App FAQ

TIPS

+ GENERAL

• Check out this video for a demonstration of the features. **** new video needed :) ****

• If you are having problems downloading the app it may be because the App Store or Play Store does not think that you are in Canada. You can check your country setting in the stores under Account.

• If the data seems old (out of date) please try going into setting > technical settings and press CLEAR CACHE.

• Press InstantWeather at the top of the app to return “Home” from the map or further down the page if you’ve scrolled down.

• The minute product updates every 15 minutes world wide, the overall forecast is updated every hour world wide.

• Weather alerts are currently only available in Canada. We plan on adding alerts for the US in the future.

• If your network is spotty the app may display the data that it has cached including yesterday's forecast. This is so that you can still see the upcoming forecast. It may continue to show yesterday's forecast when the network connection is better. To force it to refresh go into Settings, Technical Settings (scroll down if necessary) and Clear Cache.

• If you’re having issues with the app after an update, please try deleting the app entirely and reinstalling it from scratch.

  • For Android devices we have a blog post that details how to delete and reinstall the app as well as other tips.

+ DAYS

• The day time forecast is from either the current time (if you are looking at the current day) or sunrise (for future days) to sunset. The night forecast is from sunset to sunrise.

• For the current day what is displayed in the blue bar is temperature highs/lows and amount of precipitation for the rest of the day.

+ LOCATIONS

• Press the magnifying glass at the top right of the app to open locations.

• To enter a new location you can specify the exact address or a city, town or township name with the province. For example 123 Sunny Road, Sunnyville Ontario L5H 2Y0. Note that spelling out the province often yields faster and better results than using the two letter abbreviation.

• If the exact location name isn't working please try a postal code instead.

• If you live in a rural area you may need to use your township instead of your town name and adding the postal may help too.

• Please visit the locations page and make sure the notification bells are green for areas you want to receive notifications from. Touch the notification bell to switch it from green (on) to white (off). White will not receive notifications.

• Touch the actual location name instead of anywhere in the bar for the location.

• Please read this blog post for more information about the why the actual name that is display is not as important as the GPS coordinates that the app uses.

+ RADAR

• Pause the radar if you want to slide around the slider. And adjust the radar transparency in the settings if you want it more vibrant.

• Use two fingers on the screen to tilt the radar map.

• Precipitation key

  • blue - snow
  • pink, purple - freezing rain, sleet, or a mix
  • green, yellow, red - rain with increasing intensity
  • white/light pink with in heavy thunderstorm - hail
  • white and light green - map

• You may need to wait for the radar images to load before playing them.

• The past radar images (1 km resolution) show more detail than the future radar (3 km resolution). This is because our future radar is using models to predict future changes. We are not just moving the last radar image in the direction the system is moving. Predictive radar has advantages as current storms may die out and new ones form.

• If you do not see anything on the radar it could be that there is no precipitation or that they transparency setting is set to 0%.

+ REMOVE ADS

• You will only need to remove ads once for iOS (Apple) and once for Android. If you remove the ads on an iOS device all your iOS devices will have the ads removed. The same is true for android.

• After you remove the ads or reinstall the app you may need to click on Restore & Enable Purchases and restart the app.

+ ALERTS

• Click on the alert banner to open or close the alert. The number on the alert bar indicates the number of alerts. You can click on the buttons or swipe on the text part of the alert to see the other alert(s).

• Note that Weather Advisories from Environment Canada are delayed until there is content in the message. When Weather Advisories are first issued from Environment Canada they are blank. We wait until there is content to provide you before sending them out. Note that Statements, Watches and Warnings have detailed descriptions immediately upon being issued and we send those out instantly.

• If you are not receiving push notifications please check to see if your bells are green (on) under locations in the app. Also check your device’s settings. Make sure you have notifications turned on. Note that currently all the push notifications for the app disappear once you open the app. See this blog post for more information about push notification troublshooting.

• iOS settings > notifications > Instant Weather

• Android settings > Apps > Instant Weather > App Notifications (slight differences depending on version of Android)

+ WEATHER TERMS

• Snow showers vs flurries

  • Snow showers - light to moderate snow with some accumulation, usually short duration.

  • Flurries - intermittent light snow with little or no accumulation.

• Warning vs Watch

  • A watch is issued when conditions are favourable for the development of severe weather.

  • A warning is issued when severe weather is imminent or occuring.

• Partly Cloudy vs Partly Sunny

  • Partly Cloudy is defined when 30-70% of the sky is covered in clouds. Used more frequently at night.

  • Partly Sunny is similar but used more frequently during the day since there is some sunshine.

KNOWN BUGS

+ NEW(ER) ISSUES - Updated May 26 2021

• Please note that the latest version for Android is 1.0.611 and iOS 1.0.611

• Version 1.0.611

  • Popup notification only have a dismiss button and do not allow you to go to the location to see the alert
  • A few locations are getting duplicate alerts including Saskatoon, Regina and some places in Quebec
  • A few people report old data which usually clears up with a new update (snow in Ontario in May - though they have had some in the Prairies this year)

• Version 1.0.610

  • Radar issue with Apple Maps. This affects some of the earlier versions as well. Google Maps is working. This is fixed in Version 1.0.611

• Version 1.0.609

  • Alert links have no back ability. This is fixed in version 610 as it opens up links a browser window.
  • Issue with amount of rain when displaying in imperial units version 609. If there is also snow in the forecast the amount of rain is 0in but has a value if metric.

• Version 1.0.512

  • no new issues reported :)

• Version 1.0.495

  • units of imperial pressure are inHg not psi :)
  • some people are getting old weather alerts or data which could be a caching issue. If it doesn't look right try refreshing the data by going to another city and back or pulling down on the screen.

• Version 1.0.480

  • Alert screen text overlaps when you scroll through them intermittently

• Version 1.0.470

  • If you are seeing "Alert Data Unavailable" for Canadian locations you might be inside of an edge-case where you're in-between two alert polygons. We have a plan to write code to include any edge-cases into the closest alert region but that may take a bit. Please add your exact address as your secondary location and make sure alerts are enabled, please. Thank you! (Mar 29 2020)

  • Some android devices lose the follow me location. Turning on and off airplane mode brings it back. Does this happen when the phone hasn't been use for a while? Also adding a secondary location that matches your current location will make sure that you get alerts until this is fixed (Feb 9)

  • Some android phones running 455 cannot change the temperature units they are: S7, model# SM-G930W8 android vs 8.0.0, Samsung galaxy J3 prime 8.1, Android Samsung s9 iw 455 still in beta (updated Feb 9)

  • iOS 10.3.3 has issues with the radar. Nothing is shown. The time bar is at the top of where the radar should be. Both for iphone 5C and iPad.

• Version 452

  • Suggestion for landscape mode. The day view + should change to a - when open instead of remaining a + (Thanks Andrew M.)

  • Suggestion for displaying precipitation when below freezing and none expected. Display 0 cm instead of 0 mm.

  • Moto g4 play running 7.1.1 radar crashes

• Version 451

  • Alerts getting stuck after they've ended

  • We're going to remove the "Slow internet" notification pop-up at the bottom of the app until we can relax them a bit because it's a fairly complex thing to tweak and we realize it's just annoying for some folks with garbage internet.

  • In landscape mode when you click on View Hourly Data for a future date it takes you to the current date. It works fine in portrait mode. (Thanks Erin W.) Still present in 1.0.495

  • Upgrading to 15 min radar after upgrading to remove ads is problematic with android devices.

+ GENERAL

• Accessibility functionality with VoiceOver needs to be improved.

• Location names are sometimes not specific. For example the township name instead of the town. Note that one way to check if the app has the correct location is to check the radar.

• A future update is going to have a major improvement to current conditions and the short-range (120 min) forecast. Thank you for your patience with this!

• Android Play store says that the "Your device isn't compatible with this version" for RCA Atlas (Model RCT6B06P23) running Android 9 (Pie). (Thx Rachel Deyell). Note that Rachel was able to run the app on a previous device. As Mike W. pointed out some inexpensive android devices do not have a full version of the Android operating system and are not able to run all apps. It is possible that ours is one of them. The future web version of the app should help with those users who do not have a compatible device.

• I'm going to continuing tweaking the Report Weather page as I'd like to make it more simple so reports can be completed easier. Eventually, we plan to do this directly inside of the app and then the location can be set using a map you move around or based on your current location. That will be easier for sure.

• Odd overlapping placement for the menu on some Android devices will be addressed.

+ HOME SCREEN

• “Next” bar only works in portrait mode on the home screen.

• A ray of the sun may appear to be a negative sign in front of the temperature. This is true if you enlarge your font size. Scaling it back one can help. It is also true for some Android devices with the default font size. Samsung galaxy s8 pie 9.0 (Thx Jesse F.).

+ MENU AT TOP LEFT OF APP

• Nothing to report :)

+ LOCATIONS

• If you live in Ottawa, use Ottawa south when you search it, not the main Ottawa location as it's unfortunately outside of any Environment Canada polygon with our location service. Working on a fix for this! *Is this still true after the recent updates

+ DAYS

• Nothing to report :)

+ HOURS

• When viewing the hours data between 11pm and midnight the weather is off by one day (a day earlier than it should be).

+ MINUTES

• Nothing to report :)

+ RADAR

• On some older Android devices, the map can sometimes crash or not work. If this happens on your device, please let us know which device, which operating system (exact version please), etc. List of devices: S5 Neo, Moto g4 play, Samsung Galaxy Tab E, LGq6 (updated Feb 17)

• If you leave the radar open for a while, the numbers on the slider get muddy. (Thank you Michael C.)

• Live radar does not reload automatically so if you leave it open for a while, it will show you older data unless you switch to another page like hourly, and back to Live Radar.

• The time on the radar is displaying GMT instead of the local time sometimes. Restarting the app fixes this.

+ NOTIFICATIONS

• Working on fixing the capitalization of the weather alerts and we're planning to add more time details to them in future updates.

• Originally notifications were sent for every single location you selected. We combined these into one alert so not to spam people with 10 of the same Special Weather Statement for example. But only one place is mentioned in the push notification which likely resulted in people reporting that notifications are not being received for all locations where the green bell is turned on. Recent upgrade to the process now lists all the location in the push notification.

• If you’ve never received an alert for your “following” location and have never seen an alert in your top alert bar, you’re likely an “edge-case”. The work-around to this until we fix it is to add another nearby location from your city/town on the other side of town or at least further away from the international border. If you don’t see any alerts in the top bar (when there are active alerts in your area), then perhaps add the next town over. This is only a workaround for government alerts though and for more accurate weather forecasts, please continue to use your “Following” location.

• Just received a weather warning for my area and the push notification icon was just a square not a logo. Android user Sony Xperia XZ Premium (Thx Dylan M.).

• Push notification for special announcements are sent out for every location with a green bell instead of one per device.

• Change the FitBit icon to better reflect IW. Note that this is under App Notifications in the FitBit app. Works with some of the newer FitBits (For example Charge 3).

• Sometimes the app remembers a previous follow me location and you get alerts for it even though you are not there and do not have it as a secondary location.

• Alerts for the Greater Vancouver area do not always show up in the app. For example If you have Surrey as a secondary location you will get push notifications but they will not appear in the app itself. Please add Vancouver as a secondary location until this is resolved (Feb 7 2020).

+ SETTINGS

• Slowest radar speed is still too fast. Working on this ASAP! Note that you can pause the radar and move it manually with the blue do.

+ ADS

• There are some strange ad placements at times on certain devices and we're looking into this.

FEATURE REQUESTS

+ GENERAL

• Ability to set the units of pressure (kPA, hPA, inHg, etc.) (July 2020)

• add a setting to display time in 24 hour format instead of am/pm (hours and minutes view). (June 4 2020)

• Add dew point to current conditions. (June 4 2020)

• Add colour to the icons (March 21 2020)

• Add Apple CarPlay compatibility (March 2 2020)

• Add the local time perhaps the location name on the home page (Feb 25 2020)

• Add pollen counts (Feb 8 2020)

• Add the option to have the temperature in the status bar on android devices (Feb 7 2020)

• live wallpaper widget that changes the background to match the current conditions. (Thx Jay-Anne C.) (Feb 6 2020)

• historical data for the past week (NEW)

• Add to Android TV Play store (NEW)

• Add users accounts so locations and settings are can be restored after a reinstall. (NEW)

• Up/Down arrow on the pressure which will demonstrate the current trend. (Thx Alicia!) - DONE July 2020

  • Speed of the rise or drop in pressure (Thx William W.)

  • Not only can we add the arrow, we can add what the pressure is going to be to the minute, hour, and day products eventually. We have all the data, we just haven't added it to the app, yet. Adam - DONE July 2020

• Widget (Very popular request :))

• Dark mode

• The "Updates" page is actually going to be filled up like our Facebook wall with custom updates, EC alert maps, etc. The "No updates available" just means, no posts to fill up the wall. We're going to delete this section when we launch but add it eventually! :) This will integrate our custom forecast with the app.

• Weather alarm clock that wakes you up earlier if road conditions are expected to cause delays (is this a separate app?).

• Moon phases.

• Add relative humidity to the forecasts. - DONE July 2020

• Interesting weather fact of the day. (Thx Lisa S.)

• A time/precip graph like WU. (Thx Jason I.)

• Historical hi/low for the next day forcast for comparison to expected temps. (Thx Andrew H.)

• Road conditions.

• Dusk and Dawn times.

• Show the temperature in the Status Bar of the device.

• Add ... to the second view of the display of the current conditions so that is obvious that one clicks on the bar again to go back (Thanks Abby S.)

• A systems map that shows where the current lows and highs are across North America (Thx. Monika D.)

• Previous 24 hour recorded temperatures, conditions and precipitation (hourly).

• Apple watch integration (note that you can currently get notifications on a Apple watch and some FitBits).

+ DAYS

• add feels like to days view (May 27 2020)

+ HOURS

• vertical view for the hours view to scroll through instead of a horizontal view

+ NOTIFICATIONS and ALERTS

• Ability to mark an alert as read. (June 4 2020)

• Add an on-going notification to the status bar for active alerts (Feb 5 2020)

• Alerts should include a map image right in the drop down.

• Adding time details to the alerts bar and/or in the description.

• Ability to filter alerts to only the types you want to receive.

• Ability to set “Critical alerts only” when sleeping using a custom time range, such as 11pm - 6am, etc.

• Ability to set user notifications for temperature, precipitation, rapid change in pressure, inclement weather etc.

• Ability to increase the font size on alerts as it is sometimes hard to read especially when glasses are not handy. (Thx Lisa B.)

• Alerts or banners related to your projections: "We predict a 50/50 chance of bus cancellations in your area tomorrow morning. Stay tuned to X when you wake up." Just push the data that feeds the current FB posts into the app based on geo-fencing, then link to the post for more details. (Thx Cameron T.)

• Alerts for Northern Lights.

• iOS notifications disappear from the home screen when the app is opened. It would be better if they had to be manually cleared.

• When there is a badge (red dot for iOS, green dot for Android) on the app icon and you click on it you should go to the reason (alert in most cases). This should also be true if you click on the banner notification on your device when not in the app. It should take you to the location page or the actual alert.

• The ability to control the volume of the notification sounds.

• The ability to change the alert sound.

• Notification of lightning when it is detected x kms away.

+ LOCATIONS

• Move modify locations to top of list instead of at the bottom so you do not need to scroll (Thx Mark R.) (Feb 11)

• Ability to save the current location.

• Ability to rearrange locations.

• Ability to name locations (work, home, etc.).

• Ability to delete top location for those who don’t have data on their phone. In the meantime, if you delete the app and reinstall it, you can deny location tracking so there is no top location. Having said this, allowing the app to use an exact location is the best way to ensure the forecast is as accurate as possible. Thank you Shelley M. for suggesting this!

• Add an icon next to the notification bell for each location that has an alert that is colour coded to the most severe alert. Perhaps also indicate the number of alerts as well.

+ RADAR

• Marker that shows the location of secondary locations. Similar but different from the current location marker.

• See the warning or watch areas outlined on the radar map. Colour code and clickable so that you can go to the alert. (Thx Tania T.)

• Overlay on the radar for wind direction and speed especially over water for boating. (Thx Susan B.)

• Be able to choose to see only past radar, future radar or both combined (as it currently is). (Thx Tania T.)

• Show recent lightning on radar map. (frequency and real time).

• Be able to switch to satellite map or/and a darker underlying map. A darker map would be better at night. (Thx Brett M.)

• Add a jetstream/current winds selectable/toggle layer to the live radar (Feb 25 2020)