You need to be downright lazy and pleb to check the weather forecast via your Facebook App. It’s time to shake off the lazybones and download some seriously funny and “crazy-powerful weather app”, the CARROT Weather. I must admit, I got hooked on the snide remarks that the app dishes out while reporting the weather to you. Remember to keep your funny bone alive when you use the app and don’t get offended easily.
Climate Control
Let me break it down for you, developer Brian Mueller has glorified the human-hating AI character, Carrot, to update you on the weather, using ‘hilariously twisted forecasts.’ In short, a voice that sniggers, uses acceptable ‘foul language’, and adopts a tone that makes you feel that every day is Halloween. In my head it’s like Roz from “Monster’s Inc.’, talking down to me, and wondering why I even bother asking about the temperatures for the day!
As a user, you must understand that while the app relates the weather accurately, its character CARROT, has a personality and a sense of humor. So apart from humor level, it’s wise to choose a political leaning, as this makes the jokes more relatable for you. Overall, CARROT is a very straightforward weather app. The home screen gives you a glimpse of the current weather conditions along with the hourly and weekly forecasts.
Backed by the weather data from the weather app Dark Sky, which is known for its accuracy, the combination of wit and facts, makes you want to check the app on a daily basis. To me, this aspect is very relatable. I remember working on a campaign for a hair serum client, who wanted to run contextual banner ads on a weather app, urging young girls (their TG) to use their product to cut away the monsoon frizz.
Our research told us that the TG or target audience rarely used weather apps. In fact, most people use weather apps only when they are to travel, or if they have heard about a drastic weather change on the news. I can totally imagine the same TG hitting up the CARROT just for kicks-sake, and get a few laughs.
How To Read CARROT
An intuitive interface makes everything simple for you. The scatter plot displays the hourly weather using icons for temperature and weather conditions. The bar graph seen at the bottom of the chart shows hourly precipitation estimates. For deets like humidity, wind, UV index, and how hot/cold it is, just tap on the time. When CARROT knows it’s about to rain or snowfall is predicted within the next hour, the app shows us a ‘Precipitation Graph’ at the top of the screen.
If you are curious for further details, then simply tap and hold to see the minute rain data. It is very easy to decipher the data shown and this includes the fun icons that showcase the day’s high and low. The daily section is aptly placed at the bottom but could have done with some more real estate though. About a week’s worth of predictions are showcased and any extreme weather alerts in your area are promptly notified in the app.
More Than The Weather
“Everywhere you go, always take the weather with you”, rings a bell? If you’re taking the weather with you, then you may as well play the fun mini-game incorporated into the CARROT, which allows us to 32 locations on a map. Places like Chernobyl, the Moon, the Pyramids, and the Titanic wreck can be found by solving CARROT’s snarky clues.
Essentially there are 6,000+ lines of ‘hilarious spoken dialogue’, to keep up your spirits even on grim and dark days. It features a customizable widget and the Premium Club subscription removes ads and unlocks advanced features. A mere $0.99/month or $3.99/year, and you have a fun app at your disposal.
Recap of Features
CARROT’s UI is simple to understand. The crisp-witted dialogues and animations add a spark to your day. You can temper the personality of CARROT to suit your taste, and you can use ARKit to bring CARROT into your world, using Augmented Reality. Incoming precipitation and severe weather alerts are just a notification away and CARROT’s forecasts can be added to your home screen with her customizable widgets.
Apart from tracking down secret locations on the world map through clues, you can even unlock achievements “by experiencing weather events, traveling around the world.” What I like about CARROT Weather, is its ability to show you the weather for any location up to 70 years in the past.
