Live wind, right on your wrist.
Windstation puts real-time wind speed and direction from Windguru stations on your Apple Watch face and iPhone Lock Screen. No tapping. No scrolling. Just a glance.
Contents
What Windstation does
Windstation reads live wind data — actual measurements, not forecasts — from Windguru's network of physical weather stations and shows it where you actually look: your watch face and your Lock Screen.
It's built for kitesurfers, windsurfers, wing foilers, sailors, paragliders, and anyone whose plan for the day depends on what the wind is doing right now. Open Windguru in a browser and you scroll, zoom, wait for the page to load, and then read tiny numbers. With Windstation, you raise your wrist and you know.
The app saves a list of your favourite stations. One of them is marked active (orange check mark) — that's the one the widget and complication display. Switch active stations from inside the app any time.
Full feature list
Live Windguru station data
Real wind from physical hardware at the location, not a model forecast. Speed, direction, and gust when the station reports it.
Multiple favourite stations
Add as many stations as you want. One is "active" at a time — that's what the widgets and complication show. Tap any station in the list to switch.
iPhone Lock Screen widgets — three sizes
Circular (number inside a ring with a direction arrow), rectangular (wind speed + wind glyph + cardinal direction + gust), and inline (a single-line "18 kt N" under the time).
Apple Watch complication — four sizes
Circular, rectangular, inline, and corner. Drop it into any modular or infograph watch face. Same orange direction arrow on the circle edge.
Direction shown as a visual arrow
The orange triangle sits on the edge of the circle and points to where the wind is coming from. No degrees-to-cardinal mental math.
Cardinal direction labels
On the rectangular and inline widgets, direction is also written as N, NE, ENE, E, etc. so you don't need to read the angle.
Gust readout
When the station reports gust separately, it appears under the main speed on the rectangular widget and in the in-app reading.
Pull-to-refresh
Pull down on the favourites list to force a fresh fetch for all your stations at once.
Test before adding
The "Add station" sheet has a Test Connection button — confirms the ID is valid, the station is live, and shows the current reading before you save it.
iPhone ↔ Watch sync
Pick a station on iPhone, the Watch complication updates automatically. No re-pairing, no signing in. WatchConnectivity handles it in the background.
No account. No subscription. No tracking.
One-time $2.99. The app talks directly to Windguru. It doesn't have a backend and doesn't collect any data about you.
Getting started
Find your station ID on Windguru
Go to windguru.cz, find a station near the spot you ride. The ID is the number in the URL (for example, 5880). Only live stations — ones with actual hardware on the ground — work. Forecast-only locations don't have a usable ID.
Open Windstation, tap +
Type the ID. Hit "Test Connection". The app will fetch a live reading to confirm. Give the station a name you'll recognise ("Sotavento", "Risco", "Home spot"…) and tap Add.
Pick your active station
Tap a row in the list. An orange check mark appears — that's the station the widget and complication will show. You can switch any time.
Add the Lock Screen widget
Lock your iPhone, long-press the Lock Screen, tap Customize → Lock Screen, tap the widget area under the clock, find "Windstation", pick a size. See the next section for details.
Add the Watch complication
Long-press your watch face, tap Edit, swipe to the Complications page, tap a slot, choose "Windstation · Wind Speed". Press the Digital Crown to save.
iPhone Lock Screen widget
Windstation ships three Lock Screen widget shapes. All three are configurable, which means each instance can show a different station — handy if you check two spots and want both on your Lock Screen.
Circular
The number (wind speed in knots) sits inside an orange ring. A small orange triangle on the edge of the ring marks the wind direction (pointing to where the wind is coming from). Best at-a-glance read.
Rectangular
Wind speed in large type on the left, the wind-lines glyph in the middle, cardinal direction (N, NE, S, …) on the right. If the station reports gust separately, it appears underneath as "Gust 24 kt".
Inline
A single line above or below the clock: "≋ 18kt N". Smallest footprint, fits with any Lock Screen layout.
Apple Watch complication
The complication comes in four families so it fits any modern Apple Watch face:
- Circular — same look as the iPhone circular widget: number + ring + direction arrow.
- Rectangular — wind glyph + speed (with "kt" unit) + degrees. Sits in modular faces.
- Inline — single line: "
≋ 18kt 280°" — fits the top slot of the Infograph face. - Corner — for Infograph-style faces with corner slots. Vertical stack of speed + unit + direction.
What the complication shows
It pulls the same active station you picked in the iPhone app. The Watch and iPhone share the choice automatically — no Watch-side configuration. Switch stations on the phone, the complication updates next time the system refreshes the widget timeline.
How often it updates
Windstation asks watchOS for a refresh roughly every minute, but watchOS controls the actual cadence based on the Watch's energy budget. In practice the complication refreshes every 5–15 minutes on a worn Watch. Background refreshes happen automatically — opening the Watch app forces an immediate refresh.
How the data works
Direct from Windguru
The app calls Windguru's public station endpoint directly. There is no Fetch Heavy server in between — your phone, your watch, and Windguru's stations. Nothing gets logged on our side.
How fresh is "live"?
The data is as fresh as the station reports it. Most Windguru stations push readings every 1–5 minutes. Windstation re-fetches:
- Every time you open the app or pull-to-refresh.
- Every time the iPhone or Watch widget timeline refreshes (system-controlled, typically every minute on iPhone, every 5–15 min on Watch).
- Whenever you switch active station inside the app.
Why knots?
Knots is the standard wind unit across nautical and meteorological contexts, including Windguru itself. Windstation displays exactly what the station broadcasts.
What about offline?
Live data needs an internet connection (cellular or Wi-Fi). When the app can't reach Windguru, widgets keep showing the last known value until the next successful fetch. The watch complication does the same.
FAQ
What's a Windguru station ID, and how do I find one?
Windguru runs a worldwide network of physical weather stations (often hosted by kite/windsurf schools, harbours, marine institutes). Each one has a numeric ID. To find it: go to windguru.cz, browse to a station near you, and look at the URL — the number is the ID. Only live stations work; forecast-only spots don't have hardware reporting.
Why does my widget or complication show "Add"?
That means no station is marked active. Open the iPhone app, tap a station so an orange check mark appears next to it, and the widgets will update on their next refresh cycle (usually within 1–2 minutes on iPhone, 5–15 minutes on Watch).
How often does Windstation refresh?
On iPhone, widgets refresh roughly every minute when the screen is being checked. On Apple Watch, the system controls cadence based on energy budget — expect 5–15 minutes between refreshes on a worn Watch. Opening the iPhone or Watch app, or pull-to-refreshing the favourites list, forces an immediate fetch.
Can I show different stations on different widgets?
On iPhone Lock Screen, yes — each widget instance is individually configurable. Tap a placed widget while still in Lock Screen customize mode and a station picker appears. On Apple Watch, the complication always shows the currently active station (the one with the orange check mark in the iPhone app).
How many stations can I add?
There's no hard cap. The list is a simple JSON in App Group storage — performance is fine with dozens. Most users have 2–5.
Does Windstation drain my battery?
Negligible. The widgets refresh on the system's schedule (which watchOS and iOS aggressively budget), and each fetch is a single small HTTP call to Windguru. The app does no background location, no continuous polling, no analytics.
Does it work without an internet connection?
You need cell or Wi-Fi to pull a new reading. Without one, widgets keep displaying the last value that was successfully fetched. There's no offline cache of past data — it's a "live wind" tool, not a logbook.
Why knots and not km/h or m/s?
Knots is the standard unit in nautical and meteorological reporting, including Windguru. Conversion: 1 kt ≈ 1.852 km/h ≈ 0.514 m/s. A unit toggle is on the roadmap but not in v1.
What's the orange triangle on the circle widget?
It's the wind direction arrow. It sits on the edge of the orange ring and points to where the wind is coming from (the standard meteorological convention). A triangle at the top means a north wind; at the right, an east wind; etc.
What's the difference between wind speed and gust?
Wind speed is the averaged value the station reports (typically a 10-minute mean). Gust is the highest instantaneous reading over the same window. Windstation shows the gust beneath the speed on the rectangular widget when the station reports it separately.
Does Windstation collect any of my data?
No. The app talks directly to Windguru. There's no account, no analytics SDK, no server-side logging. See the Privacy Policy for details.
I changed my active station but the watch still shows the old one.
The Watch complication refreshes on a system-controlled budget — usually within a minute or two of the iPhone change, sometimes longer. To force an immediate refresh: open the Windstation app on your Watch (just opening it triggers an immediate timeline reload). If the issue persists after several minutes, make sure the Watch is paired and within Bluetooth range, then re-open the iPhone app once.
What iOS / watchOS versions do I need?
iOS 18 or later and watchOS 11 or later. The widget and complication families used here require these versions.
Can I use Windstation without an Apple Watch?
Yes. The iPhone Lock Screen widgets work standalone. The Watch complication is a bonus if you have one.
What happens if Windguru is down or my station goes offline?
The widget shows "No data" in orange. The app's favourites list shows the error message inline under the station name. The next successful fetch automatically restores the reading.
How do I delete a station?
Swipe left on the row in the favourites list and tap Delete. If you delete the active station and you have others, the first one in the list becomes active automatically. If it was your only station, the widget will fall back to the "Add" state until you add another.
Will the complication eat into my Watch's daily widget budget?
watchOS allocates a shared refresh budget across all complications. Windstation asks for ~60s cadence but the system throttles aggressively when on battery — usually 5–15 minutes between refreshes — which keeps the impact low.
I see "Widget storage unavailable" at the top of the app.
This banner means iOS hasn't granted the app its App Group entitlement — usually after an unusual install state. Reinstall the app from the App Store; the entitlement is restored on a fresh install. If the issue persists, contact hello@fetchheavy.co.