In product development, some features evolve naturally over time – others challenge your assumptions from the ground up. Building weather widgets turned out to be the latter.

In our team, we had long focused on radar accuracy, high-frequency data updates, and real-time storm tracking. But as the user base grew, especially among those who check forecasts multiple times a day, one use case became impossible to ignore: the need to access weather information instantly, without even opening the app.

That requirement led us to rethink how we deliver data on mobile devices. We didn’t want to create “mini versions” of the app – we wanted to surface the most relevant insights in the most accessible way possible.

Understanding the Demand for Instant Weather Access

We’ve always believed that weather data should be accessible at a glance – not buried in menus. That’s why our app Rain Viewer offered home screen widgets on Android as far back as 2016, long before it became a standard expectation.

But in late 2021, we started noticing a new pattern in our support inbox:
"Does your app offer a radar widget for iPhone?"
"Can I replace Apple’s widget with yours?"

At the time, Apple had only recently introduced widget support on iOS. We were already building ahead of the curve, preparing native widgets to meet that demand the moment it became technically possible.

Our users – weather geeks, storm chasers, data-driven planners – don’t wait for weather to happen. They track it like others track markets. And they needed fast, at-a-glance access across all platforms.

The Goal: Not Just Improving, But Redefining Widgets

We didn’t want to simply replicate Apple’s removed feature – we aimed to build a better, more customizable experience. That meant:

Our north star? Precision, personalization, and instant readability.

Technical Challenges: Widgets ≠ Mini Apps

Here’s the first reality check: mobile widgets are not full-fledged applications. Their functionality is limited by system restrictions. On Android, widgets run with restricted execution; on iOS, even more so – they’re essentially static views that need to update in the background, asynchronously, with extremely limited interactivity.

Our core challenges included:

The Design Approach: Function Follows Focus

Every widget we built had a job to do. We created a clear taxonomy:

And one of the key advantages: users can set up any widget for any saved location. Want to track four different radar views for four cities? Done. Prefer to monitor the same location at different zoom levels (e.g., regional radar + neighborhood satellite)? Easy. All widgets work seamlessly across saved locations.

We followed one principle: if you need to open the full app, the widget has failed.

Cross-Platform Optimization

We built the widgets natively for Android and iOS, respecting each platform's UX conventions but striving for visual and functional parity.

On Android, users could resize widgets, tweak transparency, and create multiple versions for different locations.

On iOS, despite system limitations, we delivered three radar map sizes, support for dynamic widgets that let you switch between favorite locations, and the ability to place multiple widgets for different cities or zoom levels. Users can also resize widgets and customize their content with the maximum flexibility allowed by iOS.

The Result: Widgets That Weather Enthusiasts Love

Since launch, widgets in our app have become one of the most used features. The Android radar widget alone is on over 1.2 million home screens. The average user interacts with the widgets 4–6 times per day, using them like a dashboard for their local sky.

We didn't just build a weather widget. We created a flexible, data-rich interface for understanding the atmosphere – one glance at a time.

Lessons Learned

What's Next

The goal is still the same: to make weather tracking smarter, faster, and more fun.

As we move forward, we’re not just building widgets – we’re building a smarter, more responsive layer between people and the atmosphere.