Google Weather is broken on older Wear OS watches, but a fix is coming

What you need to know

• The Google Weather app is showing endless loading screens and download errors instead of actual forecasts.
• The bug affects more than just the app, with weather tiles like Forecast, Sun, and UV Index also failing to load or retrieve location data.
• Google has confirmed the issue, with support acknowledging it as a known problem specific to first-gen Pixel Watch hardware.

If you just checked your watch for the weather, you probably found nothing. Owners of the original Pixel Watch and older Samsung Galaxy Watch models are discovering that the Google Weather app has stopped working.

In a recent thread on Reddit, a user shared a transcript from a customer support interaction that confirms Google is aware of the outage. As first reported by 9to5Google, instead of showing the temperature or UV index, the app displays a "Loading…" screen, then a "Can't download weather data" error.

Tapping "Retry" only puts you in a never-ending loop. The problem isn’t limited to the app. The Forecast, Sun, and UV Index tiles are also blank, showing a "Couldn't retrieve your location" message.

Bad update likely to blame

Android Central can confirm that this bug also affects other smartwatches running Wear OS 3.5, not just the original Pixel Watch and Galaxy Watch. The problem is most likely due to Google’s move to newer software. In September, Google stopped offering the Weather app for devices running Wear OS 6.

The plan was to push users toward manufacturer-specific apps, such as the new Pixel Weather on the Pixel Watch 2, 3, and 4. However, Google explicitly stated that the legacy app would continue working for anyone who already had it installed.

That promise has run into trouble. The prevailing theory — at least on Reddit — is that Google pushed an update intended for Wear OS 6 that inadvertently broke compatibility with older firmware versions. Since the original Pixel Watch still uses older software, the app and the watch are not working together.

Google’s support representative said the team is aware of the issue and is working on a firmware update to fix it. However, there is no clear timeline for when the fix will arrive. This is frustrating for users, especially since these devices are failing at a basic task.