Do I need to water, or will the rain do it?
Rain Tally puts your past 7 days and your next 3 days on one screen, with your weekly target underneath. Decide before you turn the sprinkler on.
4.5 stars from 379 ratings on the App Store
Free for one location. Requires iPhone or iPad, iOS 17.2+.
What fell. What's coming. On one screen.
An inch a week is the rule of thumb for most plants. Set the target higher or lower if yours need something different. Rain Tally puts what's already fallen next to what's still coming, so the answer to "do we need to water?" is one glance, not a running tally in your head.
"I can count on this app to let me know if I need to water my garden or wait and let the rain do it!" — arkflash63, App Store
Your rain gauge wins.
Rainfall is local at a resolution no weather service can match. Two gauges within a mile of each other can differ by as much as two inches in a single heavy storm. When your gauge says one thing and the weather service says another, Rain Tally trusts your number. Log what fell, and every chart and total recomputes against your data.
Most days you won't need it. The weather service and what fell in your yard will match closely enough. For the days they don't, your number wins.
Yesterday's forecast becomes yesterday's measurement.
Most weather apps show the forecast at the moment you look, then move on. Rainfall measurements don't land instantly. Weather-station staff have to read their gauges, the service combines that with other data, and a finalized number publishes hours or days later. Rain Tally keeps checking for 10 days, swapping each day's forecast for the measurement once it's in.
A week later, when you look back at the chart, the app has those updated numbers.
Drop a pin on the map. Track a field with no street address.
Search by address, or drop a pin anywhere on the map. The pin is there for the spots an address can't reach: food plots, pastures, the back corner of a property. Tap once and Rain Tally captures the coordinates and picks up the local time zone.
"As a Game Keeper and food plot enthusiast, I can say this app will save you money, and a headache. Timing of spring planting is crucial to success and to the prevention of lost effort and money… [the app] is cheap compared to replanting!" — SP Arkansas, App Store
What did the year look like?
Are we above normal?
The Trends screen compares this year against every past year Rain Tally has on record using either calendar year or water year. Rain Tally is the only rainfall tracking app that supports water year analysis (October through September) to support commercial growers and water-resource managers.
Three-day forecasts. Built around the amount.
Rain Tally isn't a weather app. It's a tool for one question: do I need to water? Answering that needs amounts you can plan against. Forecast amounts only hold up about three days out. Sixteen-day amounts aren't reliable enough to show.
We built it for our own garden.
We're a husband-and-wife pair, both engineers. We also use Rain Tally at the community-garden plots where we volunteer. "Do we need to water, or will the rain do it?" is the question we ask ourselves every week. If you're asking the same one, this is the tool we built.
Common questions
Does Rain Tally work without a rain gauge?
Yes. The app pulls precipitation data from the weather service for every location you add, so your record builds itself whether you own a gauge or not. If you do own one, you can log readings any time. Your number replaces the weather service's for that day.
Why does Rain Tally sometimes show a different rainfall amount than my gauge?
Rainfall is local. The gauge in your yard can differ from the nearest reporting station by an inch or more in a single storm, and no weather service captures that resolution. Tap a day in the Recent or History view and log your own number, and it'll take precedence going forward.
Why does my historical rainfall number sometimes change?
Rainfall measurements aren't published in real time. On the day of rain, and for some time after, what you're seeing is still the forecast. Once weather-station staff read their gauges and the service combines that with other data, a finalized number is published, usually within hours, sometimes days. Rain Tally keeps checking for 10 days after each date and updates your record as the real number lands.
Does Rain Tally track snowfall?
Yes, as melted-water equivalent, the standard the National Weather Service and citizen-science networks like CoCoRaHS use. Snow gets measured by the inches of liquid it produces when it melts, so winter totals roll into the same inches as summer rainfall. (NWS explainer.)
What is a water year?
A water year is a 12-month period running October 1 through September 30. In climates where the rainy season starts in autumn, the calendar year splits a single wet season across two reporting periods, so water-resource managers, commercial growers, and ranchers track by the water year instead. Rain Tally is the only rainfall tracking app that supports water year presentation. Toggle between calendar year and water year on the Settings screen (it applies to the History and Trends screens).
Is there an Android version?
No. Rain Tally is iPhone and iPad only.
Does Rain Tally work outside the US?
Weather data is available for any location in the world. The app itself is only listed on the US App Store.
4.5 stars from 379 ratings on the App Store
Free for one location. Requires iPhone or iPad, iOS 17.2+.