Apple has acquired Dark Sky, a very popular weather app in the App Store.

Dark Sky's standout features include real-time weather predictions based on location along with hourly weather forecasts for the next day and week. It also includes beautiful weather animations, real-time alerts for rain or severe weather, a Today Widget, plus a Time Machine feature. Pocket-lint has long included the app in our best iPhone apps round-up, which you can check out here.

On 31 March, the developers behind Dark Sk announced through a blog post that it joined Apple. Here's part of their statement:

"Today we have some important and exciting news to share: Dark Sky has joined Apple. 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. There is no better place to accomplish these goals than at Apple. We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to reach far more people, with far more impact, than we ever could alone."

According to Dark Sky's developers, the iOS app will remain unaffected. It's still available in the App Store and is currently priced at $3.99.

The Android app, however, will soon no longer be available, and service for users will end 1 July. Its website's weather forecasts, maps, and embeds will also discontinue on 1 July, but the site itself will remain active for API and iOS customer support. Dark Sky's API will also work through the end of 2021, and then other developers - like Carrot, Yelp, and DuckDuckGo - that rely on Dark Sky data will need to find an alternative.

The current theory is that Apple might incorporate some elements of Dark Sky into its weather app, which pulls data from The Weather Channel.