Apple’s Weather app in iOS 16.2 serves relevant regional stories related to weather conditions, similar to News integration in the Stocks app.
- What’s happening? The Weather app in iOS 16.2 surfaces relevant regional stories for some US cities from the Apple News service.
- Why care? You can read weather stories without leaving the Weather app.
- What to do? Update to iOS 16.2 when it launches sometime in December.
iOS 16.2’s Weather app launches Apple News integration
The Weather app in iOS 16.2, iPadOS 16.2 and macOS Ventura 13.1 integrates with the Apple News service, enabling you to keep tabs on regional weather stories without having to use the News app or navigate to a news site.
Relevant weather-related stories are shown in a new News tile located below the 10-day forecast on iPhone, one story at a time. The actual story you see depends on the currently selected city in the app. Read: How to customize macOS News app
Someone checking out the weather forecast for San Francisco, for example, might see a headline for a San Francisco Chronicle article about weather changes in the Bay Area. Touching the headline follows the underlying Apple News URL taking you to that news article on the web if you don’t have the News app installed. If the user has the News app, the story opens in it instead.
Does this mean ads are coming to Weather?
The feature first appears in the second beta of iOS 16.1. There doesn’t seem to be a way to turn it off at the moment. Some people suspect this could be a way for Apple to shove advertising down our throats in the Weather app.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported earlier about Apple’s plan to make more money from ads. Apparently, the company’s ad division wants to triple its revenue and we already saw how—recently, Apple expanded search ads to the App Store’s Today section and the bottom of app pages. Apple may also bring search ads to the Maps app and add advertising to the Books and Podcasts apps.
Where’s Apple News integration in Weather available?
The Weather app on iOS 16.2, iPadOS 16.2 and macOS Ventura 13.1 supports News integration in the United States. The feature may expand to other markets where Apple News is available, including Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom.
When will this feature launch?
Apple News integration in Weather will arrive as part of iOS 16.2, iPadOS 16.2 and macOS Ventura launches expected around mid-December.
When these updates drop, you’ll use Apple’s Software Update feature in Settings to download and install them on your devices. With iOS 16.2 installed, you’ll be able to read relevant news stories in the Weather app provided your city is supported.
iPadOS 16.1 marks the first time the otherwise excellent Weather app has leaped onto a tablet screen. And with macOS Ventura, the Weather app is now on the Mac.