ANYONE hoping for a white Christmas should make sure their iPhone is snow ready.
There are some clever hacks built into the Apple Weather app that you need to know about.
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This way you can make sure you have the best view when the snow comes.
And you can even get snow alerts so you can wait outside for the first flakes to fall.
First, you need to make sure you’re using at least a relatively recent version of Apple’s iPhone software: iOS 15.
Go to Settings > General > Software update and make sure you don’t need to install anything. If you’re up to date, you’re using a version of iOS 16.
Now launch the weather app that comes by default on your iPhone.
It’s a blue app with an image of the sun peeking out from behind a cloud.
Go into the app and tap on the map icon in the bottom left corner.
Then tap the three squares stacked on top of each other in the top right.
Select Precipitation and you can see a sliding forecast of snow and rain as it moves around you.
You can also zoom in or out for a better view.
When there is a risk of snow, you will see an icon in the center of the map over your location.
This shows incoming snow and how far away it is.
Of course, you can also scroll through the timeline to see how precipitation is moving where you live.
You can use the bar at the bottom of the screen to move through time.
And when that’s gone, just tap the screen to bring it back.
This gives you a very clear idea of where the snow will fall.
You can use the precipitation colors (see graphic on the left) to see whether the rain showers are heavy or light.
Of course, this is all predictive so the map might not be spot on – but that’s always the case with weather.
If you’re really interesting in the snow, you can even have your iPhone warn you when it starts falling.
How to turn on weather alerts on your iPhone
First, make sure you’re updated to iOS 15 – go to Settings > General > Software update.
Then give the weather app your location information or it won’t work.
Go to Settings > Privacy > Location Services > Weather and select Always.
You’ll get even better notifications if you allow access to precise location.
Next, make sure the weather app can send notifications.
Navigate to Settings > Notifications > Weather > Allow Notifications, then select the type of notification you want.
Finally, you then need to turn on weather alerts.
Go into the Weather app and select the list icon at the bottom right.
At the top you will see an option called Stay Dry.
If you don’t see that, tap the three dots in the top right, then go to Notifications.
Tap Turn on notifications, then turn on the My location switch.
Then tap Done in the top right and it should work.
Now you will get an alert just before it starts raining at your location.
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