The way you check the weather on an Android phone is taking a major and, for many, quite unexpected turn. Google's classic weather app, which used to be hidden within the search app, is disappearing. to make way for a fully integrated experience in Google Search, with a revamped design and supported by new artificial intelligence models for weather prediction.
For years, most users who didn't own a Pixel phone have become accustomed to touching the sun icon with the G on the home screen To see at a glance the temperature, hourly forecast, and the forecast for the next few days, always with the friendly Froggy frog in the foreground. Now, that shortcut no longer opens a full-screen interface that acts as a pseudo-application, but instead takes you directly to the search results, where the weather becomes just another module within the page.
From pseudo-weather app to module within Google Search
Until recently, the only "official" way to check the weather on Android with Google services (except on Pixel phones) was to save that shortcut to weather on the home screenIt looked like a regular app, but in reality it was just a full-screen extension of Google Search, disguised with its own icon and a very polished interface.
Clicking on that icon opened a dedicated view where the top part highlighted a search bar to switch between locationsWhether they were saved cities or new locations the user wanted to check, Froggy, Google's now-famous weather frog, appeared right below, accompanied by essential information: current temperature, daily highs and lows, sky conditions, and wind chill.
The screen was completed with a carousel for the hourly forecast throughout the dayIt was very convenient for seeing at a glance how the weather would develop in the coming hours. Below that was a list with the 10-day forecast, with icons for clouds, rain, or sun, and a basic summary of what to expect each day.
Below these general forecasts were organized several thematic cards dedicated to wind, humidity, ultraviolet index, atmospheric pressure, and sunrise and sunset timesIn addition, there was an extra "hourly details" card, with graphs showing the evolution of rainfall, wind intensity, and humidity levels, which was very useful for planning outdoor activities with more precision.
This interface, which many users considered more of an app than a simple web view, received its last major facelift in 2023Interestingly, shortly afterwards Google launched Pixel Weather, the native weather app exclusive to Pixel phones, which already hinted that the company was rethinking how it wanted to offer weather information in the Android ecosystem.
The sun shortcut with G no longer opens the old interface
Recently, more and more users have started to notice different behavior when tapping the sun icon on the home screen. Instead of loading the classic full-screen interface, the system directly opens a Google Search results page. with a prominent time block at the top, coexisting with links, news and other search engine modules.
On some devices, an explicit warning has even appeared indicating that "the page of time has turned" And from now on, accessing Google Search from the home screen will take you directly to Google Search. This isn't a one-off glitch or an isolated experiment; it's part of a planned migration that Google is gradually rolling out from its servers.
This move aligns with the company's intention to centralize the entire weather experience in your search engineThis product is updated much more frequently than the old pseudo-app experience. In this way, Google avoids maintaining a hybrid solution that required its own development and maintenance, and which in practice duplicated functions already present in Search.
For now, the transition hasn't been rolled out uniformly across all Android phones in Europe, but reports have multiplied, especially among users in Spain and other EU countries. Many people still see the classic sun icon with the G, although The experience that unfolds behind it has completely changed, generating some confusion among those who had been using the same flow for years.
In practice, time ceases to behave as a completely independent screen and becomes a module within the results pageWeather information no longer enjoys an exclusive canvas, but shares space with news, specialized climate pages and other related results, which significantly changes the perception of the "app" that existed until now.
This is the new weather interface within Google Search
To compensate for the departure of the old full-screen view, Google has rolled out a A complete redesign of how time is displayed in Mobile SearchThe idea is that, when searching for terms like "weather in Madrid" or "climate", a much more complete and modern panel will be displayed, already natively integrated into the search engine.
The new main card keeps Froggy as the main imagewith an illustrated background that changes according to weather conditions. This card displays the current temperature, a description of the sky condition (clear, rain, clouds, etc.) and the wind chill, similar to the previous interface.
The big news about this redesign is that the The hourly forecast is located just above the frog.in a horizontally scrollable strip that allows you to quickly navigate through the hours of the day. This puts the time data in a more accessible position, without having to scroll down as far as in some previous versions of the view.
Below the main card is now located the 10-day forecast in carousel format Instead of the classic vertical list, each day displays maximums, minimums, and condition icons. Tapping on a day updates the top hours module to focus on the selected day, providing a more dynamic and compact navigation experience.
An additional section groups the modules of Rainfall, Wind, Humidity and Air QualityThese function as expandable lists. When expanded, they display hourly graphs for rainfall, wind, and humidity, as well as an Air Quality Index (AQI) bar with corresponding values to indicate whether the environment is more or less healthy.
The result is that practically nothing is preserved. same depth of data as offered by the previous pseudo-appHowever, it's organized differently and within a page that shares space with other content. Many users appreciate that all the information is still there, although not everyone is thrilled with the new, more visually "cluttered" context.
Advantages and disadvantages of integration in Search
From Google's perspective, concentrating everything in Search makes a lot of sense. The search engine is their flagship product; it is updated much more frequently. It already integrates other services like Google Lens, the Assistant, and Podcasts under a single umbrella. Maintaining a semi-separate time interface meant duplicating efforts in design, maintenance, and bug fixes.
Another advantage for the company is that integration makes it easier to incorporate improvements supported by its new artificial intelligence model specialized in meteorologyBy relying on Search, any improvements to the prediction engine or the way data is displayed can be rolled out almost immediately to millions of users, without waiting for them to update a specific app from the Play Store.
From a user's perspective, there are opinions to suit all tastes. Some people appreciate not having to install and maintain an additional app and being able to Check the weather simply by typing a search.from any browser or the Google app. For them, centralization reduces friction and simplifies daily life, although others prefer apps like forecastie.
In contrast, those who prioritized one screen dedicated exclusively to the weather They perceive the change as a step backward in convenience. The presence of the search bar, the browser interface, and other modules makes everything seem more compressed, especially on small screens. This is prompting some users to try something else. third-party applications with more complete widgets and advanced notifications.
There's also a sense of aesthetic loss: the pseudo-app, with its large Froggy display and neatly arranged cards, offered a cleaner, less cluttered experience. Now, although The frog is still very present; the overall effect is perceived as less minimalist. and more integrated into the overall search results ecosystem.
What's happening with Pixel Weather and Wear OS?
While Google's generic weather service merges with the search engine, Pixel phone owners continue to enjoy Pixel Weather, the exclusive native app for these devices. This app maintains its own design, notifications, and widgets, operating independently of the integrated Search experience offered to other Android phones and unlike alternatives such as The Weather Channel.
For a while, the coexistence of Pixel Weather and the pseudo-weather app accessible from the Google app created a somewhat strange situation. Depending on the type of device, the user saw one experience or another.with notable differences in options and design. The current integration move is precisely intended to clarify the situation: outside the Pixel world, the "natural" place to check the weather becomes Google Search.
Something similar happens in the smartwatch ecosystem. The Google Weather app for Wear OS is no longer available for new installations in the store, although those who had it installed can continue using it, at least for the time being, which encourages people to look for best clock and weather widgets.
This strategy aligns with the objective of reduce the number of duplicate applications and simplify the catalogInstead of competing with the weather apps that come pre-installed on watches, the company is strengthening Search and a few key apps in its ecosystem, delegating some of the weather experience to each manufacturer's native solutions.
Overall, everything points to a model in which Google focuses on offering high-quality data and predictions from your search engineWhile the final presentation (whether on a watch, a mobile phone or a tablet) is adapted through layers specific to each device or brand, except in the case of Pixel, which maintains its dedicated app.
The role of AI and silent redesign
This change didn't come out of nowhere: it coincides with Google's announcement of a new artificial intelligence model specifically geared towards weather forecastingThe idea is to leverage this technology both to improve the accuracy of forecasts and to adjust how data is displayed to the user, with more frequent updates and a greater level of detail.
By pouring all of its meteorological expertise into Search, the company ensures that Any improvements to the AI model or interface will reach everyone at the same time.This is independent of which version of the app each user has installed. It's a way to accelerate the adoption of new features and maintain more direct control over the final user experience.
What's striking is that this entire redesign has been rolled out quite quietly, without any major marketing announcements or visible campaigns. Users have been discovering the changes "as they go", upon encountering the new behavior of the weather icon or the notification that the page had moved.
Many mobile phones still have a button for "See all details" opens the old Weather appHowever, on devices where the new behavior has been fully activated, that access disappears. In Spain and much of Europe, where checking the forecast before leaving home has become almost automatic, small changes like this are immediately noticeable in daily routines.
However, the direction is clear: Fewer overlapping services and more unified experiencesSome users may miss the visual cleanliness of the pseudo-app with Froggy in full screen, but the company seems willing to sacrifice that convenience in favor of simpler management and faster overall updates.
Google's old hybrid weather app gives way to a deeper integration in the search engine, which retains the frog, hourly and 10-day forecasts and key data on rain, wind, humidity or air quality, but gives up the feeling of a standalone application. The way to check the weather on Android is getting a makeover.Information is as accessible as ever, but now it forces many to rethink whether it's enough for them to open Search every morning or if they prefer to make the leap to other more traditional apps from the Play Store.
