【AI前沿】Weather-monitoring firm hangs dark cloud over customers’ heads by forcing new app

Storm’s a-brewin’Weather-monitoring firm hangs dark cloud over customers’ heads by forcing new appNewer AcuRite Now app lacks some features but has a subscription option.Scharon Harding–May 15, 2026 4:16 pm|28A marketing image for the AcuRite Optimus weather station with the AcuRite Now app pictured.Credit:

      AcuRiteA marketing image for the AcuRite Optimus weather station with the AcuRite Now app pictured.Credit:

      AcuRiteText
    settingsStory textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth*StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers onlyLearn moreMinimize to navWeather-monitoring company AcuRite is forcing device owners to use a new companion app on May 30, frustrating some long-time customers.AcuRite, which sells devices such as weather stations, indoor thermometers, and rain gauges, began emailing customers last month that they’d soon have to control their devices with the AcuRite Now iOS and Android app. AcuRite first launched the app in June 2025 to control a new weather station, the AcuRite Optimus. However, owners of AcuRite devices had still been able to use the My AcuRite app, which launched in 2016.Soon, however, My AcuRite will no longer be available, making AcuRite Now the only official app for controlling AcuRite devices. The website for theMy AcuRiteapp currently reads:As part of our continued investment in delivering smarter, more connected solutions, the My AcuRite app will be winding down. To ensure uninterrupted access to your weather data and to unlock even more capabilities,all users should transition to AcuRite NOW before May 30th, 2026.Per the website, AcuRite Now “works with thousands of products” in Tuya’sSmartLife IoT ecosystem, including third-party fans, thermostats, light bulbs, plugs, cameras, and motorized blinds.“Looks like a bad joke”Some AcuRite customers are upset about losing access to My AcuRite because they think AcuRite Now is an inferior app.Those customers havecomplained onlineabout being unable to use AcuRite Now to rename multiple temperature sensors, difficulties uploading data to weather sites, and the app only reporting temperatures in whole numbers. An AcuRitesupport pagesays that AcuRite is “hoping” to add the ability to organize on-screen sensors and rename multiple sensors to AcuRite Now, as well as a desktop version of the app, “soon.”One popular feature of My AcuRite was the ability to share data from AcuRite devices withWeather Underground, a real-time weather service. AcuRite Now also supports this feature, but users have to pay a subscription fee that starts at $2 per month. The subscription, dubbedAcuRite Now+, also includes more data storage (365 days of history instead of 30).Other complaints center on AcuRite Now’s layout. For example, a Reddit user named epicfailphxsaidlast month that the app “looks like a bad joke.”“The old app was clean and just did a good job, while I don’t know what this new app is trying to do,” they said.Another Reddit user, ssemos,complainedthat the new app shows less data on-screen than My AcuRite does and doesn’t use most of the display.AcuRite’s riskSince AcuRite said it’s shuttering My AcuRite, AcuRite Now has received numerous one- and two-star reviews on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, resulting in ratings of 1.4 stars (based on 183 reviews) and 1.3 stars (based on 131 reviews), as of this writing. It’s worth noting, though, that My AcuRite had2 stars(based on 429 reviews) on the App Store as of February and1.9 stars(based on 1,330 reviews) on the Play Store as of January, per the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine.Ars Technica reached out to AcuRite, its parent company Primex Family of Companies, and AcuRite Now’s developer for comment but didn’t hear back before publication.It’s possible that AcuRite’s shuttering of My AcuRite aims to simplify the company’s technology stack by allowing it to focus on updating and maintaining one app rather than two, which could also save money. AcuRite Now’s support of SmartLife products could also be beneficial and drive app usage. The new app could also be more accommodating of new and upcoming features and allow AcuRite to charge a subscription fee for premium capabilities, helping diversify revenue.Still, forcing loyal customers with complex hardware to switch to a new app on a couple of weeks’ notice is a gamble. AcuRite risks polarizing customers who don’t like the new app, especially since it is missing some features that the old app has. Charging a subscription fee for a feature that was previously free could also push customers to explore rival products. Updated software canbring new life to gadgets, but as we’ve seen before,forcing long-time users to use new softwareperceived as inferior can havedisastrous effects.Scharon HardingSenior Technology ReporterScharon HardingSenior Technology ReporterScharon is a Senior Technology Reporter at Ars Technica writing news, reviews, and analysis on consumer gadgets and services. She's been repo