Why Your Apple Watch Isn’t Showing You The Weather
Checking the weather is a crucial aspect of effective daily planning — and one of the easiest ways to see what sort of weather is headed your way is by taking a glance at your Apple Watch. Sometimes, however, this feature doesn’t work properly, and the screen shows delayed updates or simply no weather report at all. So, what’s the issue, and what can you do to fix it?
Your Apple Watch may not be showing the weather if there’s a faulty internet connection, the Weather app doesn’t have permission to refresh in the background, or your software is outdated. Try restarting the watch, updating it, and tweaking the app’s permissions settings to fix the issue.
In some cases, the issue with the weather on your Apple Watch may not originate with the Weather app itself, but instead with other programs or the operating software as a whole. Let’s take a closer look at the potential causes and how to address them so that you can properly prepare for the day ahead.
Why Isn’t My Apple Watch Loading the Weather?
A number of things can cause your watch to not update the weather as it should. Some reasons include:
No Internet Connection
The weather app on your watch needs an internet connection to load. This can be WiFi connection or cellular data (if it’s an Apple Watch that supports cellular service, like this one (on Amazon)). Checking and fixing your watch’s internet connection will most likely solve the problem in this case.
On your watch, swipe up to find the control center and locate your watch’s connection (either cellular data or WiFi). Turn the connection on and off to refresh it and check if that updates the weather.
The Weather App Doesn’t Have Access to Cellular Data
This would only be the case if your watch supports cellular data. When you initially set up a data plan for your watch, you also need to allow apps to access cellular data.
That said, the Weather app may not have permission to use cellular data, and, as a result, it isn’t load the weather whenever the connection switches to mobile data.
The Weather App Isn’t Set to Refresh in the Background
The weather app also requires permission to update and load information in the background. Follow these steps to turn on Background App Refresh:
- On your watch, open the Settings app.
- Open ‘General‘ then ‘Background App Refresh.’
- Find the Weather app and turn it on.
How to a Force Restart on Your Apple Watch
Anyone who owns any kind of device will tell you that restarting the device almost always fixes basic issues, but very few understand the mechanism behind it. As with other devices, we tend to use our Apple Watches for days on end, and we often don’t take the time to close apps and files.
As a result, these apps keep running background processes, and they start to hog your device over time, slowing it down and making other apps and processes more sluggish.
Restarting your Apple Watch will often smooth out any performance wrinkles. To restart the watch, you need to press and hold the power button on the side and wait for the power slider to appear. Then, drag the slider to turn off your watch.
In the unlikely event that your watch has become unresponsive, a good ol’ force restart may be necessary. However, this method of restarting the watch should only be used as a last resort. It’s always best to restart the watch in the normal fashion when possible.
To force restart the watch, simultaneously press and hold the power button and the Digital Crown on the Apple Watch for at least 10 seconds. Let go of the buttons as soon as the Apple logo appears on the screen.
Check if There’s a Software Update
Software updates provide a plethora of benefits and shouldn’t be ignored. Updates often enhance several features, allowing devices to run more effectively and efficiently.
The Apple Watch can run on outdated software, but the pitfalls may start to impact your usage.
Using an Apple Watch running on outdated software has a spill-over effect on the device as a whole. Fortunately, Apple sends regular updates to patch up security holes and improve performance.
To check for available updates, open the settings app on your watch, select ‘General‘ then tap ‘Software update.’
What To Do if Troubleshooting Doesn’t Work
Troubleshooting tips won’t always do the trick, depending on what the root cause of the issue is. If none of the above fixes is working for you, the first thing to do is to check if the warranty on your watch is still valid.
If your warranty has expired or the warranty doesn’t cover this particular situation, Apple authorized service providers may be able to help you determine the best next steps.