We already know what the new Google Weather will look like on phones, tablets, and foldables, and now we’re learning that it should be a standalone app.
About APK Insight: In this “APK Insight” post, we’ve decompiled the latest version of an application that Google uploaded to the Play Store. When we decompile these files (called APKs, in the case of Android apps), we’re able to see various lines of code within that hint at possible future features. Keep in mind that Google may or may not ever ship these features, and our interpretation of what they are may be imperfect. We’ll try to enable those that are closer to being finished, however, to show you how they’ll look in case that they do ship. With that in mind, read on.
Featuring a Material You redesign, Google Weather is a big update compared to what came before. The old Weather experience is part of the Google (Search) app and updated alongside it, like Assistant, Lens, and Podcasts. While you can place it on your homescreen, there are some quirks. Namely, tapping that shortcut always resets the app to the main tab and current location if you’re viewing a different city or forecast. This is very inconvenient when researching.
This upcoming revamp looks to make Google Weather its own application that will hopefully be more polished and allow for independent updates. The precedent here would be Wear OS, with the Weather app (com.google.android.wearable.weather) released last year separated from the Google app experience. The app icon should be the same we have today, which is also used by the watch app.
We’re making this assumption based on this new package name:
com.google.android.apps.weather
It was found in the latest version of the Google Clock app (7.5), which will soon let you show “Local weather on clock.” This might include the current temperature, high/low, and condition for cities you’ve placed. The information might also appear on Clock’s homescreen widgets.
Top comment by JG
They're separate things, but hopefully with the focus on weather, Google will also add some additional details to the Assistant's weather reports.
For example, rather than just saying "it's going to snow", it would be nice if the Assistant could give at least a rough estimate of how much snow. There's a big difference between a light dusting and 3 feet/hr accumulation... It would be nice to know if I need to get up an hour or two earlier to be able to shovel out the driveway, or if a quick 2 second brush off while the heater warms up is all I'll need.
Google has added many assets in Google Clock 7.5 to support this, including: Blizzard, Clear day, Cloudy, Drizzle, Flurries, Low visibility, Heavy rain, Nighttime isolated scattered thunderstorms, Rain with sleet or hail, Tropical storm or hurricane, and Very hot.
That information will be powered by the new Google Weather experience and presumably open it when tapped. The new Google Weather app will presumably launch before the Pixel Tablet and Fold next month.
Thanks to JEB Decompiler, from which some APK Insight teardowns benefit.
Dylan Roussel and Kyle Bradshaw contributed to this article.
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