Au Weather FAQ

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Category: Software
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Written by Will
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The Au Weather widget stopped working after updating to version 1.40+!

The 1.40 update requires that you remove any existing Au Weather widgets from the home screen and then add them again. Old widgets will just display "Loading..." after updating.  This is due to the update that now allows multiple location widgets to be added.

What is the difference between the paid and free versions of Au Weather?

  • The free version is ad supported and will display ads at the bottom of the screen (when the application is opened).
  • The paid version has more radar functionality.  The free version will only display the 256km radar for the closest radar to the currently selected station while the paid version can display 128/256/512km radar images for radar closest to the current station or any manually selected radar station.
  • The paid allows direct access to station radar and graph from the favourites screen by long pressing the station name and selecting radar or graph.

Should I buy the paid version?

You don't have to buy the paid version, ever, if you don't want to.  Because the free version is ad supported it does not make a difference.  There is not a lot of difference between the versions (see above). If you do not like ads you can purchase the ad free version.  If you use an ad blocker app on your Android device with the free version, it goes against the spirit of the free version, and it's recommended to buy the paid version for an ad free experience.

Why is Sydney displayed when I select the "Use nearest" option?

Au Weather relies on the mobile network (not GPS) to determine location.  In order for this to work, your device must have themobile network locationsetting enabled.  To enable mobile network location, follow these steps:

  • From the home screen, press the menu button and selectSettings>Location & security
  • Make sure that the "Use wireless networks" option is checked.
  • Open the Au Weather select "Use nearest" again and then refresh the observations (ensure you're not connected to a WiFi network when you do this step).
  • You may have to restart your device to ensure the location update takes effect if it was unchecked

Notes

  • The Settings menu names may be slightly different on your device depending on the version of Android it uses.
  • You can check that the mobile network location is working correctly by turning off the GPS, enabling network location (as described above) and then opening the Google Maps application and selecting the "My location" option.  This should show your approximate location.  This location is the one that is used by Au Weather.  If the location is not shown correctly there may be a problem with the device's location functionality.
  • Au Weather does NOT use GPS to determine your location (for various reasons).
  • The use nearest and nearby locations options may not be displayed is network location is not available.

How does the Au Weather Android widget updates work?

BOM weather station data is updated at different intervals, it may be every 30 minutes, hourly, daily etc. depending on the station.  The app widget can update the data at best every 30 minutes (it's an Android widget restriction to save processing & battery life), which means the displayed data could potentially be almost and hour holder than the current BOM reading.  A theoretical example for a station that gets updated every hour: the widget updates at 10:59AM and gets the station reading from 10:00AM (the latest station reading), this means that the widget will display the reading from 10:00AM until 11:29AM before updating to the 11:00AM reading.  You can, however, manually update from within the app tat any time to get the latest retrieved reading.  Also keep in mind that there is a lag between the actual reading, the time it gets updated on the BOM site, and the time the Au Weather server polls the data.

Why do some stations not have forecast information?

The BOM forecast data used by Au Weather does not include forecast for all the 750+ observation stations.  Where no forecast exists for a station, the nearest forecast will be used if it is deemed close enough, else no forecast data is displayed.

How much data does Au Weather use?

Each Au Weather update is just under 2kb in size per station. Note that if you do a refresh from the favourites page, each station on the list will consume this much data, but they are only ever updated manually and is not included in the widget station updates.  Radar, graphs and history vary per request and is typically around 20-90kb in size.

The widget does not update weather data.

This is usually an indication that the background service was killed.  Check the following:

  1. Check that you're not running an automatic task killer application.
  2. Try to remove the widget and re-add it.  The widget drives the updates and it may have stopped working.
  3. Try setting the update interval to 60 minutes for a few hours to see if that works.  If it starts updating, then try setting the update frequency back to 30 minutes.

Temperature is not displayed in the status bar.

  1. The temperature is only displayed in the status bar when the widget is added to one of the home pages.
  2. Make sure that the "Widget temperature in statusbar" is enabled in the settings. 
  3. Also ensure the status bar temperature text is set to white ("Status bar text colour") in the applications preferences: if your status bar is black (and vice versa).  The app default is black, so it won't be visible on the Gingerbread, Galaxy S or HTC Desire black status bar by default (for example).

Sometimes late at night the next day's forecast disappears?

The forecast information is updated when BOM updates their forecast information.  It's been observed that BOM's forecast is updated anytime from 10PM onwards at night.  Once the update takes place the next days forecast will "disappear".  In fact at that point the min/max values displayed will be those for the next day.

Au Weather FCs (force close) on my Android when I use a custom ROM.

Au Weather is not supported on custom ROMs.  Currently it is known that this issue exists on the Android 2.2.1 LeeDroid and Android Revolution ROMs (because of the Sqlite implementation on these).  Au Weather is known to run on Cyanogen 6.1 and the Oxygen Gingerbread ROMs.  You can send and email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you have a problem with a specific ROM, no promises though!

UPDATE: The issues with Android 2.2.1 has been resolved with the last update (free & paid).  If you still continue to experience problems, send us a mail.

Can I have multiple widgets to monitor different locations?

Version 1.40 upward has multiple location widget support.