Overview
- Multiple outlets published measurements on Monday showing the built‑in MSN Weather app consumes roughly 1.2–1.6 GB of RAM when open, which can be a large share of memory on systems with 8 GB.
- Task Manager shows the app running as many separate Chromium‑like processes rather than one native process, which explains why its footprint is far larger than comparable native weather apps.
- Technical analyses attribute the high usage to Microsoft’s use of the WebView2 framework, which hosts web pages in a Chromium engine and typically spawns multiple renderer and utility processes.
- Reporters say users can limit the impact by uninstalling the app, disabling its background activity, or using third‑party or browser‑based weather services, and no public Microsoft timeline for an app overhaul has been provided.
- The app displays ads and uses weather data from MSN and third‑party providers such as Foreca, which outlets note may explain Microsoft’s choice to present sponsored content as a revenue offset and could shape how the company responds.