Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Google’s new Pixel Weather app launched last year with the Pixel 9 series.
- While Pixel Weather availability has since expanded to other Pixel models, that hasn’t included AI forecasts.
- Now Pixel 8 and Pixel 8a users with Gemini Nano report that AI forecasts have started working.
Almost all of us rely on weather forecasts to help plan our days, and while you’ve got no shortage of weather apps to chose from on Android, Google’s own Pixel Weather has got to be one of our favorites. For as great as it is, though, that app’s not without its limitations, like how it’s only available for Pixel devices. More than that, not all of its features are universally available across the Pixel lineup, and while that’s not a situation we’re likely to see go away for good, it is one that’s currently getting a little better.
Pixel Weather initially debuted for the Pixel 9 series, but with last fall’s October Pixel Drop, Google expanded availability down to the Pixel 6 family. And while that was great to see happen, the Pixel 9’s hardware enabled it to offer a locally generated AI-powered forecast that was not similarly available on lesser Pixels.
At least, that’s been the situation for the past several months, but over the last couple weeks we’ve been discovering reports that point to that changing. You may remember that last year Google gave the Pixel 8 series and Pixel 8a access to Gemini Nano, theoretically preparing them for just this kind of on-phone AI feature. And while it’s been a long time coming, we’re now hearing from users who are starting to see Pixel Weather AI forecasts on their Pixel 8 handsets.
After first spotting user Ayushmaan in the Telegram GappsLeaksChat group sharing the presence of AI forecasts on their Pixel 8a, we went looking for further corroboration, and see Reddit posts from users like noryaky228 and Stalkerusha confirming the same.
AssembleDebug / Android Authority
Haven’t seen anything like this on your own Pixel 8 or Pixel 8a? Well, there’s probably a very good reason for that. First, you’ll want to make sure that Gemini Nano is enabled in your phone’s Developer Settings. Then you’ll also want to be running the latest Gemini Nano model. From the sound of things, though, you may be automatically prompted to update Nano when launching Pixel Weather.
It feels a little odd that this support seems to be arriving so late after the needed pieces were already in place, and even now we have some big questions about Google’s intentions for this expansion. But even without having the complete picture just yet, this is still some great progress to see, making our favorite weather app just a little bit better on even more devices.
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