Listeners of The Ryan Tubridy Show have leapt to the defence of the Met Éireann app after it was described as ”clunky” by a tech journalist.
Writing in the Irish Independent Adrian Weckler was explaining the differences between the various weather apps that people have on their phones.
While the Met Éireann app is the most popular in both the Irish iPhone and Andriod app stores Weckler called it “clunky” writing: “While Met Éireann’s app is functional, it’s visually clunky and sometimes awkward to get to what you’re looking for, a situation confirmed by its substantially lower app store rating (3.4 on Android and a lowly 2.8 on the iPhone) than rival apps.”
When Ryan mentioned this on his hugely popular morning show it wasn’t long before the furious texts from listeners taking umbrage at the article started flying in.
“It’s not clunky. It’s accurate. It’s easy to use and it’s excellent,” said one unnamed listener.
John from Cork texted: “It says a lot when a weather forecasting app for your phone is rated on what it looks like rather than how accurate it is. And Met Éireann is incredibly accurate.”
Another listener said: “I love my Met Éireann rainfall radar. And the wind one. It’s wonderful.
Meanwhile James text the show to say: I don’t like the Met Éireann App but I like and regularly use the website.”
Ryan also offered his opinion saying: “I don’t think it’s fair to dismiss the appearance of an app. I find if I look at an app very quickly and it looks navigable I’ll go ‘joy’ like Marie Kondo. It sparks joy.”
For those who do find the Met Éireann app difficult to navigate Alan O’Reilly who runs the popular online meteorology Twitter account Carlow Weather had some advice. He is quoted in the article as saying that people should use the features on the app more: “The radar in the app is one of the most useful tools, especially for showery weather,” he says.
However he did acknowledge that no weather app will be foolproof when we’ve had as many mixed days of rain and sunshine as in recent weeks. So the best advice is probably to do what Ryan admitted to, and simply bring out both your umbrella and your shades just in case.
