Google’s most basic app turned my dad into a Pixel super-fan

A few months ago, I went through the process of moving my entire family over to their old Google Pixel phones. I did this to simplify remote troubleshooting, reduce problems with unfamiliar Android UIs and skins, give them a more solid camera experience, and keep them updated with the latest security patches.

However, one side effect I didn’t anticipate is how much my mom, aunts, and especially, my dad would fall in love with the simplest app on their Pixel – Pixel Weather.

My parents have had Android smartphones since mid-2010. It’s been almost 10 years of using these wonderful machines, and one thing hasn’t changed since I first set up my mom’s Galaxy S7 Edge: “Please, put the weather on the screen, Rita.”

I care about the weather, too, and like them it’s on my home screen, but there’s a certain allure and urgency to the weather widgets and apps on my family’s phones that I can’t explain. When my dad accidentally deletes the widget or moves it to another home screen, and suddenly DEFCON 1 occurs, you have to be there, call Rita, ask her to fix it as quickly as possible. My dad mysteriously reset his OnePlus phone four times over a two-year period, which didn’t cause as much panic as the weather widget disappearing from his home screen.

Maybe it’s because my parents are getting older and need to know when it is or is not safe for them to drive. Or because my mom still hangs clothes out to dry and knows when to bring them back. Or because my dad knows when to water the garden and when to leave it to the elements. Or maybe they’re just crazy people (I say this lovingly) who are obsessed with knowing what kind of weather is going to be in 10 days in order to prepare in advance. The jury is out.

For a few years now, I’ve had to get creative with the weather app on my parent’s phone. They have OnePlus and Samsung phones, but the default apps and/or widgets didn’t suit them. Not enough information or too much information, too many ads, no exact locations for the cities in Lebanon where they live, etc. I’ve tried one app after another, what was free turned out to be paid, or useless, or filled with ads, and often had to fight them with whatever I could find, even if it wasn’t right. Then I created a weather shortcut from Google Search and added it to their home screen. Overall it was a better experience.

But now that I’ve switched them all to Pixel phones, I don’t have to do that anymore. I set up Pixel Weather on the Pixel 7 Pro, opened it up, and asked my dad to check it out. His eyes sparkled. “Clear” was his first word. Then, after checking various information boxes, he told me that everything he wanted was there. We decided together how to organize the information – for example, she doesn’t care about pressure and pollen, but visibility, wind, and UV are important to her, so I sorted them for her.

He didn’t know how to explain it, but he was surprised there weren’t useless UI elements; “It’s simple; in others things were up or down.” Advertisement, he meant advertisement. And he would often accidentally tap on them, which would take him out of the app. However, not here.

It didn’t take him long to figure out that each box could be clicked to get additional information. Checking the UV index before going out for gardening or checking the rainfall before watering has helped a lot.

On top of that, the big pixel weather widget is exactly what it’s supposed to be. Large font, very readable, with the expected weather of the next few hours. It helps that the new icons are more accessible to his old eyes. Personally, I would love a forecast for the next few days, but he cares more about the immediate weather first, then he taps in to get additional details for the following days.

Oh, and yes, Pixel Weather has a weather forecast for your hometown in Lebanon, which is obviously a big win by anyone’s reckoning. Otherwise, I’d still be trying to find a good weather app for her.

Lesson of the day? We all get what we want from our smartphone experience, and sometimes small joys like finding a good weather app in my dad’s case — or Google Wallet in my own case — are enough to elevate a phone brand above many others. My dad’s next phone will also definitely be a Pixel, unless Google messes up its excellent Weather app.