking at is. A forecast pulled an hour ago and one pulled two days ago look identical on screen and are not remotely the same thing.

One safety note about testing your own cache. Airplane mode switches the mobile radio off, and a phone with that radio off is not receiving the emergency alerts that arrive over the mobile network. If you use it to check what your app kept, turn it back off straight away, and do not leave it on while you are relying on the phone outdoors.

Pair whichever app you choose with offline maps, since the two problems arrive together.

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Which one to install

Three questions settle it.

• Do you want to avoid advertising and tracking entirely? Breezy Weather, accepting that you install it from F-Droid or GitHub rather than the Play Store.
• Do you need a forecast downloaded for a specific area before a trip? Windy.app, and budget for Pro, because that is where its own features list puts the offline mode.
• Do you want no ads without leaving the Play Store? Flowx, reading its privacy policy first so the analytics are not a surprise.

AccuWeather stays on this page as the app most people already have, not as an offline pick: it documents no offline mode, carries ads and rates 3.5. Browse the Tools and Utilities hub for the rest.

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Checked 18 August 2026: this page was written in the first person plural about trips, campsites and canyons, and described what the apps did in use. All of that is removed, because nothing on this site rests on our own use of an app, and the page now carries only what each vendor publishes and what each store listing shows. The factual corrections matter as much. Flowx was described as carrying no tracking; its own privacy policy says it collects crash logs, app interactions and device identifiers through the third-party service Sentry, and that sentence now appears alongside the developer's own statement that no personal information is collected. The claim that Flowx lets you download weather model map data is gone, because no page on flowx.io documents such a mechanism; what is sourceable is that offline mode returned in Android release 4.114 on 29 July 2025. Windy.app's offline mode is now correctly placed behind the paid tier, since its own features list badges both offline entries Pro and its legend defines Pro as available in the Pro version only, and the free Low Internet Mode is named as the separate feature it is. The recommendation of AccuWeather for offline use is withdrawn: nothing AccuWeather publishes describes an offline mode, and its listing shows 3.5 stars from 2,575,777 reviews with the Contains ads label, none of which the page said. Breezy Weather is no longer called ad-free and lightweight in the project's name, because those words are not in its README; what the project does state is that it carries no trackers and works fully with Open-Meteo. Every app now carries its store or F-Droid link and its own dated figures, a decision table, an "Our answer" capsule, a dated verification box and this changelog.