Google Maps seems set to finally offer real-time weather information for its Android version — a feature that has been in the iPhone version for four years already.
We can see how it looks thanks to screenshots taken by Telegram user bhusankumar2k2, and shared by the messaging app's unofficial Google News group. By default, the weather appears as an unassuming chip floating beneath the left side of the main Google Maps search bar, showing you the conditions and temperature for the area you're currently looking at in the app. Tapping it shows you a more detailed forecast, including the expected weather over the next few hours and an air quality rating.
As Google News' admins hinted at, the Google Maps iOS app gained the ability to display the weather in the currently displayed location back in September 2019. But it's now finally come to Android users, which gives iPhone users one less thing to gloat about.
Better late than never
While Google is the manufacturer of Android, and no doubt would prefer people use a Google Pixel over an iPhone, it can't argue with the fact that iPhones are the most well-known smartphone brand on the planet. Therefore, prioritizing the iOS version of Maps, Chrome and other apps, still makes sense for Google in order to avoid users from adopting a rival service. Although quite why it took four years to bring this feature over to Android is a bit of a mystery.
Google Maps has been slowly gathering other new features over the past few months. So if you didn't know that you could save places to lists with emoji or find nearby electric car charging stations, take a look at these stories to see how to do it.
And more's coming down the line too. Rumored features for Google Maps we could see in the near future include possible support for Live Activity directions in the iPhone 15's Dynamic Island and Google Assistant implementation.
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