Xiaomi’s modern smartphone has become a digital life management center, and access to up-to-date climate information has become one of the basic needs of the user: displaying weather on the home screen allows you to instantly assess the situation outside the window without opening unnecessary applications, which saves time and traffic, especially in the morning, when every second counts.
However, MIUI or its new HyperOS OS offer many ways to implement this feature, from standard widgets to complex automation scenarios. Often users are lost in the abundance of settings or find that the widget stops updating. In this article, we will discuss all the available methods that will help you to customize an informative and beautiful interface.
Note that the interface may vary slightly depending on the firmware version and regional binding of the device. However, the basic principles of working with widgets remain unchanged for the entire Xiaomi ecosystem. We will consider both the standard system tools and the capabilities of third-party applications that can expand the functionality.
Use of the standard weather widget in MIUI
The easiest and most reliable way to get climate information is to activate the standard widget, which is built in by default in the MIUI shell and does not require additional software installation, and to start working, you need to unlock the device and go to the free area of the main screen.
Click on the empty space with your finger and hold it for a few seconds until the edit menu opens. At the bottom of the display, a toolbar will appear where you want to select the Widgets item. The system will offer a list of all available items that can be placed on the desktop.
In the list that opens, look for a weather section, usually called Weather or Weather, and you click on it, you'll open a style gallery, and you'll want to choose a design that's not only informative, but also harmoniously fits into your wallpaper.
Once you select a style, the widget will appear on the screen. You can move it to any convenient location or resize it by pulling the edges (if the style supports zooming). To work properly, make sure that geolocation is allowed in the Weather app settings.
The good thing about the regular widget is that it's deeply integrated and uses minimal power, it automatically updates data when you have an Internet connection, but if you want more detailed analytics or specific design, you should consider alternatives.
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If the widget displays the wrong city, click on it to log in to the app and manually select the desired settlement in the search.
Customization of widgets in the new shell HyperOS
With the release of the new HyperOS operating system, Xiaomi has significantly redesigned its approach to widgets, now they are more interactive and visually rich, the process of adding elements has changed a little, becoming more similar to the logic of iOS.
To add a widget to HyperOS, swipe right on the home screen to open the left desktop (widget screen), or pinch the empty area. Unlike the old MIUI, here widgets are divided into categories for quick access. Find the category Recommended or Tools.
The new system features the ability to customize the widget in detail before it is placed, click on the information icon or settings next to the preview of the weather widget, and you can choose background color, temperature font, and even the style of precipitation animation.
- 🌡️ Select the display format: temperature only, with humidity or with wind forecast.
- 🎨 Choose a color scheme that corresponds to your style of themes design.
- 📍 Make sure precise geolocation is enabled to automatically determine the city.
Importantly, widgets in HyperOS can consume more resources because of the complex animations. If you notice that the phone starts to drain faster after installing a lot of interactive elements, try replacing them with static versions. The balance between beauty and performance is a key point in setting up the interface.
☑️ Checking the widget settings
Using script widgets for automation
One of the most powerful features of Xiaomi’s ecosystem is the Scenarios app, which allows you to create widgets that not only show the weather, but also react to it or trigger certain actions, and it goes beyond just displaying information.
You can create a script that, when you click on the weather widget, will trigger the voice assistant or open a map with traffic jams. To do this, go to the Tools app and find Scenarios. At the bottom of the screen, select the tab to create a new widget.
In the list of available actions, find the weather section, and you can set conditions like, "If it rains, send a notification," but for simple display, you just need to select the "Show the weather" action or create a launch label for an application with a preloaded city.
⚠️ Warning: Script widgets require permanent permits to work in the background. If the system kills the scripting process to save battery, the widget will stop responding-- In addition, script widgets allow you to display information in a non-standard format, for example, you can configure only the display of the ultraviolet index or air pollution level, if these parameters are more important to you than the general temperature. Flexibility of settings allows you to adapt the smartphone to any, even the most specific needs. Third-party applications for extended weather reports Staff tools do not always satisfy the needs of advanced users. Google Play and GetApps offer hundreds of weather widget apps that can provide more detailed information such as moon phase, pressure, visibility and rainfall probability hourly. Popular options are applications from Weather & Radar, YOWeather or Overdrop. Once installed, the process of adding a widget is similar to the standard: long-pressing on the screen → Widgets → choice of installed application. The difference will only be in the number of designs available and the depth of the displayed data. Using third-party software allows you to display several widgets with different information at once. For example, one widget can show the current temperature, and the second one can show a forecast for a week in the form of a beautiful graphic. This allows you to turn the main screen into a full weather station. The influence of third-party data from 5-10% of the battery to the increase in the battery’s consumption. It is recommended to check the energy saving settings for such applications. When choosing a third-party widget, pay attention to the presence of advertising. Free versions often contain banner ads directly in the body of the widget, which can spoil the appearance of the desktop. Paid versions usually do not have this disadvantage and offer better graphic elements. The table of comparison of weather output methods To make it easier for you to choose the best way, we have prepared a comparative table. It will help to assess the pros and cons of each method in the context of your needs and characteristics of the smartphone. Battery Method Design Functional standard MIUI Minimum Basic Widget from Hyper Primary Selection. If you want autonomy, you'd better stay on standard solutions, but if you want to personalize your device and are willing to put up with a little more power, third-party apps are a great choice. Fixing widget update issues Quite often, users are faced with a situation where the weather widget “froze” and shows yesterday’s data or an update error.This is a common problem associated with the aggressive energy saving policy of Android and the Internet. MIUI. The system can restrict the background activity of the weather application. First of all, check the Internet settings. Make sure the application has permission to transfer data. Go to Settings. → Annexes → All applications → Weather. → Activity control. You have to select mode No restrictions. This will prevent the system from euthanizing the application. It can also be a problem in a wrong city or a geolocation failure, go inside the Weather app, delete the current city and add it again, making sure the right location is chosen. 💡The main reason for stopping the widget is to limit the background activity to the energy saving system, and setting the "No Limits" mode solves the problem 90 percent of the time. If the widget shows a network error, although the Internet is working, try changing the source of data in the application settings (if such an option is available in your version) or resetting the network settings. In rare cases, reinstalling updates to the system application Weather through the About Phone menu helps. FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions Why does the weather widget show temperature in Fahrenheit rather than Celsius? This is tuning units of measurement inside the app itself. Open the Weather app, click on the menu (three bars) and select Settings. At Units, switch to Celsius Degrees (°C.) The widget will update automatically. Can I bring the weather to the lock screen? Yes, MIUI and HyperOS weather information is often embedded in the default lock screen theme. If it's not, you can download another theme in the Themes app where the lock screen design provides for displaying weather data. The widget stopped working after the system update, what to do? After major Android or MIUI can the old widgets be re-enered to the server, so that you can re-regrow from the updates the data from the new window, and add the server to the updates. You can't force the upgrade interval to be increased by regular means, because it will quickly land the battery. Make sure that sync is enabled in your Mi or Google account.