The Pixel 9’s leaked weather app is alarmingly light on frogs

Yesterday, writing for Android Authority, Kamila Wojciechowska shared screenshots of a newly redesigned weather app from Google, which will apparently debut on the Pixel 9 series later this month. The new design is nice enough, with weather info laid out in easy to understand ways and plenty of Google-y shapes and squiggles throughout the UI.

But the design refresh is missing a key element all of Google’s other recent weather interfaces have included: the well-loved weather frog. I think I get why Google might be ditching its friendly meteorological mascot, but I’m still a little sad to see him go.

Where’d Froggy go, Google?

He’s been a part of Android for eight years

The “weather frog” (officially Froggy, according to a blog post about the New Year’s Eve 2019 Google Doodle) has been a part of Android for years. Froggy made his first appearance in 2016 in an update to the Google app. He’d show up in the app’s weather interface, depicted doing various activities in conditions similar to the user’s local weather. He’s stuck around in that role ever since, and even shows up in a few places on Nest smart displays.

Froggy’s popular. There are all kinds of forum posts with users freaking out when the weather frog temporarily disappeared from their own phones, and there’s a whole knockoff Google Weather app called The Frog (formerly Frog Weather), complete with in-app purchases, meant to capitalize on less tech-savvy users trying to find Froggy.

So it’s a little disappointing that there isn’t a frog anywhere in sight in the new leaked weather interface. Wojciechowska notes that the software isn’t final, so it’s possible Google could frog it up before release. But judging by the shared screenshots, there’s nowhere for Froggy to go. The new interface is supposed to debut on the Pixel 9, before making its way to older Pixel devices later on.

Why ditch the weather frog?

Trading fun for usability

Ditching such a well-liked, seemingly low-maintenance feature seems like a strange decision, especially considering Google only just overhauled its weather interface on Android last year, frogs and all. But the change could have some usability benefits.

Weather apps are utilitarian; if you’re looking at your weather app, it’s probably because you need to know the forecast, not because you want to be entertained. Comparing screenshots of the new and old interfaces, information is easier to digest in the updated interface.

The weather app’s new home page gives the current weather conditions more real estate, with the temperature in big, bold numbers and clear text, and no distracting visual elements to clutter it up. Under that are clearly defined boxes showing hourly and daily weather forecasts, with the daily version condensed into a landscape-orientation view that appears to scroll horizontally, saving some space in the layout.

New UI (left) versus old UI (right). Source: Android Authority.

As cute as Froggy is, Google’s Android weather interface has gotten increasingly cluttered over the years, and extra visual information that doesn’t actually convey anything to the user could make it harder to digest the forecast itself.

Still, the mascot added some character to Google’s weather experience, and by and large, people seem to like him. I’m hoping Froggy sticks around on Android some capacity. I wouldn’t be surprised if a future update brought the frog back, but short of that, he at least deserves an Easter egg cameo appearance somewhere in the new weather app’s settings.