Overview
- Recent testing reported that the built-in Weather app runs as an MSN-branded web wrapper using WebView2 and multiple Chromium subprocesses rather than a single native process.
- Observers measured idle memory use around 1.2 GB, which is roughly five times the reported memory of Apple’s native macOS Weather, and the app’s processes can spike higher during interaction.
- The app displays sponsored tiles inside the forecast grid and the Microsoft Store listing recommends signing into a Microsoft account to use the app.
- Microsoft’s Weather credits list licensed data providers such as Foreca, ECMWF and the U.S. National Weather Service, which explains the app’s detailed forecast features and alerts.
- Microsoft has said it is migrating inbox apps to native WinUI builds and tuning WebView2 for efficiency, but it has not replaced the MSN Weather web wrapper or announced a timeline for an ad-free native version.