Google Discover tests expanded weather info at top of feed [Update: Sports & stocks]

Kyle Bradshaw | Apr 5 2022 - 8:07 am PT

Google has once again tweaked its signature Discover feed on Android to offer redesigned and expanded weather information at the top.

Update: Sports scores and stock info are also appearing in this same area.

Beyond simply offering a collection of articles you may be interested in from the web, Google Discover also usually offers a bit of information that may be relevant to your day. This particular role is now poised to become a bit more important for Google Discover with the Google Assistant Snapshot feed set to be retired in the near future.

To that end, with the latest beta version of the Google Search app, some are finding the Discover feed — both on the far-left page of the Pixel Launcher and within the Google app itself — redesigned to feature weather information at the top. The card-shaped addition shows your current location, a simplified weather description like “partly cloudy,” the chance of precipitation, and the current temperature.

For now, it seems that this re-addition of weather to the Discover feed is still a work in progress, as tapping the card opens to a Google Search for the word “weather,” rather than to the Google app’s built-in weather applet. Humorously, in our own testing, this search is not even opened in the Google app itself, but in a web browser tab.

Update 4/5: As this latest Discover redesign continues to roll out, sports fans are finding that the top bar can also include a shortcut to information about one of their favorite teams. As spotted on one of our own devices, instead of showing a single weather bar, the Discover view is now topped by a row of two smaller widgets. One contains a more condensed version of the weather while the other shows a sports team’s abbreviation & logo and “Tap for latest news.”

Similar to the weather shortcut, this new button opens into the browser with a new Google Search for the team’s name. This offers easy access to the latest news, scores, and info about upcoming games.

Meanwhile, those interested in following business and finance news will be excited to learn that stock prices can also appear within the top row, as spotted by reader Henry.

This Discover design tweak comes as part of a near constant back and forth with the inclusion of weather info in the feed. This latest iteration appears to be a reimagining of the weather card that Discover featured in 2020. Early last year, Google shrank the weather display down to a simple Material Design chip before removing it altogether. With any luck, perhaps this particular weather card will be here to stay — that is, after Google has tweaked its destination to be more helpful.