Quick answers to the most common questions. For the full story, see the User Guide — the same guide is in the app under Settings → User Guide, and the ? button on many screens opens the matching article.
Getting started
How do I find an airport and save it?
Tap the search field and type an ICAO or IATA code, or part of the airport or city name. Add the airport to your favourites with the star. Favourites are always at hand on the main screen, and they are what the widgets and the Watch app show. The widgets and the Watch complication stay readable in tinted and clear styles too: there, the category appears as an outlined badge with its name.
What do the VFR, MVFR, IFR and LIFR colors mean?
The colour of an airport or a station shows its flight category. The category is derived automatically from the ceiling and the prevailing visibility, using the standard thresholds. Each category has the same colour everywhere — on the map, the badges, the timelines, the widgets, Apple Watch and the reports — always with white text. With Increase Contrast switched on, the shades are darker.
How do I set my personal minimums?
Personal minimums are your own ceiling, visibility and crosswind limits. Once set, the app marks every period that falls below them — independently of the official category. When enabled, timeline segments below your ceiling or visibility minimums are marked with a thin red stripe.
Weather data
There is no METAR, TAF or NOTAM for an airport — why?
Not every airport publishes weather reports: many smaller fields have no METAR or TAF at all, and some TAFs are only issued during opening hours. If data is missing, it is unavailable at the source rather than a fault of the app. Use the Nearby tab to find the closest station that does report.
The data is not loading or looks old.
The observation time is always shown next to the report. If the observation is older than the limit you set, the app marks it as stale: the time turns orange with a ⚠ sign — an old METAR may describe a very different situation from the current one.
METAR, TAF and NOTAM are refreshed when you open a page, and in the background as well if automatic update is switched on. You can always pull down to refresh by hand. If something is not loading, the System Status screen in Settings shows whether the problem is with the service, the device or the network. It also shows whether notifications are allowed and how many airports you monitor — the first place to look if an alert does not arrive.
Why are the times in UTC (Z)?
METAR, TAF and NOTAM times are always given in UTC (the “Z” suffix). The local time is shown in the airport’s time zone, with the authoritative UTC beside it. The time-zone identifier and the UTC offset are also shown — with daylight saving, the offset changes during the year.
Does the app work offline?
The airport, runway, frequency and navaid database is stored on the device, so search and airport data also work without a network. Weather and NOTAM always need a connection; without one you see the last downloaded report, with its observation time.
Airport information is missing or wrong.
The airport, runway, frequency and navaid database is built from open data (OurAirports, FAA, OpenStreetMap) and is updated automatically — a badge in Settings shows when a new database is available. If something is still wrong, please let us know the ICAO code and what to correct: support@wxaviationweather.com.
NOTAM and route briefing
How do I read the NOTAM timeline?
The timeline answers the question that matters before a flight: what will affect me at the time I depart or arrive? Each NOTAM is a bar on a common time axis, grouped by category like the chips. Above the bars, the TAF and the crosswind run on the same axis, so a runway closure and a TEMPO in the forecast line up at a glance.
How do I set up a route briefing?
Add a route with the + button. The airport picker suggests nearby airports, your favorites and recent ones — or tap Map to pick one. Swipe right on a saved route to create the return flight.
Why does my briefing say CAUTION or NO-GO?
Each airport is checked for its own time — departure at ETD ±1 hour, destination at ETA ±1 hour, the alternate after the extra leg — against your personal minimums, the crosswind on the best open runway and runway-closing NOTAMs. NO-GO means the departure or the destination fails. CAUTION means something needs your attention: a TEMPO/PROB group, a missing TAF, an unconfirmed NOTAM check, an unsuitable alternate, or a SIGMET/AIRMET or severe PIREP along the route.
Weather Alerts
How do I turn on Weather Alerts?
Open Settings → Premium → Weather Alerts. On an airport’s details, the bell next to the star does the same for that one airport: it switches monitoring on or off, and adds the airport to your favourites if needed.
Under Monitored airports, switch on the favourites you want to watch, and allow notifications when iOS asks.
My alerts do not arrive.
Check these in order: (1) the Premium subscription is active on this Apple Account; (2) notifications are allowed for WX Aviation Weather in iOS Settings, and no Focus mode is silencing them; (3) the airport is switched on under Monitored airports. Tap Send a test notification. If it arrives within a few seconds, delivery works on this device.
Weather alerts need a current METAR. If an airport does not publish one, its row in Monitored airports shows an orange note: there, only NOTAM alerts can work. For such an airport, monitor a nearby station that does report.
The server checks the new reports every five minutes. A notification is sent when a condition begins — not again while it lasts. A worsening flight category is reported at once; an improvement only once it has held for about 30 minutes, so a ceiling hovering at a boundary does not notify you back and forth. If several things change at once, they arrive together in one notification, and an airport gets at most one weather notification in about 20 minutes. NOTAM notifications are sent separately and are not held back by these limits.
I did not get a notification, but something changed.
Recent Alerts lists everything that happened at your monitored airports in the last 72 hours — including changes that did not arrive as a notification because of the 20-minute limit, or that you dismissed. Open it with the clock button at the top of Favorites, or from the Weather Alerts settings. Times are in UTC. An alert that was later overtaken is dimmed and marked “Changed later”, and the newest one shows the airport’s current category. Tap an alert to open the airport — a NOTAM alert opens at that NOTAM.
Premium and purchases
What does Premium include?
Route briefing with an advisory go/no-go, unlimited favorites and groups, winds & temperatures aloft, PDF and text report export, the alternate finder for your arrival time, and Weather Alerts. See Free and Premium for the full comparison. Premium is a monthly or yearly subscription with a 7-day free trial for new subscribers.
I bought Premium (or Pro) but the app does not show it.
Make sure you are signed in with the same Apple Account you purchased with, then tap Restore Purchase in Settings. Premium can also be shared with Family Sharing. Owners of the earlier one-time Pro purchase keep all Pro features; Weather Alerts need the Premium subscription.
How do I cancel or change my subscription?
Subscriptions are managed by Apple: open iOS Settings → your name → Subscriptions → WX Aviation Weather. Cancel at least 24 hours before the end of the current period to avoid renewal. Refunds are handled by Apple at reportaproblem.apple.com.
Sync, Apple Watch and widgets
My favorites do not sync between my devices.
Favorites, groups, routes and settings sync through iCloud. Check that every device is signed in with the same Apple Account and that iCloud is enabled for WX Aviation Weather (iOS Settings → your name → iCloud). After a change, sync can take a few minutes.
The Apple Watch app shows no airports.
The Watch shows your favorite airports from the iPhone. Open the iPhone app once with the Watch nearby, and make sure both devices use the same iCloud account; the favorites then arrive via iCloud or directly from the iPhone.
A widget does not update.
iOS decides how often widgets refresh, to save battery — less often in Low Power Mode or when the widget is rarely seen. Tap the widget to open the app with the latest data. Widgets show your favorite airports.
Data sources and licenses
- NOAA Aviation Weather Center / National Weather Service — METAR, TAF, SIGMET/AIRMET, PIREP. U.S. government data, public domain (NWS disclaimer).
- FAA — NOTAM (via our server) and the NASR airport, runway and frequency data. U.S. government data (FAA aeronautical data).
- Open-Meteo — winds and temperatures aloft (GFS), CC BY 4.0.
- OurAirports — airports, runways, frequencies and navaids, public domain (CC0).
- © OpenStreetMap contributors — airport diagrams (runways, taxiways, aprons), ODbL. The airport diagram database derived from it is made available under the Open Database License (ODbL 1.0): download.
WX Aviation Weather is not affiliated with or endorsed by the FAA, NOAA or the National Weather Service. The data is processed by WX Aviation Weather and is not official FAA or NOAA data. The same list is in the app under Settings → Licenses.
Contact us
Didn’t find the answer? Write to support@wxaviationweather.com. Please include the app version, your device and iOS version, and the ICAO code of the airport if the question is about one. You can also write from the app: Settings → Bug report or Feature request.
We read every message and usually reply within a few days.