Android Auto

Android Auto might bring back its weather icon, as Google considers better support on ‘Coolwalk’

Ben Schoon | Feb 13 2023 - 5:30 am PT

The saga of Android Auto’s weather icon continues, now with Google considering reviving the icon on the “Coolwalk” redesign after removing it from the previous look.

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The weather icon in Android Auto has been around for quite a while, but disappeared when the 2019 redesign first rolled out. It was eventually restored to that version, but Google again removed it when the dashboard redesign known for its codename “Coolwalk” launched.

Support for weather forecasts and conditions with “Coolwalk” has been limited, to say the least. You can still ask Google Assistant for a forecast, but there’s no native way to see the weather in Android Auto’s latest redesign unless you have a display of a certain size. Larger displays, specifically those with added vertical height, show a weather card in some cases as pictured above, but it doesn’t appear on smaller displays, which is what the majority of folks use.

But it seems the feature could return later on.

In a comment on a forum thread, by a community specialist on the Android Auto team, it was mentioned that Google is “exploring options to reinstate the weather feature.” Really, this doesn’t come as a surprise, given that Google followed this exact same series of events last time around. The feature was removed, then added back following user demand.

In the meantime, at least there’s now a full weather app available for Android Auto.

However, it still seems like most folks are still lacking “Coolwalk” entirely. Google launched the update on January 5 for the general public, but over a month later it’s still not widely available to everyone, though it is slowly expanding.