Microsoft’s Weather app is supposed to be one of the simplest apps in Windows 11. You open it, check the temperature, see the forecast, and close it. But recent testing suggests the app can use a surprisingly large amount of RAM while doing almost nothing.
According to tests reported by Windows Latest, the Windows 11 Weather app can use close to 1.2 GB of memory when it is simply left open. There was no heavy interaction, scrolling, or demanding task running in the background. The app was just sitting there.
That is a lot of memory for an app that mainly shows weather information.
The high RAM use is especially noticeable because many parts of the Weather app rely on web-based content. Instead of being a very lightweight native Windows application, it loads different online elements, including weather information and advertisements.
This approach may help Microsoft keep the app connected to online services, but it also raises questions about how much system memory is really needed for such a basic feature.
The situation becomes more interesting when the Windows 11 Weather app is compared with Apple’s Weather app on macOS. In the tests, Apple’s app reportedly used only around one fifth of the memory consumed by Microsoft’s version.
For people using modern PCs with plenty of RAM, the difference may not be a major concern. However, things look different on cheaper Windows machines.
Some budget laptops and desktops still come with 8 GB of RAM. If the Weather app alone uses around 1.2 GB, that is roughly 15 percent of the system’s total memory. Windows itself, a web browser, security software, and background services then have to share what is left.
That does not mean every Windows 11 user will always see exactly 1.2 GB of RAM usage from the Weather app. Memory use can change depending on the system and what is running at the time. Still, the reported figure is high enough to make the app worth looking at.
There is also the question of advertisements. Microsoft includes ads in the Weather experience, which makes the high memory use even harder to ignore for users who expect a simple built-in Windows feature to remain lightweight.
The Weather app is not going to slow down every Windows 11 PC by itself, but its reported memory use shows how even small system apps can become surprisingly demanding.
Microsoft could improve the experience by reducing unnecessary background content and making the app more efficient. For users with 8 GB machines, even small improvements could make a noticeable difference when several programs are open at the same time.
For now, if you only need a quick weather check, using a browser or another lightweight weather service may use fewer system resources than keeping the Windows 11 Weather app open.
