Google Weather app icon disappears on Pixel devices

In December, Google began rolling out a dedicated “Weather” icon that appeared in the app grid on Pixel phones and tablets. In recent days, this shortcut has been removed.

This “Weather” shortcut arrived as a result of a server-side update on most of our Pixel devices. (It’s unclear if it was ever made available on non-Google devices.) The circular icon simply represented the sun and a cloud. It worked the same as the “Add to Home Screen” shortcut, but without the Google app icon in the corner.

Earlier this month, this shortcut continued to appear on newly configured Pixel phones.

Over the past few days, the Google Weather icon has disappeared from the app grid. If you previously placed it on your home screen, the Google app replaced it.

This deprecation is quite unfortunate because it could have been a step towards Google Weather becoming a standalone tool, separate from the search engine. As we’ve previously called for, the standalone app could benefit from faster updates and more features, including additional home screen widgets.

In 2023, Google has completely redesigned its weather experience. In addition to Material You, it introduced real-time 12-hour rainfall forecasts. These “Nowacasts” are powered by the MetNet-3 deep learning model. Google has also introduced the “Weather” service on Pixel devices, which allows you to view forecasts in the Clock app.

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