According to the discovery of Nail Sadykov, editor of the Google News Telegram channel, Google has started rolling out a new weather display feature in its Maps app for Android. This new feature has been available on iOS for almost four years, but it has only just appeared on Android. When users tap the new “Local Weather” tile in the search options, a window opens showing air quality and the weather forecast for the coming hours.
I can’t ignore the weather
This development is part of Google’s broader push to bring weather updates to as many of its devices as possible. For example, the Weather UI within the Google application was redesigned in June with the launch of the Pixel tablet: the UI now takes Material You’s design signature into account. The redesign is currently rolling out to all Pixel smartphones and uses data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for greater accuracy.
And that’s not all. The Clock app is no longer limited to its sole function as an alarm clock or stopwatch; It now also offers weather conditions. A recent update (v7.6) introduced a weather forecast option that users can enable when creating a new alarm.
© Nail Sadykov
When the alarm is deactivated, a home screen is displayed that provides a quick summary of weather conditions and outside temperature, as well as additional information about the day ahead. This app also provides alarm sync feature for smart watches. This integration not only offers synchronized alarms, but also an adaptive ring option: When worn, only the watch rings, not the smartphone.
Last May, rumors mentioned the search engine’s development of an autonomous weather application, independent of the Google app. The launch could take place with the Pixel update expected in December (Android 14 QPR1). Wear OS, the operating system for Pixel Watch and other connected watches, already includes its own weather app.
Instant access to weather data is becoming increasingly important, especially at a time when extreme weather events are becoming more common. Integrating this data into an application as widely used as Google Maps could therefore help make travel safer.