Windows 11 Weather app consumes over 1 GB of RAM
Original: Windows 11's built-in Weather app wastes more than 1 GB of RAM
Why This Matters
Highlights a gap between Microsoft's efficiency goals and the real-world performance of its built-in apps.
Windows 11's built-in Weather app has been found to consume more than 1.2 GB of RAM during normal use, and up to 1.6 GB during basic navigation, according to tests by Windows Latest and Wccftech. Apple's macOS Weather app uses under 250 MB under similar conditions.
Tests published by Windows Latest and Wccftech reveal that the Windows 11 Weather app can exceed 1.2 GB of RAM while simply displaying a forecast, with no intensive user interaction. Memory usage typically starts near 1 GB, drops to 500–600 MB when idle, and can spike to 1.5–1.6 GB during actions like zooming or navigating. On an 8 GB system, this represents nearly 20% of total memory. The root cause is that Weather is not a native Windows app — it is an MSN Weather web app built on Microsoft's WebView2 framework, running multiple Chromium-based subprocesses simultaneously. By contrast, Apple's native macOS Weather app uses under 250 MB, giving Microsoft's version roughly five times the memory footprint. The app also displays sponsored content embedded directly in the forecast feed. The issue may go unnoticed on high-end systems with 32 GB or more RAM, but on 8–16 GB machines it could increase reliance on the page file and reduce responsiveness. The findings conflict with Microsoft's stated goal of improving Windows 11 efficiency on lower-end hardware. Executive Rudy Huyn has said Microsoft intends to build more native Windows apps, but it remains unclear whether MSN-branded apps like Weather will be rebuilt using WinUI.