UK users slam Met Office app update for awkward navigation and removed basics like saved locations

For a lot of people in the UK, checking the Met Office weather app is as routine as putting the kettle on. Open phone, glance at the rain radar, check the hourly forecast, and decide whether the washing can go outside.

This week, that simple ritual has been knocked sideways by a major Met Office app update, and many users are not impressed.

Reports first started piling up on Reddit, where threads on r/CasualUK and r/UKWeather quickly filled with complaints about the redesigned Met Office weather app. Long time users say the new interface feels slower to use, with more scrolling and more taps just to reach basic information like hourly rain chances or wind speed that used to sit clearly on one screen. Another busy thread on r/UKWeather discusses the new daily summaries and whether they are actually useful.

One of the biggest issues being talked about is navigation. Instead of the old, fairly dense layout, the new app leans on large cards and panels that push information further down the page. Several Reddit users say it now takes much longer to compare today, tonight, and tomorrow at a glance. Others say they struggled to find the detailed forecast pages at all when they first opened the updated app.

Then there are the missing features. Users on Reddit and X highlight the loss of simple options like easily switching between saved locations. Many relied on quickly hopping between “Home”, “Work”, “Parents’ house”, or a favourite walking spot. After the update, some say their saved locations vanished, while others say the way you switch places is now buried and less obvious.

That last point keeps coming up.

Weather fans are also annoyed that pressure readings and other data they used for things like fishing, hillwalking or tracking migraine triggers are nowhere to be seen in the new design. Multiple posts on r/UKWeather mention the absence of pressure in particular, calling it a “basic” field for any serious weather app.

On X, a search for “Met Office app” brings up a steady stream of frustration. Users including @lizzi1212, @Sheracing and @clmwrites complain about “awful navigation”, extra taps to reach the radar, and the feeling that the app is now more style than substance. Several people say they updated the Met Office iPhone app or Android app and “instantly regretted it”, with users like @speedymclagging and @cardboarddave telling followers to avoid the new version if they can.

For a supposedly improved app, many feel it has gone backwards.

The Met Office, for its part, has been keen to talk up the refresh. On its official site, it describes the new Met Office weather app as a “refreshed” experience after years without a major redesign, with a focus on clearer visuals and improved accessibility. On Threads, the organisation announced that its “refreshed weather app is live” and later followed up to say the app is still being actively updated, asking people to fill in a feedback form in posts like this one about ongoing updates and this specific feedback request.

The replies under those official posts tell their own story. Under the Met Office’s Instagram Reel showing the new app, and in Threads comments under the launch announcement, users pile in to say they hate the new layout, miss the old rain radar screen, and want features like pressure and saved locations restored. There are a few users praising the cleaner look and new widgets, but they are heavily outnumbered by people asking for the old version of the app back.

So if you rely on the Met Office app for UK weather and still have the old version, you might want to hold off on updating for now. For everyone already stuck on the new Met Office app update, the best hope is that enough noise on Reddit, X, Threads and Instagram nudges the forecasters to put the “boring” basics back where people expect them.