Is That Rain? New Tricks to Try on Apple's Weather App for iPhone, Apple Watch

You’re ready to start the day by venturing out into the world. Before you leave home, though, you want to know what the weather will be like outside. Will it be raining? Will it be snowing? Will it be sunny? To answer those questions and more, just turn to your iPhone or Apple Watch and consult Apple’s built-in Weather app.

Designed for iOS and watchOS (sorry, there’s no version for the iPad), Apple’s Weather app can give you as little or as much information as you want concerning the current conditions and latest forecasts. You can check the forecast for the day ahead as well as for the next nine days. The app displays the forecast for your current location, but you can add other cities and regions around the world to uncover the air quality, humidity, wind conditions, chance of rain, and more.

With iOS 15, the app sports a new dynamic design that changes based on the current weather conditions. A new series of weather maps will highlight the precipitation, air quality, and temperature. You can even set up notifications to be alerted if it’s snowing or raining. And with watchOS 8, the app can now display alerts about severe weather conditions and any precipitation due in the next hour.

Update Your Device

First, update your iPhone to iOS 15 or higher if you haven’t already done so. Go to Settings > General > Software Update. You’ll be told that iOS is up to date or be prompted to download and install the latest update.

Grant Access to Location Data

Before you open the Weather app, make sure it has access to your current location so it can give you the local weather conditions. Go to Settings > Weather > Location and make sure location access is set to While Using the App, While Using the App or Widgets, or Always. 

You can then enable or disable the switch for Precise Location. Turning off this switch may better preserve your privacy but could result in less accurate weather information. At the main Weather settings screen, you can also switch between Celsius and Fahrenheit.

View Weather Data

When you open the Weather app, you will see the weather for your current location by default. Swipe across the top section to see the hourly forecast for the next 12 hours. Swipe down the screen to see the forecast for today and the next nine days.

Further down the screen you will find a report on the current air quality in your location. Tap See More to get specific health and pollutant information. 

The next section shows a small map of the current temperature. To drill down further, tap See More. The map shows the current temperature for your location. Tap any area of the map to display the temperature gauge in the upper left. The gauge shows the approximate temperature of an area based on its color on the map. You can freely move around, zoom in, and zoom out on the map to view other locations.

To view a map of the precipitation, tap the three-square icon in the upper right and select Precipitation. The map runs an animation showing the precipitation for the next 12 hours.

To view a map of the air quality, tap the three-square icon in the upper right and select Air Quality. Tap the map to display the Air Quality gauge to see the quality for a specific area.

Swipe down toward the bottom of the screen to see readings on the UV index, sunset and sunrise times, the wind direction and speed, the rainfall, what the temperature feels like, the humidity, the visibility, and the air pressure.

If you scroll all the way to the bottom of the app’s main screen, there are links for further information. Tap the Weather Channel icon to view the weather.com forecast. Tap Breezometer to open a page on local air quality and pollen.

Add Multiple Locations

If you wish to add other locations, swipe right on the main screen. By default, the app has weather for Cupertino and New York, but you can remove these and add other locations. 

Tap the bullet point icon in the lower right to display the current available locations. Tap the Settings icon in the upper right and then select Edit List. To remove an existing city, tap its minus button and confirm the deletion.

To add a city or region, type its name or airport in the search field at the top. Select the right location from the search results. At the city’s screen, tap Add to add it to your list.

Modify the list of cities from the Location screen. To remove a city, swipe its entry to the left and tap the Trash Can icon. To reorder the list, press down on a city’s entry and drag it up or down.

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Enable Notifications

If you want to be notified of certain weather conditions, swipe right from the app’s main screen to view all available locations. Tap the Settings icon and select Notifications. Tap Continue and choose Allow to grant permission for the app to send you notifications.

At the next screen, turn on the switches for any locations for which you want to be notified if rain or snow starts or stops, then tap Done.

View Weather Data on Apple Watch

The watchOS version of Apple’s Weather app provides much of the same information available in the iOS edition. First update to watchOS 8 or higher if you haven’t already done so. To do this, open the Watch app on your iPhone. Go to General > Software Update. You’ll be told that your Apple Watch is up to date or be prompted to download and install the latest update.

Then open the app on your watch to see the temperature of your current location as well as the expected highs and lows for the day. Tap the Viewing option at the top to switch between showing temperature, conditions, and precipitation.

Tap the entry for your location, then tap the screen to cycle through the expected temperature for the rest of the day, the expected conditions, and the expected precipitation.

Swipe down the screen to view the air quality, UV index, wind speed, and the anticipated conditions and temperatures for the next nine days.

Add Multiple Locations on Apple Watch

You can add other locations to the app from the main weather screen. Tap the Add City button, then write in the name of the city or location you wish to find or tap the microphone icon and speak the name of the location. From the search results, tap the name of a location to add it to the list.

To remove a location, swipe left and tap the Delete icon. Any cities you add or remove through the iPhone app or the Apple Watch app automatically sync with the app on the other device.

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