sdx15/Shutterstock No list of essential iPhone apps would be complete without the iPhone Weather app, and for good reason. It’s one of the few useful apps whether you’re at home or on the go. Without forecasts for temperature and rain, it becomes much more difficult to plan what to wear, what tasks to complete, what to take outdoors, and where to go for the weekend. But if you thought that the Weather app for iPhone is only designed to tell you the current temperature and weather conditions in your area, you might want to think again. It’s actually a treasure trove of weather information, offering much more than just standard details. In fact, it includes at least ten different data points, such as air quality, wind speed, UV index, humidity and even visibility level. Under the hood, it has several other cool features that you might not have even realized existed. We’ll show you four of these hidden features to help you get the most out of the Weather app for iPhone. Monitor the lunar phases Marinel Sigué/BGR If you often enjoy fishing, boating, skywatching, or taking astrophotos, you probably monitor the phase of the moon all the time. Normally, you just need to go to your browser to check, but with the Weather app for iPhone, you really won’t need to. You can simply open the app and view the lunar conditions from there. These conditions include details such as the current phase of the moon, how illuminated it is by the sun, and the distance between the moon and Earth. It will also tell you the moonrise and moonset times for that day and the number of days until the next full moon arrives. For added convenience, the iPhone Weather app also comes with a moon phase calendar. Here you will see what the phase of the moon is for certain days and on which days the new and full moons fall. This allows you to plan your coastal or skywatching activity more effectively. You can also select any day from the calendar to check the moon details for that day. If you need to refer to the previous month or plan for the next month, the Weather app for iPhone also offers a moon phase calendar for those months. To view all this information, go to the Weather app home screen and scroll down until you see an image of the moon. This image represents the current phase of the moon. Tap the thumbnail to see lunar details and calendar. Check the weather conditions from your home screen and lock screen Marinel Sigué/BGR There are cases when you want to quickly know the weather conditions in your area, but you don’t want to have to unlock your phone or open the app. Fortunately, the iPhone Weather app offers nifty widgets for the home screen and lock screen. All you need to do is customize your iPhone’s home screen and lock screen and add the Weather widget of your choice. Here’s how to do it first on your lock screen: Go to your lock screen. Touch and hold an empty space. Tap Customize. Tap Add Widgets. Go to Weather. Choose which widget to put on your lock screen. Options include temperature, conditions, UV index, sunrise and sunset, moon, precipitation, wind and air quality. Depending on the widgets you have chosen, you can add up to three or four. Tap outside the widgets panel. Tap Done in the upper right corner. You should then see the widgets every time you wake up your screen. If Always On Display is enabled, widgets will appear there as well. To pin Weather widgets to your home screen, simply long-press on the home screen, tap Edit and select Add widget. Open Weather from the menu to view all available widgets. However, compared to lock screen widgets, the Weather app’s home screen widgets are more limited. You only have current forecasts, current weather details (UV index, wind, precipitation, temperature), hourly forecasts, daily forecasts, detailed multi-day forecasts and sunrise and sunset times. Receive rain alerts for the next hour Marinel Sigué/BGR The weather can be so unpredictable in some places that you might feel unprepared even after checking your weather app. To make sure you don’t get caught in a downpour while on the go, it’s a good idea to turn to one of iPhone Weather’s hidden features: precipitation notifications for the next hour. Once enabled, you will receive forecast rain alerts to help you prepare. These alerts tell you when the rain is expected to start, how intense it will be (light, moderate, heavy or extreme), and how long it will last. However, this feature is not enabled by default, so you need to enable it manually. Here’s how to do it: On the Weather app home page, tap the list icon in the lower right corner. Select the plus icon (three dots) at the top right. Go to Notifications. When prompted, tap Continue to grant the Weather app the necessary permissions. Tap your location. Enable precipitation for the next hour. Tap the checkmark to return to the list of locations. If you don’t see your location or the Precipitation in the Next Hour option, your location probably doesn’t support it. As of May 2026, this feature is only available in select countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, and Ireland. In some locations, you can ask your iPhone to warn you about bad weather. Besides notifications, the Weather app also shows you minute-by-minute rain forecasts for the next hour for a specific location. For example, you might receive a message saying: “Rain is expected to stop in 3 minutes and start again 11 minutes later” or “Chance of light rain in the next hour.” Interact with a global weather map Marinel Sigué/BGR iPhone Weather offers a wealth of data to help you prepare for today and the days to come. But with all the different charts and numbers, it can be quite difficult to make sense of the predictions. If you are a visual person, you may understand data better with a weather map. The iPhone Weather app has one right on the home page and lets you track four key data points: precipitation, temperature, air quality, and wind. To open this map, go to the Weather app home screen and tap the map icon in the lower left corner. You will then see an interactive map of the world with the specific forecast data overlaid. To read the map, refer to the color legend on the left of the screen. It shows you which color corresponds to a specific value. For example, on the temperature map, -40 degrees Fahrenheit appears purple, 30 degrees Fahrenheit appears blue, 90 degrees Fahrenheit appears red-orange, and 130 degrees Fahrenheit appears dark red. Keep in mind that some data, like air quality, is not available everywhere in the world, so some locations will appear colorless. You can easily switch between weather data types by tapping the layers icon in the upper right corner of the screen and choosing an option from the menu. For precipitation and wind maps, a forecast timeline will appear at the bottom. You can navigate the timeline manually or let it run automatically. Post navigation Who Really Owns TikTok?
sdx15/Shutterstock No list of essential iPhone apps would be complete without the iPhone Weather app, and for good reason. It’s one of the few useful apps whether you’re at home or on the go. Without forecasts for temperature and rain, it becomes much more difficult to plan what to wear, what tasks to complete, what to take outdoors, and where to go for the weekend. But if you thought that the Weather app for iPhone is only designed to tell you the current temperature and weather conditions in your area, you might want to think again. It’s actually a treasure trove of weather information, offering much more than just standard details. In fact, it includes at least ten different data points, such as air quality, wind speed, UV index, humidity and even visibility level. Under the hood, it has several other cool features that you might not have even realized existed. We’ll show you four of these hidden features to help you get the most out of the Weather app for iPhone. Monitor the lunar phases Marinel Sigué/BGR If you often enjoy fishing, boating, skywatching, or taking astrophotos, you probably monitor the phase of the moon all the time. Normally, you just need to go to your browser to check, but with the Weather app for iPhone, you really won’t need to. You can simply open the app and view the lunar conditions from there. These conditions include details such as the current phase of the moon, how illuminated it is by the sun, and the distance between the moon and Earth. It will also tell you the moonrise and moonset times for that day and the number of days until the next full moon arrives. For added convenience, the iPhone Weather app also comes with a moon phase calendar. Here you will see what the phase of the moon is for certain days and on which days the new and full moons fall. This allows you to plan your coastal or skywatching activity more effectively. You can also select any day from the calendar to check the moon details for that day. If you need to refer to the previous month or plan for the next month, the Weather app for iPhone also offers a moon phase calendar for those months. To view all this information, go to the Weather app home screen and scroll down until you see an image of the moon. This image represents the current phase of the moon. Tap the thumbnail to see lunar details and calendar. Check the weather conditions from your home screen and lock screen Marinel Sigué/BGR There are cases when you want to quickly know the weather conditions in your area, but you don’t want to have to unlock your phone or open the app. Fortunately, the iPhone Weather app offers nifty widgets for the home screen and lock screen. All you need to do is customize your iPhone’s home screen and lock screen and add the Weather widget of your choice. Here’s how to do it first on your lock screen: Go to your lock screen. Touch and hold an empty space. Tap Customize. Tap Add Widgets. Go to Weather. Choose which widget to put on your lock screen. Options include temperature, conditions, UV index, sunrise and sunset, moon, precipitation, wind and air quality. Depending on the widgets you have chosen, you can add up to three or four. Tap outside the widgets panel. Tap Done in the upper right corner. You should then see the widgets every time you wake up your screen. If Always On Display is enabled, widgets will appear there as well. To pin Weather widgets to your home screen, simply long-press on the home screen, tap Edit and select Add widget. Open Weather from the menu to view all available widgets. However, compared to lock screen widgets, the Weather app’s home screen widgets are more limited. You only have current forecasts, current weather details (UV index, wind, precipitation, temperature), hourly forecasts, daily forecasts, detailed multi-day forecasts and sunrise and sunset times. Receive rain alerts for the next hour Marinel Sigué/BGR The weather can be so unpredictable in some places that you might feel unprepared even after checking your weather app. To make sure you don’t get caught in a downpour while on the go, it’s a good idea to turn to one of iPhone Weather’s hidden features: precipitation notifications for the next hour. Once enabled, you will receive forecast rain alerts to help you prepare. These alerts tell you when the rain is expected to start, how intense it will be (light, moderate, heavy or extreme), and how long it will last. However, this feature is not enabled by default, so you need to enable it manually. Here’s how to do it: On the Weather app home page, tap the list icon in the lower right corner. Select the plus icon (three dots) at the top right. Go to Notifications. When prompted, tap Continue to grant the Weather app the necessary permissions. Tap your location. Enable precipitation for the next hour. Tap the checkmark to return to the list of locations. If you don’t see your location or the Precipitation in the Next Hour option, your location probably doesn’t support it. As of May 2026, this feature is only available in select countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, and Ireland. In some locations, you can ask your iPhone to warn you about bad weather. Besides notifications, the Weather app also shows you minute-by-minute rain forecasts for the next hour for a specific location. For example, you might receive a message saying: “Rain is expected to stop in 3 minutes and start again 11 minutes later” or “Chance of light rain in the next hour.” Interact with a global weather map Marinel Sigué/BGR iPhone Weather offers a wealth of data to help you prepare for today and the days to come. But with all the different charts and numbers, it can be quite difficult to make sense of the predictions. If you are a visual person, you may understand data better with a weather map. The iPhone Weather app has one right on the home page and lets you track four key data points: precipitation, temperature, air quality, and wind. To open this map, go to the Weather app home screen and tap the map icon in the lower left corner. You will then see an interactive map of the world with the specific forecast data overlaid. To read the map, refer to the color legend on the left of the screen. It shows you which color corresponds to a specific value. For example, on the temperature map, -40 degrees Fahrenheit appears purple, 30 degrees Fahrenheit appears blue, 90 degrees Fahrenheit appears red-orange, and 130 degrees Fahrenheit appears dark red. Keep in mind that some data, like air quality, is not available everywhere in the world, so some locations will appear colorless. You can easily switch between weather data types by tapping the layers icon in the upper right corner of the screen and choosing an option from the menu. For precipitation and wind maps, a forecast timeline will appear at the bottom. You can navigate the timeline manually or let it run automatically.
