The weather widget on Android Auto's new Coolwalk redesign may be making a comeback
Google began its roll out of the "Coolwalk" Android Auto redesign earlier this year which brought a split-screen view to users' dashboards. Unfortunately, with that rollout Android Auto lost the always helpful weather widget on smaller displays, but newly found source code reveals it may be coming back.
The report comes to us from 9to5Google after Reddit user u/shmykelsa spotted the changes in the code a few days ago. Coincidentally, this is the same user that first discovered the Coolwalk design before it was widely rolled out.
The weather card or widget was part of older versions of Android Auto but has since then been re-added and then removed again, but only on displays that didn't meet a certain resolution criteria. This left those of us with standard-sized head units at a disadvantage, as the icon would only show on displays with more vertical space.
The card's function, besides displaying the weather, extends to giving you a readout of weather conditions when tapped. This functionality can be very helpful, particularly if you are in the middle of driving and cannot take your eyes off the road.
This same functionality is currently only available with the one weather app that is compatible with Android Auto, which is WeatherRadar and The Weather Channel which will be available in the future. Other than that, unless you have a car with a large display head unit, you're out of luck.
However, according to the code found that corresponds to a new inactive flag, Google is looking to enable the weather card on all screen sizes. Since force enabling the flag doesn't yet yield any results, it is unknown if this widget will be reduced in size to accommodate for the smaller real estate.
Image Credit - u/shmykelsa (Reddit)
Google has not yet officially announced when or if the weather icon will be brought back to Android Auto's Coolwalk redesign. However, the fact that Google is considering doing so is a positive sign for users who miss being able to see or listen to the weather at a glance while driving.
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