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Why are there two versions and what does OSM mean?
Rain Alarm uses Google Maps as background map whereas Rain Alarm OSM uses OpenStreetMap (OSM). In most cases the OSM version loads faster, whereas Google Maps seems more clearly arranged. All other functionality as well as the precipitation data shown on top of both maps is exactly the same.
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Why should I buy the Pro version?
Basically the Pro version does not display any ads and has many settings that help you tailor the alarms to your needs as well as lots of options to customize the user interface, the widgets, location updates and much more.
For detailed information please see this page.
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Where and how can I buy the Pro version?
You are able to buy the Pro version over Google Play or alternatively over AndroidPIT. Until now in Google Play you can only pay by credit card, whereas it is possible to pay by PayPal over AndroidPIT. You'll find more information here.
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Why is my country not supported?
If your country is not supported, this is probably for one of the following reasons:
- your country's weather service demands a license fee for commercial use and we cannot afford this yet
- your country's weather service does not respond to emails or faxes asking about their copyright
- your country's weather service does not provide radar images
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Classic and new design 2x1 widget
What do the widget icons mean?
The top arrow icon is the proximity, which indicates how close precipitation is to the current location. Proximity is the opposite of distance, that means that the closer the precipitation gets, the smaller the distance and the larger the proximity.
The middle drop icon is the intensity, which indicates how heavy the precipitation is.
The bottom cloud icon is the size or area, which indicates how large the affected area of the precipitation is.
Classic design: The shading indicates if the particular value increased (pointing to the right), decreased (pointing to the left) or stayed the same (no shading).
New design: The bar itself gets true blue if increasing, gets just a bit blue if nothing changed, and gets white/black (depending on the widget theme) if decreasing.
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Scale
Coverage
What do the colors on the map overlay and scale mean?
The colors on the scale denote the precipitation intensity which is increasing from left to right. Originally the colors define the reflectivity of the radar signal and reach from about 5 dBZ to about 75 dBZ (depending on the source).
A gray overlay indicates that there is no radar coverage. A light gray means temporarily no coverage and dark gray means permanently no coverage.
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What do the notifications mean?
Example: ≈ 15mi (intensity 10%, area 50%)
Displays how close precipitation currently is. Additionally intensity and area are given as percentage. 100% for the intensity is the heaviest one measurable and for the area it is the full circle coverage defined by the search radius from the settings.
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I think the battery usage is high - what could be the cause?
The battery is mainly used in the map screen, whereas it hardly uses any battery in the background. This means, if you are exploring the map for a while it might have an impact on your battery. This doesn't apply to day-to-day usage.
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Why is the app running in the background?
or
Why should I disable my task killer for Rain Alarm?
Because of the alarm functionality and the widgets a service of the app checks every 30 minutes if there is rain nearing. Between these check intervals neither the app nor any of its services are running. If you disable the alarm and don't use any widget, the app will not run in the background.
Exclude Rain Alarm (de.mdiener.rain.usa) and Rain Alarm OSM (de.mdiener.rain) from your task killer if you want to get alarms or use the widget.
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Why is the app showing rain sometimes when it isn't raining?
This usually happens when the radar is reflected by something that is not precipitation, which is for example a common phenomenon for the US NWS data. The Rain Alarm server tries to filter such false precipitation but unfortunately not in all cases this succeeds completely. The team periodically tries to improve the filtering algorithm.
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Why isn't the app showing anything sometimes although it is raining?
There are several reasons why this could happen. Most common is that the precipitation happens at an altitude that is not covered by the radar beam or the beam might simply be blocked by something. If you feel there is an error, please contact us.
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