Your Wear OS smartwatch could soon lose one of the apps you depend on

Smartwatch-specific apps have always been an interesting topic. When Apple announced a dedicated App Store for the Apple Watch back in 2015, it was thought that smartwatch apps might take off.

But that hasn't really been the case and instead, a number of mainstream apps like Google Maps and Uber have removed their smartwatch apps over the last few years. Or never introduced one in the first place.

The latest to be removed from smartwatches, specifically Wear OS 6 smartwatches, is Google's own Weather app.

What can I use instead of Google Weather on my Wear OS 6 watch?

Google revealed in a community announcement post (via Android Authority): "With your favourite watch brands offering their own default weather apps on Wear OS, we'll no longer offer Google's built-in Weather app on Wear OS 6+ smartwatches."

The post said that if you have a smartwatch running on Wear OS 5, nothing will change and you'll still have access to the Weather app. If you have a Pixel Watch on Wear OS 6, you will automatically get the Pixel Weather app in place of the old one.

If you have another smartwatch running Wear OS 6, like a Samsung Galaxy Watch or OnePlus watch, the Weather app will no longer be available on the Google Play Store.

However, if you've downloaded it already, you can continue to use the app. If you haven't and want to access weather information, Google recommends using the default weather app on your smartwatch, or downloading a third party one from the Play Store.

There's also the option to use Gemini or Google Assistant to ask for weather updates on any smartwatch running Wear OS 3 or later, so all is not entirely lost. The change is effective immediately so if the old Weather app isn't currently on your Wear OS 6 smartwatch, you won't be able to get it now.