Xiaomi Weather Permissions Mistake: A Complete Solution Guide

Owners of Xiaomi, Redmi and Poco smartphones often face intrusive notification that the app lacks rights to work correctly.This is especially annoying in system utilities such as a weather widget that stops updating data or showing location.The MIUI system and the new HyperOS have strict privacy settings that can block access to GPS or background updates of data.

The problem is not the app itself, but the change in Android security policy, where geolocation access is now divided into Accurate and Approximate. If you accidentally choose Approximate or deny access, the widget will stop functioning properly. In this article, we will discuss all possible ways to restore the service, from basic settings to resetting system components.

To solve the problem, you will need to carefully check several levels of settings, since permissions can be disabled at both the application level and the geolocation service level. Recovery will take no more than five minutes if you consistently perform the steps described below.

Causes of Error of Access Rights

The failure of the security update is a routine response of the operating system to a security configuration change, most often after the firmware update or the Weather app itself, and in the process of updating the old settings may conflict with the new Android 12/13/14 requirements, requiring re-approval.

Another common reason is the work of built-in optimizers. MIUI Optimization or Hyper Optimization can automatically turn off background activity to save battery life, causing the weather app to fall asleep and lose communication with the server or the server. GPS-the module, issuing an error when the user attempts to update the data manually.

⚠️ Note: Frequent change of geodata provider in settings may lead to temporary blocking of coordinate requests from Google servers or Xiaomi itself.

Also, consider the human factor. When you first install or reset your phone, users often click "Disallow" or "During Use Only" without reading the context. For a desktop widget that should show the weather constantly, "During Use Only" is not enough, since the widget runs in the background.

Basic setting of application permissions

The first and most obvious step is to check the standard resolutions in the settings menu, and you need to make sure that the Weather app is given the green light to use geolocation, and without this fundamental right, no other manipulations will help.

To do this, go to Settings → Applications → All apps. In the list, find the Weather (or Weather) item. Click on it and select Application Permissions. Make sure the switch opposite to GeoData is active. If it's off, turn it on.

However, simple inclusion may not be enough. Click on the text "Geodata" to select the type of access. To fully work the widget must select the option "Allow always" or "Allow only when used", but with the option of exact location enabled. Approximate coordinate determination often leads to error, since the accuracy is not sufficient to automatically determine the city.

In some versions of MIUI, Internet access (Wi-Fi and Mobile Data) is regulated separately, and if an application is not allowed to access the network, it will not be able to download temperature data even if it has access to GPS.

System geolocation service settings

Even if the app is right, the system location service itself may not be configured correctly. In modern versions of Android, there is a division into "Accurate" and "About" location. For weather services, accurate positioning is critical.

Go to Settings → Privacy → Permissions Management → Geodata. Find the Weather app on the list. Make sure the Use Exact Location switch is on. If it is turned off, the system will send the coordinates to the application with a large error, which may be considered an error by the service.

Also check the global GPS settings. The notification curtain should have a geolocation icon on. Go to Settings → Location and make sure the method is "GPS, Wi-Fi and Cellular" (High accuracy). GPS Only mode can run slowly indoors, and Network Only mode gives a large margin of error.

It is important to note that in order to run GPS in the background (when the screen is off), the system requires a stable connection. If you are in a bad reception zone, the system can temporarily turn off the GPS module to save energy, which will also cause an update error.

Specifics of work in the background and energy saving

Xiaomi’s aggressive energy-saving policies are a frequent culprit for widget problems, and it seeks to kill any process that consumes resources in the background, considering it unnecessary, and the weather app falls into this category if it is not configured correctly.

You need to set up autostart and background work. In the Weather app card (via the app settings), find the "Start" option and turn it on. Then go to "Battery Savings" and select "No Limits" mode, which will prevent the system from forcibly stopping the process.

You should also check the notification settings. Sometimes the system does not block the application itself, but its ability to show notifications about updates. Make sure that in the Notifications section all switches are active, especially Important and Background data.

💡

If the widget still doesn’t work after setting up the power saving, try removing the widget from your desktop, restarting your phone and adding it again.

Compliance with these settings is especially important for users who use dark themes or third-party launchers, as they may conflict with standard system widgets when trying to upgrade.

Data reset and cache cleanup

If the rights and power saving settings are fine, but the error "you don't have the necessary permissions" persists, the temporary application files may have been damaged, in which case the data reset is effective, this action will return the application to the "as after installation" state.

Go to Settings → Apps → All Apps → Weather. Click on Clear (or Storage) and select Clear Cache. If that doesn't work, select Clear All (or Clear Data). Don't worry, your city settings are usually synced to your account or restored automatically, but remember the city list.

Once the data is cleaned, you have to reopen the application, it will request permissions again, and at that point, it's critical to make sure you don't go wrong and choose "Allow" for geodata and "Allow" for location, and the system can request access to the storage to save the widget, which is also worth allowing.

⚠️ Warning: Clearing the data will reset the list of saved cities and personalized widget settings. Make sure to remember the names of cities you need to add again.

In rare cases, removing app updates helps. If the problem occurs after an update, there may be a button in the app menu (three dots in the corner) that says "Delete updates" and returns the factory version, which often works more stable on older devices.

Use of alternative widgets and services

Xiaomi’s regular Weather app sometimes depends on vendor servers (such as AccuWeather or The Weather Channel) that may change access conditions or experience technical problems.

You can install third-party apps like Today Weather, Weather & Radar or YoWindow. These often have more flexible widget settings and are better adapted to different versions of Android. Most of them are available on Google Play.

For advanced users, the Google widget option is available. You can add a Google widget on your desktop that includes weather, and it uses Google services that usually have priority in the system and are less likely to face resolution issues because they are system components.

💡

If the Xiaomi app continues to give out errors after all the settings, using a Google widget or a third-party app is the fastest and most reliable solution to the problem.

When installing a third-party app, be sure to give it the same rights: exact location and background work. Without that, even the best app will show an error or old data.

Radical methods and systemic failures

In extreme cases, when nothing helps, the problem may lie in the system file permissions.xml or account conflict. If you have access to a computer and ADB skills, you can try resetting the rights via the command line.

To do this, connect your phone to a PC with USB debugging enabled. Enter a command to reset the rights of a particular package:

adb shell pm reset-permissions com.miui.weather2

This command will forcefully reset all permissions for the system weather application (the package may vary depending on the version of MIUI, often com.miui.weather2 or com.android.weather).

⚠️ Attention: Use ADB Incorrectly entering the name of the package can lead to resetting of system applications, which will make the phone unstable.

If that doesn’t work, you’ll still have to reset your phone completely, make sure you back up your data to the Xiaomi Cloud or your computer before doing so, and reset it to delete all data and return factory permissions, which is guaranteed to eliminate the software conflict.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)