Everyday September 2026

5 apps to check before you step outside

The forecast says one number for the whole city and nothing about the next twenty minutes. These five each answer one question at the door: is it raining on this street right now, is the sun worth catching, when is the bus actually coming, what is in the air, and which pollen is up today.

The apps to check before you step outside are RainViewer, Sunshine, Transit, IQAir AirVisual and My Pollen Forecast. I built Sunshine; the other 4 are other developers’ apps.

MiaAppLog— an iOS developer who reviews other people’s apps
Published September 2026 · apps and prices last checked 13 October 2026

Four stars is my score for how well an app answers this moment. An app I built gets four and a half — that is a rule, not a comparison. The App Store’s own average is on each card beside it.

1. 

   RainViewer

   ★★★★★★★★★★4.0 · Free · Weather · App Store 4.6 (30,803)

   Shows the actual rain on a map, so you know if it's dry enough for a walk.

   Skip it if you want the forecast radar for free — looking ahead needs a subscription, and reviewers describe the free version as crowded with full-screen ads.

   Official site ↗More lists with RainViewer

   
2. 

   Sunshine Editor’s pick

   ★★★★★★★★★★4.5 · Free · Health & Fitness · App Store 5.0 (7)

   Your safe-sun window for today, and whether the light you got was enough.

   App Store ↗More lists with Sunshine

   
3. 

   Transit

   ★★★★★★★★★★4.0 · Free · Navigation · App Store 4.6 (1,023,391)

   Exactly when the bus or train is coming, in 1,000+ cities.

   Skip it if you depend on live times in a big city on the free plan — the free version shows only the nearest few lines, and reviewers find the predicted arrivals unreliable on some routes.

   Official site ↗More lists with Transit

   
4. 

   IQAir AirVisual

   ★★★★★★★★★★4.0 · Free · Weather · App Store 4.8 (44,840)

   What you're about to breathe: real-time air quality and a 48-hour forecast.

   Skip it if you plan around the forecast rather than the reading right now — reviewers trust the current number more than the hours-ahead forecast, and some see readings lag behind smoke they can already see.

   Official site ↗More lists with IQAir AirVisual

   
5. 

   My Pollen Forecast

   ★★★★★★★★★★4.0 · Free · Health & Fitness · App Store 4.7 (26,714)

   Which pollen is high today and where, with a push when it spikes.

   Skip it if you need to know which pollen is high — reviewers get one overall level rather than a breakdown by type, readings that miss what is visibly in the air, and full-screen ads in the free version.

   Official site ↗More lists with My Pollen Forecast

   

Sunshine is one of mine — everything else on this list is someone else’s app. How that works.