iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Oscar has running costs and some users might want to support this free project. I won't paywall any features, just some app icons, stickers, and the iOS 6 classic skin. Oscar as a utility will stay free. If you have any feelings or wishes about this, please provide feedback. :) 6/6

Oscar's "Support Oscar" screen with a grid of unlockable cat-themed app icons and stickers, a note from developer Philipp, and one-time (3.99–24.99 €) and recurring (0.99 €/month, 7.99 €/year) support options.

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This is an experiment: Oscar can now be morphed into an iOS 6 inspired weather app. This can be unlocked for free via a fake IAP, as this will be a supporter-only skin after release. Oscar also tracks some interesting statistics locally that you can explore. These will never leave your device! 5/6

Three iPhones showing a retro, skeuomorphic weather design with a location list, a Berlin forecast with glossy weather icons, and a rain radar map.

Two iPhones showing Oscar's statistics: app opens, time spent, usage charts by hour and weekday, most-viewed places, and weather extremes like hottest moment and heaviest rain.

Some testers wanted to adjust values on the top shelf and even re-order/ adjust the sections. Both can be done now from the settings. 4/6

Two iPhones showing the View settings, where you choose which metrics appear below the temperature and reorder weather sections like Radar, Hourly, Daily, Environment and Climate.

I've reworked the hourly details view to be more compact and easier to understand. This is like the third iteration since the last update and I've been pretty happy with it! :) This also contains a Timeline/List variant. Let me know what you think. 3/6

Three iPhones showing Saturday's hourly view with a temperature chart, cloud layers by altitude, and a timeline of rain, sunrise, sunset, highs and lows.

Powered by #Meteosat 3rd generation geostationary satellites, Oscar can now display a new near real-time cloud coverage, including a nowcast one hour into the future powered by #OscarServer. 2/6

One iPhone explaining that the cloud layer comes from EUMETSAT's Meteosat satellite, and another showing a live satellite cloud map of Europe with a timeline slider.

The newest Oscar beta comes with a slew of new features: satellite cloud map layer, new hourly detail view, UI reordering, iOS 6 classic mode, on-device statistics, and a way to support Oscar in the future. Now on TestFlight 👉️ testflight.apple.com/join/xf5iJcHh #BuiltInPublic #IndieDev #Swift 🧵1/6

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And last but not least, for the single #Brazilian user I am aware of, I have added rain radar and notification support by ingesting data from Brazilian REDEMET. Their QA isn't the best so I am going to tweak it over the coming weeks. Now on TestFlight 👉 testflight.apple.com/join/xf5iJcHh 4/4

Weather radar over northeastern Brazil showing widespread rain cells along the coast near Campina Grande and Maceió. An open "Map Layers" sheet lists radar sources — Europe (EUMETNET), USA (NOAA), Taiwan (CWA) and Brazil (REDEMET, selected) — plus rain forecast layers from DWD ICON-D2 and ECMWF IFS.

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With the help of EUMETNET, I have also extended weather warning support across #Europe, including push notifications. Another big step to make Oscar useful across Europe! Of course fully enabled by Oscar Server. 🇪🇺 3/4

Live weather radar map of central Europe with scattered thunderstorm cells over western Germany, moving northeast. A pin labeled "Grandma" shows 26 degrees in central Germany. An open warning sheet shows a level 4 "Red High-temperature Warning for Italy – Toscana", valid 03.08 to 05.08, urging precautionary action.

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I have added a small heuristic that adjusts margins on the fly, so the tab bar does not cover sections like hourly or the radar chart upon launch. Also brand new: The locations overview. It provides a much better overview and you can even add custom labels and emojis to them to keep them apart!2/4

Locations list in Oscar with three entries: "My Location" at 28 degrees and partly cloudy, "Grandma" in Osterwieck at 26 degrees and clear (selected), and "Vacation" in Santa Cruz de Tenerife at 24 degrees and clear. Each saved place has its own emoji icon.

Edit sheet for the location Osterwieck showing a "Custom name" text field filled with "Grandma". Below are quick-pick labels like Home, Work and School, a note saying "The place name stays visible as a subtitle", and an emoji picker with options like a house, heart, grandma and beach.

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Over the past few weeks, I was experimenting with tab bar designs and got so much great feedback from friends. Turns out, the standard iOS tab bar is great! With a single tap, users can now switch between the current weather, their saved locations, and maps. #BuiltInPublic #IndieDev #Swift 🧵1/4

Oscar app screenshot showing a location saved as "Grandma" in Osterwieck at night: 26 degrees, 27% cloud cover, wind 8.3 km/h from the east. A red "Extreme Heat" warning badge sits in the middle of the screen. The hourly forecast below shows clear to partly cloudy skies cooling from 26 to 24 degrees toward midnight.

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I've also been struggling for a while with App Store screenshots. Based on #fastlane snapshot and a custom template engine, I'm now able to generate reproducible screenshots for different locales. Kinda cool! Now on TestFlight 👉 testflight.apple.com/join/xf5iJcHh 5/5

A set of eight App Store preview screenshots for the weather app "Oscar," labeled EN-US, shown on iPhone 17 Pro Max mockups against blue backgrounds. Top row, left to right: "Oscar° — Accurate forecasts. Open to all." showing a current-conditions screen for Leipzig at 14° with a heavy rain warning and a cartoon cat mascot in a yellow raincoat; "Forecasts from DWD, ECMWF, NOAA and more..." showing hourly and 12-day forecast lists; "Live radar with 2-hour forecast" showing a colorful precipitation radar map over Germany; "Explore detailed weather maps" showing temperature and pressure map layers. Bottom row: "Understand forecast uncertainty with ensembles" showing an Ensemble ICON Global temperature chart; "Weather that affects your health. Front and center." showing an Environment Details panel with Air Quality index 17; "Making local climate change visible." showing a Climate panel comparing July 11 temperatures since 1940; "Weather at a glance, wherever you are." showing a map view.

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Oscar is getting more global by expanding coverage for rain radar and weather warnings to Taiwan! It joins the ranks of Europe and North America. 4/5

Weather radar map of Taiwan showing scattered rain cells in green, yellow, and red along the western coast and offshore islands at 23:50. Below, a "Map Layers" panel is open, displaying radar source options (Central Europe/DWD, Europe/OPERA, USA/NOAA, Taiwan/CWA — currently selected) and rain forecast options (Central Europe/DWD ICON-D2, Worldwide/NOAA GFS, Worldwide/ECMWF IFS).

I've also given the watchOS app some much-needed love, which now mirrors the iOS app more closely. You can even customize your watch face with a first set of Oscar complications! 3/5

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In an attempt to improve data quality, I've added new global map layers based on the high-resolution ECMWF IFS model with 9km resolution. IFS offers superior forecast results and resolution compared to NOAA's GFS model, which will be removed from Oscar in the future. Thanks to @open-meteo.com! 2/5

Weather app map showing sea-level pressure contours and temperature overlay across Europe and North Africa at 23:00 Thursday. High-pressure systems (H) are labeled over France/Austria (1023), Morocco (1024), Libya (1018), and Turkey (1017), with low-pressure troughs (T) near Scandinavia (994) and the Middle East (996). A location pin sits over Austria. Bottom controls show a play button, timeline slider, and "ECMWF IFS" model selector.

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Oscar Weather @oscars.love · 11/07/2026

Oscar finally has a proper onboarding flow! I've already teased the personal hand-written note, but now you're also walked through the features and all necessary permission requests. I think it's really neat and offers users a first taste of what they can expect! #BuiltInPublic #IndieDev #Swift 🧵1/5

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Thought adding a personal, handwritten note to the upcoming onboarding flow is a nice little touch. 👀☀️

Welcome screen of the iOS weather app Oscar°, showing the app’s icon — a glowing orange sun on a blue gradient — above the words ‘Welcome to Oscar°.’ Below is a photo of a yellow legal pad with a handwritten note in black ink: ‘Thank you for trying out Oscar. So many years and so much heart went into this. I hope you like it as much as I do! — Philipp,’ accompanied by small doodles of a sun, a smiley, and a cat-like creature labeled ‘Gadse.’ A second line at the bottom reads ‘Für Oscar, Daniela, Uisel, Werner, Reinhard & Sammy.’ A blue ‘Let’s go’ button sits at the bottom of the screen.

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For Germany specifically, you can now toggle a weather warning layer that displays active alerts. Tap any warning to expand it and read the official warnings from @dwdderwetterdienst.bsky.social! 5/6

Screenshot of the Oscar weather app showing live radar over northern and central Germany, with rain bands moving east and yellow/orange weather-warning outlines across several regions. A Weather Warnings panel is open, showing an official DWD “gale-force gusts” warning, level 2 of 4, valid on 07.07.26 from 10:00 to 21:00, with possible gusts up to around 70–80 km/h in exposed areas.

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I’ve also added a first version of value labels for the temperature and wind layers, making them much easier to understand at a glance. I’ve enabled isobars on this layer too, so you can see them in action! 4/6

Alt text: Screenshot of the Oscar weather app showing a temperature and pressure map over Europe at 22:00. The map uses warm orange and yellow shading for temperatures, with labels such as 33° in Spain, 27° in France, 20° near the Netherlands, 18° near Germany, and 13° in Sweden. White isobars and pressure markers show a low-pressure area near Norway and high pressure over northern Italy. A timeline control at the bottom shows “22:00 Mon” with the NOAA GFS layer selected.

The new pressure layers (GFS & ICON-D2) provide a great overview of high- and low-pressure areas and how air masses with different temperatures are moving. The computed isobars can also be toggled on for the other map layers! 3/6

Screenshot of the Oscar weather app showing a pressure map over Europe at 22:00, with isobars and shaded pressure areas. Low-pressure centers are marked over Norway and Finland, while high-pressure areas are marked over Italy and the eastern Mediterranean. A timeline control at the bottom shows “22:00 Mon” with the NOAA GFS layer selected.

The weather layer selection has also been overhauled, making it easier to understand and choose between the different map products. You can now toggle many visual settings, such as smooth motion during playback or marked storm cells, to better understand a storm’s direction and speed. 2/6

Alt text: Screenshot of the Oscar weather app showing a close-up live radar map in southern Georgia, USA, near Tifton, Valdosta, and Waycross. Several rain cells are visible, with one intense storm cell highlighted in magenta and red/purple, showing a forecast track for the next 30 to 60 minutes.

Screenshot of the Oscar weather app showing a live radar map over the UK and Ireland, with heavy rain cells around Scotland and northern England. A map layers panel is open at the bottom, with “Europe OPERA” radar selected and rain/temperature layer options visible.

Oscar Weather @oscars.love · 28/06/2026

Oscar now ships with a reworked map! 🗺️ 🥳 Weather layers are now crisp, performant, and morph smoothly (Metal🤘 shaders FTW). For users in North America, Oscar's infrastructure now consumes @nws.noaa.gov's MRMS product to provide a high-resolution radar layer and rain notifications. 🧵 1/6

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Many cities across Europe set new heat records this weekend. I used the time to add a new climate section to Oscar that puts the current day into historical context by comparing it to the same date going back to 1940! The visualization is heavily inspired by Ed Hawkins’ Warming Stripes.

Climate detail view in the Oscar Weather app showing that 28 June is the warmest since 1940. A warming stripes chart visualizes historical temperatures for this calendar day from 1940 to today. Below, statistics include today’s high of 38°C, the 1961–1990 normal of 21°C, a warming trend of +0.7°C per decade, historical warmest and coldest values, the previous heat record, and the number of years reaching at least 30°C.

Oscar Weather app showing the Environment section with pollen and air quality gauges, followed by a Climate card. The Climate card states “The warmest 28 June since 1940,” displays warming stripes from 1940 to today, and summarizes today’s temperature anomaly, the long-term normal, and the previous record.

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And last but not least, I've added some alternative app icons. These have been generated with the help of AI, so if you are a designer or enthusiast and interested in working with me on some human-made app icons, please shoot me a dm @bolte.id | On TestFlight 👉 testflight.apple.com/join/xf5iJcHh

Oscar weather app's App Icon screen showing selectable icons featuring a white cat mascot, grouped into Chill (Day, Radar, Night) and TV categories, with "Day" currently selected.

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In a first (and to be honest still rough) attempt, I've added EUMETNET's OPERA NIMBUS product, delivering a EU-wide radar composite in 15min/ 2km resolution. I am doing extrapolation into the future to provide radar-based rain forecasts and notifications.

Oscar weather app's live OPERA radar map showing precipitation across Northern Europe, with heavy rain bands visible along the Norwegian coast and western UK.

Oscar weather app showing Porsgrunn at 22°C under full cloud cover, with a radar chart revealing a rain spike of up to 3.2 mm/h approaching around 22:50.

In settings, you can now force a specific weather model for your forecasts. I've also added a user request which allows you to highlight specific time ranges in your daily forecasts to e.g. focus on daytime temperature ranges. Pretty neat!

Oscar weather app's Forecast settings screen showing the Weather Model set to Automatic and the "Mark in daily range" option selected, with a custom daytime range from 09:00 to 18:00.

Oscar weather app's Weather Model selection screen with Automatic mode checked, listing available models including ECMWF IFS HRES, ECMWF IFS 0.25°, ECMWF AIFS 0.25°, and DWD ICON.

By tapping on the daily forecast, you can now explore different ensemble forecast from ECMWF, DWD, and NOAA. Oscar computes upper and lower bands across all members (= models runs) and an ensemble average. This visualizes different potential outcomes and a models certainty.

Oscar weather app's Ensemble ICON Global forecast showing a temperature range chart with min/max ensemble bands, peaking around 40°C before gradually declining over the following days.

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