I use windy since years, it used to be the best wind app available. It had a focused, clean design with quick access to all relevant information.

Now I just returned from a months-long sailing trip and can't stop congratulating myself, that just now I upgraded windy and did not do this while being underway. It would probably have led to an instant heart attack, being betrayed of a relevant planning tool...

Your new "upgraded" version of windy is terrible. Why on earth did you do this?

My feedback:

Terrible new crosshair / location picker. Simply: Why? Somewhere one of your guys wrote, that before it "was difficult to select a specific location on the screen". Not true, I did this for years without any issue. I want to be able to zoom to a specific region and then tap on different locations to see the specific forecast for those locations. Before the update this was easily possible. I DO NOT want to be forced to move the map to see the forecast for a different location. I DO NOT want the map to auto-scroll, when I select a new location via "forecast for this location".

Terrible new layer list. Why show some meaningless "colorful thumbnails" that require lots of screen space instead of a compact, informative list of available layers as before?

Your UX designers / developers ruined the user experience that was perfect before. As it is now, its a huge downgrade in user experience. I seriously consider to downgrade to the previous version.

PLEASE provide a LEGACY mode for the location picker. If the picker is not fixed or a legacy mode becomes available, I will not longer will pay for your app.

I use windy since years, it was the best wind app available.

Now a terrible update indeed:

Terrible new crosshair / location picker. I want to be able to zoom to a specific region and then tap on different locations to see the specific forecast for those locations. Before the update this was easily possible. I DO NOT want to be forced to move the map to see the forecast for a different location. I DO NOT want the map to auto-scroll, when I select a new location via "forecast for this location".

Stupid new layer list. Why show "some colorful thumbnails" that require lots of screen space instead of a compact, informative list of available layers as before.

You developers ruined the user experience that was perfect before. I seriously consider to downgrade to the previous version.

PLEASE provide a legacy mode for the location picker. As it is now, its a huge downgrade in user experience.

@Koss5 @acummings

Have you secretly read my mind?

I full agree with your complaints.

Windy is an app that should be meant to transport a lot of information as efficient as possible. With efficient I mean, the user experience needs to be such that the user needs as little as possible interaction to change the visualized data, location, etc.

Two years ago they decided that now the location is selected by moving the map. One of the worst decisions ever for Windy. Before is was an intuitive tap with one finger.

Then they decided that instead of a clear list of data-options, some random colorful thumbnails are "better" for the user to select data. Back then there was a huge outcry here in the forum to go back to the previous solution (plain list). They seemed to simply ignore that.

And right now, they decided to change model selection to a menu, that requires three clicks to achieve exactly the same what was possible before with one click.

At the same time, when changing to wind-mode, the data on the map changes automatically from the model I selected before to ECMWF.

In german we say, it is a "Trauerspiel", when you watch how someone deliberately ruins a formerly nice thing.

It is a huge miracle to me, what the UX-designers at Windy think. As someone, who uses Windy as a paying user since now about five years (sailing), I fundamentally can not understand why they do these things. I would fire the UX-designers as well, I guess...;)

But seriously, lets hope that one day they come to reason.

@Suty

@Ondřej-Šutera Hi Ondrej, thank you for the clarification!

Can you give some indication, how you at Windy see the critical comments of the users with regards to location picker and layer list? Can you at Windy understand/follow our concerns and complaints? Will there be a modification that allows to use the location picker in a way similar as before?

To further elaborate on location picker and layer list:
In my opinion the new "thumbnail list" for the layer selection could eventually be accepted. Although I do not understand the motivation to go from the old style to the new thumbnail-like list. Apart from having larger tiles to tap to select a layer (was this probably the original motivation?), the thumbnails show some (in my opinion) arbitrary colorful picture. To select the right layer one has to read the text anyways. So, what's the point with the thumbnails? In my opinion the only eat up space on the screen.

The issue with the new location picker is at a totally different and critical level in my opinion. The new interaction process completely brakes the user experience. For myself I would rate the new location picker as catastrophically wrong. It is not possible anymore to tap different positions on the map in a controlled way while keeping the same region of the map on the screen (this is important for route planning for e.g. sailing!). Either one has to move the map or one taps somewhere on the map, but then the map somehow autoscrolls and shows a different map region (...omg...!!!). From a developers perspective this might seem swift and nice that the map somehow autoscrolls. For me as a user this lets me loose focus while carefully studying the weather development for a certain region during which I need to select different locations and need to stay focused on that specific region. Autoscrolling is a no go!
Also, before selecting a certain location was a single tap. Now, I either arbitrarily move the map (bad) or I have to interact with the weather popup bar at the top of the screen to select "forecast for this location", but then autoscrolling... Before it was a single, efficient tap...

It would honestly be interesting what the actual reasons and design goals where for this new version. In my opinion (and reading the comments of many, many other users I'm obviously not alone), the user experience was very good before. No need to try to "invent the wheel again" and completely break the user experience.

Again: PLEASE provide a way to interact with the map and to select a location of interest in a way that follows to old approach.

Looking forward to our feedback, thank you and best regards.

Dear Ondrej, Dear Product Team,

thank you @Ondřej-Šutera for your response in another thread here. I understood, that there will be no general roll-back to the old version. That is understandable in some respect.

Still, please do not forget the concerns of us, your customers. I agree with you, that probably some complaints are just because "something has changed". But other complaints are substantial in my opinion, e.g. the issue with retrieving weather for a specific location.

My major concern is about the "user path" or "user journey" from starting the app to comparing wind predictions for different locations. This is very inefficient at the moment and prevents to efficiently study the weather forecast for a larger region.

Before ("old" app):

• Open the app
• Zoom & pan to relevant region
• Tap on the screen somewhere -> a dot and a "flag" with the local weather appears at that location
• Tap on the flag -> the time-line with the local weather appears at the lower screen
• Tap on "wind" -> wind predictions of all models are shown

If I now want another location (old app):

• Tap on different location -> wind predictions of all models are shown for this new location, map stays as it is
• Tap on different location -> wind predictions of all models are shown for this new location, map stays as it is
• and so on ...

Current version of app:

• Open the app
• Zoom & pan to relevant region, target location of interest with cross-hair
• Tap on "forecast for this location" -> the time-line with the local weather appears at the lower screen (when doing this at low zoom levels (overview), the map is automatically zoomed to some high (detailed) zoom level)
• Tap on "display as" -> selection menu "Basic, Waves, Wind, ..." opens
• Select "wind" -> wind predictions of all models are shown

If I now want another location (new app):

• Tap on "X" to actively close prediction time-line
• Zoom & pan to new relevant region, target location of interest with cross-hair
• Tap on "forecast for this location" -> the time-line with the local weather appears at the lower screen (when doing this at low zoom levels (overview), the map is automatically zoomed to some high (detailed) zoom level)
  (- Do this again for each new location...)
  Edit & Correction: The "move map" option solves this to some degree, still an issue, since the user is forced to move map, also auto-zoom issue persists.

So, where before changing location was a single tap on the location of interest (same map view), I now need to navigate to a new position (which means to move the map) to get the forecast there.

Probably this might sound as if this is no big deal. But during sailing the app is used several times a day to study the development of wether predictions for a specific region, which involves quickly switching between different locations in that region. To stay focussed it is crucial not being forced to change map view. Also, every unnecessary interaction should be avoided. Having to move the map, auto-zoom, lets me quickly loose focus while studying the weather.

In reference to the above, I kindly like to propose small changes to the new app.
Specifically my suggestions are:

• Let users simply tap on the map to show the wind prediction time-line for the tapped location
• Keep shown map region as it is (no auto-zoom) during selection of a new location

I guess, these are ideas, that could be implemented as small modifications with minimal impact on other new features of the app. Implementing this would bring user experience back to the efficient interaction that was provided by the old version of the app.

In summary: An efficient way of studying weather for a certain region is crucial. The old app was very good in this respect, for the new app the "user journey" to get to the same result (wind for a specific location) is too complicated.

So I kindly ask you to discuss/consider my suggestions and I hope you can see the above as constructive ideas.

I'm open to discussion. Please let me know, if anything of the above is unclear.
Probably you can see from the time I invested in my posts here how much I love your app and how much I like to also use it efficiently in the future ;-)
Thank you

Edit: Added reference to "move map" option.

@temp850

you wrote

I am looking at two other options instead of Windy which is sad. I hope they are listening to us.

Which options are you looking at? I'm also very disappointed and need to look for alternatives.

@HarrryKeith
Look for windy at e.g. the apkmirror site. There you will find the apk-file of the old version.

I agree, new version is unusable. Windy should take the ongoing concerns of the community serious and should finally do something about it.

@anthony10

"Neural networks", to this sounds a bit dangerous to rely at... I would prefer to look at the front analyses of the weather services instead.

Guys at Windy. Above you see the report of yet another user who reports that the new UI is NOT more user-friendly than before.

During the last weeks I Iearned that at Windy you guys have the impression, that the new UI is easier to use. As reported many, many times by a lot of users, this is sadly not the case.
Please consider to revert certain things or at least provide options, so that the user can decide upon the preferred mode of interaction.

Things that need to be fixed:

• location picker
• auto-zoom
• layer list

@Ondřej-Šutera

Thank you! I was not aware of that change. A very good step in the right direction!

I just tested it, here some feedback:

My usual "workflow" is to show the forecast for a certain spot on the map (formerly tapping somewhere, now via the crosshair dialog) and then check the forecast for different locations on the map the get an understanding of the weather development for a larger region (e.g. 100km x 100km). This is what I do as a sailor and I assume pilots, hikers etc. will do the same. Checking the different locations was very efficient before by simply tapping somewhere and having the opened forecast dialog update accordingly.

The new feature "Move the map to change ... location" lets me move the map without changing the forecast location. A very good, first step.

Unfortunately the efficiency of checking different locations is still much worse than before. If I first select one location and then want to check a different location, I first have to close the forecast dialog, then move the map to aim for a new location and then tap on "Forecast for this location". These are three steps during which I need to move the map where before it was one single tap without moving the map. At the moment, this is very inefficient and a quite awkward user experience.

Before, the only visual change when comparing different locations was the actual forecast in the popup dialog and the wind arrows on the map. When I tapped on different locations, everything shown remained the same, except the wind arrows and the forecast show in the dialog. This was extremely good to compare forecasts for different locations. Now, with the necessary three steps to change location and the necessity to close and open the forecast dialog including auto-zoom it still lets me "loose orientation" on the map. Very bad...

Furthermore I think there is a bug: When I start the app, aim for a certain location and select "forecast for this location", the forecast dialog pops up and the map zooms and moves. But it moves in such a way, the the actual location that I selected before is somewhere offscreen and not in the focus anymore. Obviously, the selected location should still remain in focus when the forecast popup opens. (Also: Please deactivate auto-zoom (or make it optional), when opening the forecast dialog ;) ).

Please let me know if anything of the above is unclear.

In summary: I very much appreciate, that a little bit has happened with regards to the location selection process. It gives me hope, that our voices as users are heard in a way. Please see the above as constructive feedback to make the user experience better and more efficient, coming again close to the very good user experience that we had with versions prior to v39.

Thank you

@Korina , I fully support what @elaeroplano is saying. Check the many, many complaints from other users.

I have written about the things that are really bad in my opinion here: https://community.windy.com/topic/27520/totally-disappointed-by-recent-update-picker-layer-list

You had such a wonderful app, why did you decide to break the user interaction so badly? Please decide to revert things.

@kurtjonulmer

I agree on almost everything what you say.

In one aspect I absolutely do not agree: It makes no sense at all, that a development team decides to introduce some new, fancy user-interaction concepts, and doing so without feedback from the users what would make their life easier.

An example: The drastic change in the process, how to select the location where you want to see the weather. At the moment it is not efficient at all, it simply awkward. The old version was brilliant.

For the version v39, a dev-team has decided that it exactly knows what is better for the users (there are several comments from the team here, that show exactly this attitude), where actually the users rush in every day and utterly complain about the broken new version.
The dev-team think, that the new version is better for touch screen, while IT IS NOT. I've used Windy for years also on much smaller screens and phones with bad resolution, no problem.

Instead of making things better, the whole process is broken and (on a certain professional level) simply unusable. Thats why I downgraded to the former, better version and can only hope, that at some point the Windy team comes to reason.

@jflood

Just today I read your post. It describes all the issues in perfection. I also wrote several rather detailed posts over the last weeks, complaining about more or less the same things. To me the major issues are location picker and auto-zoom. But also the layer-list is problematic.

I really, really hope, that all of our well articulated responses to the new version are somehow heard at Windy. Windy-team, please accept, that the new version has failed! Your paying users do not comply with the view of the Windy team, that the new UI gives a better user experience. The opposite is the case.

For the last months many of us did not got tired of repeatedly complaining about the very bad design decisions that led to the Windy version v39. To name just the worst things: Layer list, location picker, auto-zoom... The App is being dumbed down from earlier capabilities.

Still, I simply do not understand the actual reasons for the bad design decisions.
So far, there was very little constructive response from the Windy team on our feedback. Most of the feedback went in the direction of "The Windy team thinks the new app is easier to use...". Well, I fundamentally disagree with that and as seen from many other users I'm not alone.

Today, I stumbled over an interesting short article that discusses the issue of software/apps getting worse and worse over time from the perspective of the long-term power-users.
The article explains that very often very little interest is in making the software actually better with respect to the needs of the existing users, but that the development is mostly driven by the urge to make new customers and catch them in a timespan of a few seconds when they first open the app.
I think, this perfectly matches what we see with windy. The interface is being "dumbed down" at the expense of the existing users.

@Windy-team, @Ondřej-Šutera I am really interested in hearing about your position with respect to the above. How do you prioritise the feedback and wishes from your existing users in comparison to the acquisition of new users?

Here the article: https://nothinghuman.substack.com/p/the-tyranny-of-the-marginal-user

Here an excerpt from the article:
"...
In my six years at Google, I got to observe this force up close, relentlessly killing features users loved and eroding the last vestiges of creativity and agency from our products. I know this force well, and I hate it, but I do not yet know how to fight it. I call this force the Tyranny of the Marginal User.

Simply put, companies building apps have strong incentives to gain more users, even users that derive very little value from the app. .... So the north star metric for designers and engineers is typically something like Daily Active Users, or DAUs for short: the number of users who log into your app in a 24 hour period.

What’s wrong with such a metric? A product that many users want to use is a good product, right? Sort of. Since most software products charge a flat per-user fee (often zero, because ads), and economic incentives operate on the margin, a company with a billion-user product doesn’t actually care about its billion existing users. It cares about the marginal user - the billion-plus-first user - and it focuses all its energy on making sure that marginal user doesn’t stop using the app.

Yes, if you neglect the existing users’ experience for long enough they will leave, but in practice apps are sticky and by the time your loyal users leave everyone on the team will have long been promoted.
So in practice, the design of popular apps caters almost entirely to the marginal user.
..."

@Lure
We need to stay stubborn here!

It would be so simple, to give us back the old functionality:
It would e.g. only be necessary to implement a "long tap" on the map as selection for a new location. Very little change necessary for a huge win in user-friendliness.

As I explained above, its a huge step-back from the old app to the current situation, where we now need three steps to switch location to study wind in detail there. Before it was only one quick tap on the map.

@Ondřej-Šutera Are you guys aware of this degradation in user interaction?

@bluechipfish

Thank you for your voice. I fully agree and have a very similar view: https://community.windy.com/topic/27520/totally-disappointed-by-recent-update-picker-layer-list

Dear Windy-Team. Please realize, that by now your update with the major changes of the UI is now about half a year old. Still, many users complain and want to have back the old interaction process.

Why stick to the new approach, where you do not get any positive review but only harsh criticism? Please realize, that a significant portion of your paying users does not support the new approach.

Please, reconsider and check if rolling back some changes or at least provide an option to activate location picking as before is an option.

@Suty Thank you.

Really, really sad, that the developers apparently cannot unterstand our constructive feedback.

Would it be possible that you share what the reasons were to implement (and keep) the current approach?

@Gkikas-LGPZ

On startup of the app it works. Windy remembers for basic-mode, that I selected e.g. ICON-EU during the last session.

But if you then select wind-mode, Windy automatically switches to ECMWF which is then shown on the map. Along the lower screen, still "ICON-EU" is highlighted, although the map shows ECMWF. This is a bug. If you then switch back to basic-mode, Windy automatically switches back to ICON-EU.

@Suty Please realize that this is buggy behavior, as I described at https://community.windy.com/topic/41048/wind-mode-wrong-data-shown-on-map-when-selecting-e-g-icon

Please allow users to switch the models for wind-data shown on the map when being in wind-mode.

Do not automatically switch models without user interaction.

@idefix37 , no, I'm actually on Android 13 (recent Google Pixel Phone). The rant I wrote above is based on my experience with the most recent version of Windy on that phone.

On another Android device I still have the good, old version of Windy. I guess, I will have to be very careful with that...

Do you have any feeling, if the Windy guys might react to the quite massive and negative reactions, that the new version of the app has provoked? The most logical way (in my opinion) might be to provide some kind of legacy mode, to allow us to use the old location picker style.

@michelle72

Windy is an app that provides a very thorough access to different weather prediction models and allows easy comparison.

Windy itself does not create forecasts, it is only a channel to access forecasts from different institutions.

You should blame the specific weather models and the institutions that run these models, not Windy.

P.S.: Windy IS the best app (ok, some bad changes from the last update need to be corrected...;-) ), but you need to know how to use and interpret the provided data.