WeatherBug Protect Goes Live On Verizon Wireless

WeatherBug has been no stranger to providing some fantastic bleeding edge applications throughout the mobile space. Two of the most popular would have to be the WeatherBug for the iPhone and WeatherBug for the T-Mobile G1 running Google Android. Despite this, the fact is WeatherBug Protect for the Verizon Network will blow the doors off anything you have seen yet. In short, WeatherBug Protect for Verizon is much better overall than anything seen on the iPhone or G1.

Today I am thrilled to announce that WeatherBug’s existing partnership with Verizon has been taken to the next level through the release of what is known as WeatherBug Protect throughout the Verizon Wireless Network.

Where do I get it?

For those of you with Internet enabled Verizon Wireless mobile phones that meet with the model requirements seen here, I have found the easiest way to install the WeatherBug Protect app is right from the website link above. Just have it sent right to your phone.

On other newer Verizon phones, you should be able to install it easily right from the phone itself. Just goto the Menu, “Tools to go”, “get new app”. Again, I found it to be easier to simply send it directly via the standard website as for some reason it was not showing up for my specific test phone. So use whichever installation method works best for you.

Post-install.

Like all things mobile these days, there are considerations before blindly installing everything you can find over the Internet. So I want to take a moment to walk you through some of the post-installation details as they are presented to you.

• Ten minutes free. Because WeatherBug wants to make sure you have a chance to see how this works before signing up for a monthly subscription, you are provided ten free minutes to take the app for a test drive. This prevents any possible compatibility issues after a user has paid their monthly subscription.
• Application needs to submit the phone number model in order to work with WeatherBug protect. What this means is the app is designed to connect to Verizon and WeatherBug. This is a billing item, nothing more. No need for tinfoil helmets, this is merely a means of ensuring accurate billing for the service.
• The login details will be sent via SMS to your phone. If you are unable to use it right away, check for the SMS message, you will need this to use the application. This can take up to ten minutes due to the fact that the Protect App is vastly more complicated than some silly wallpaper or ringtone.
• Privacy policy. Any mobile application worth its salt provides a ready to read privacy policy before its use. WeatherBug provides such a policy as data transmission is in use and part of how app works involves elective use of GPS, service-required use of phone number/phone model for billing, and so on. It’s about as complex as you might find with most Google apps for mobile devices. It is basically what you will find with any location based service.
• Permissions. You are in control. This is important. Verizon and WeatherBug realize while you might be hip to the idea of a mobile application using your GPS location in some cases, in other instances it might not be appropriate. You are presented with the option to setup when the application is allowed to use Verizon Wireless based location services to present you with your immediate location based real-time weather alerts.

Features we expect.

Obviously WeatherBug is known in the consumer market for providing live, accurate weather data through the use of the largest privately managed weather station network on the planet. But they recently turned up the heat with some additional features as well.

• WeatherBug Total Lightning Network - When using WeatherBug Protect, you will have access to the first and to date, ONLY integrated intracloud (IC) and cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning detection system.
• WeatherBug weather tracking-stations - What sets WeatherBug apart from the competition is the fact that they use both NOAA data in addition to their own weather station network that enables WeatherBug to give you weather data for your specific location vs the nearest airport.
• Live data in real time - Because this is still a WeatherBug application at its core, the benefits of being such have not been lost in the shuffle. You will find immediate access to live weather data, forecast, maps, weather alerts as they are issued, interactive radar images, and current weather news as it is released.
• Preferences - Because there is a time for weather alerts and a time not to be bothered, WeatherBug’s Protect application allows for you to set up the way your phone alerts you to different types of weather alerts: Chirp, vibrate, whatever you want. Setup your preference of using Celsius or Fahrenheit, themes, the list goes on. It’s your app - customize it!

Civil safety.

Considering that WeatherBug Protect is a Pro-Level app designed with the consumer in mind, the application can alert you to much more than weather emergencies alone.

Click to enlarge for full view

As you can see above, you are also all set to be alerted to civil emergencies as well. Speaking for myself, this alone makes the value of the monthly subscription readily apparent. Click the image above and be amazed. This mobile app defines mobile safety as far as I am concerned.

Additional alert functions include:

• Set alerts will be based on your exact location wherever you travel. This is used in place of the GPS enabled option.
• Set up to 3 other locations to monitor for alerts…IE, your parents house, your kids house, or the beach house.
• Customize a “call to action”. This is useful for corporate safety officers to add exact information about what people should do in certain types of emergencies.

How much is the subscription cost?

As anyone paying attention can tell, this is an application using tremendous resources. Clearly, it ventures a bit beyond the latest freeware application. The monthly fee for access to all of this is $5.99. Yeah, for the cost of a typical SMS usage package, you can have access to all that is described above.

Need to try it before committing to the monthly subscription? Not a problem, you can do compatibility tests for free as the application is usable for 10 minutes free before requiring you to agree to the monthly fee.