Google released theDecember Feature Dropfor its Pixel phones this week alongside its newGPT-4 AI competitor Gemini. Along with new system features, the company also dropped a few new capabilities that are rolling out as separate updates. Among them is a new Weather app on the Play Store, which is needed to show weather conditions and forecasts within the preinstalled Clock app.
The new Weather app is not to be confused with Google’s redesigned weather forecasts you can access from the Google app or the At a Glance widget at the top of your home screen. That’s a separate service that lives within the Google app itself, even if it could soon get an app icon of its own in the app drawer.
The new app is what powers weather forecasts within the Clock app. Once you’ve downloaded it (or have it automatically installed as part of your regular app updates), you will see a popup in the Clock app asking you if you’d like to add local weather. When you agree to turn it on and give the required permissions, you will find the current weather conditions attached to the time at your location and any other cities you’ve added to view different time zones in the Clock tab.
The app additionally provides a weather forecast as part of your alarm. When you dismiss it, you will see a screen that shows you the current conditions and the forecast for the day right after you wake up. An “Ok thanks” button lets you dismiss it. The weather forecast also shows up on the World Clock widget.
That’s all there is to it, though. Neither the Clock app nor the widget allow you to see more details about the weather. Tapping the current conditions doesn’t take you to a forecast or lets you see hourly details. It’s also worth noting that once you enable weather, there is no simple path to turn it off again.
The addition of weather as part of the app was previously spotted by Android expert Mishaal Rahman while it was still under development in the beta release of the December Feature Drop, called Quarterly Platform Release 1 Beta (QPR1 Beta). The app was previously limited to the Pixel 8 series, even if it wasn’t functional in the beginning. Only with the update coming as part of the Feature Drop is it available to all Pixel phones running the update, all the way to the Pixel 5a.
Given that the Weather app is meant as a part of Google’s Clock, it’s only available on supported Pixel phones. It is currently not installable on other Android devices.
