Uh oh! Google Weather on Wear OS devices, including the original Pixel Watch and Samsung's Galaxy Watch, recently hit a snag. The app was displaying a frustrating "Can’t download weather data" error, leaving users in the dark about the day's forecast.
This issue, which started on December 12th, meant that opening Google Weather resulted in a perpetual "Loading…" screen that eventually gave way to the error message. Even the Forecast, Sun, and UV Index Tiles were affected, showing messages like "Loading weather" and "Couldn’t retrieve your location."
But here's where it gets interesting... Google had already stopped offering its Weather app for new Wear OS 6 devices back in September. Instead, Google wanted users to use the default weather apps that came with their devices. However, this recent bug impacted all users, regardless of their device or Wear OS version.
The good news? Google swiftly addressed the problem. By December 15th, a server-side fix was implemented, and the Weather app was back to displaying temperatures. If you're still experiencing issues, a simple restart of your watch should do the trick.
This situation highlights a key point: even though Google may be moving away from its own weather app in favor of OEM solutions, the original app is still relied upon by many. This raises the question: Is Google's approach to weather apps on Wear OS the right one? Or should they continue to support their own app, ensuring a consistent experience across all devices?
In the meantime, if you were affected by the outage, you could use a third-party app like AccuWeather or simply ask Gemini for the weather as a workaround.
What do you think? Were you affected by the Google Weather outage? Do you prefer using the default weather app on your Wear OS device, or do you miss the Google Weather app? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
