You can now safely delete those weather apps on your iPhone as Facebook just launched a brand new weather forecast section in its iPhone and iPad app and on the web, powered by Weather.com.
An updated version of its earlier weather greetings in News Feed, this latest feature addition indicates that the social networking behemoth continues to seek out new ways to increase user engagement and boost the stickiness of its platform.
The new Weather section is accessible directly from your News Feed on desktop or via the More menu in the mobile app. The feature pulls up a full forecast for the week ahead and lets you check out a detailed 24-hour forecast. The feature is currently available to about 95 percent of Facebook users globally on mobile and desktop.
“We are doing this because our goal is to develop products that connect people to the things they care about most and create moments of joy in people’s day, like simply telling you that it’s going to rain later,” a spokesperson said.
To access your detailed weather forecast through Facebook for iOS, launch the app on your device and tap More (it’s the rightmost icon alongside the bottom of the screen, resembling the hamburger menu found in other apps). If you don’t see the new Weather option, tap See More to reveal any hidden shortcuts.
Taking advantage of iPhone’s GPS, the app brings up the forecast for your current location. Tap the Settings icon in the top-right corner to access additional options for switching between Celsius and Fahrenheit and seeing the forecast for other cities.
You can add or remove cities from the list as you wish. Unfortunately, you cannot swipe through your multiple locations on the main Weather screen once they’re set up, as you could in Apple’s Weather app.
Tapping the “See more weather info” at the bottom of the Weather section takes you to a detailed forecast on the Weather.com website. Last but not least, users will be able to enable push notifications for weather forecasts in the mobile app by the month’s end.
On Facebook.com, weather greetings should appear at the top of your News Feed, like previously. Unlike before, clicking the message will now take you to your full five-day forecast. These expanded News Feed weather greetings will appear on both desktop and mobile, said Facebook.