During our heatwave here in the EU, I’ve noticed that Apple is getting more and more generous in what the temperature is supposed to be. Here it is pictured side by side with the actual, measured temperature via a Kestrel 2000.
I suspect that this is AI being its usual solicitous self, continually making it better for people asking, ‘Is it cooler on the coast?’ It ain’t, by the way, same here as it is in Paris. That’s my theory, but I’m open to all conspiratorial suggestions.
That’s not how you’re supposed to measure temperature
I doubt that Apple is running your local weather station.
France Météo is reporting 29°. I guess I should have said that.
Feels like OP thinks that iPhone has an built-in thermometer. It has not. AFAIK, no phone has that. All weather data is taken from internet.
My last phone from 2018 had like 48 sensors on it, including thermometer, so yeah that indeed is a thing. But obviously OP’s photo is showing Apple pulling numbers
out of thin airfrom whatever weather station, not from any internal sensors.A Kestral 2000 is a live thermometer. Doesn’t it seem weird that Apple is off by this much.
Did you read what I wrote? The phone doesn’t have a thermometer. Yes, it’s strange that it’s off, but I don’t know where Apple gets its weather data from.
I’m aware the phone does not have a thermometer. It doesn’t seem strange to you that it’s underreporting by that much?
No.
It’s always that far off where I live, as microclimate is a thing.
The averages from numerous sensors informs the phone app, while my local temp isn’t the same as my town average.
This is like logic 101
I’m genuinely surprised by the negative reaction to this post, so I’m going to try to explain why I made it.
I’m aware of microclimates, and changes in local temperature, and shade and sun and so on. I took the temperature in the shade just now, away from structures, in the garden, and it was 33°. I should have done that initially, but this was not meant to be about my being crazy. This was meant to be about the future of how we can expect temperatures to be measured and then delivered to the public.
Recently, we have had a heatwave in the EU, the 'heat dome’. You probably heard that before. Once rare, now rather common, it inverts the traditional climate where the coast is temperate and the inland is warmer.
If we are using models that ignore these new conditions, there is a risk of under-reporting actual temperatures and not taking the very serious climate emergency more seriously. The use of AI, and its documented nature of trying to please the user, concerns me in the face of gathering data for any government body trying to accurately document what is happening.
I’m sorry if I seemed crazy. I’m just concerned.
So, I don’t know how European weather reporting works, but if it’s like the US, the temperature that they’re reporting for your area may be for wherever your local weather station is (probably your local airport?), which may well differ from that at your house or wherever you’re taking the picture.
I doubt that Apple themselves tries to model weather; they’ll be reporting weather data from some other service.
I’m fairly sure they try to model weather as the France Météo service reported 29°, and it changed by 5° as I got closer to the coast.
and it changed by 5° as I got closer to the coast.
🤦
Just look at all that hard surface around you, a giant heat sink.
And you wonder why the temp there is higher?
You really need to work on your tinfoil hat.
are you in the shade or the sun ?
outside temp is generally reported from temps taken in the shade with a heat index depending on humidity.
The Kestral 2000 measures air temperature. I measured it in both, but took the photo in the sun.
OP not understanding how temperature measurements work is mildly infuriating so this is, ironically, a good post
Have you considered that the temperature displayed by the phone comes from the internet, rather than an onboard thermometer?
Yes, but undereporting by 10° is a lot.
- The temperature on the phone is likely an official temperature, measured at a specific location, under very precise conditions.
- The thermometer is in full sun, which is not at all either standardised, nor under any controlled conditions, for example, you’re holding it and your temperature is 37°C.
Temperature is measured like this:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-28/how-do-we-measure-heat-official-temperature/106277628
If that’s true, why is it different across so many platforms? France Météo is 29°, BBC Weather is 30°?
I mean the fact that different sources show different results is your answer.
Because they’re likely not all using the same data. Some will be time delayed, from a different weather station, averaged over a different period, any number of variations.
So measured at a specific location, under very precise conditions, but also time delayed, from a different weather station, averaged over a different period with any number of variations.
This app is very popular with people, it’s where a lot of Apple users get their information. I guess it doesn’t bother you people giving out information that is this wrong.
It bothers me.
It bothers you because you have no understanding of how temp is measured/calculated by these different platforms.
This is new - in the 70’s the local news station would report local temp, and it would be wildly different from the thermometer on our property, because local conditions can vary that much.
I can feel the difference in temp where I live by walking 30 feet. It can vary 20 degrees in that time because microclimate.
Weather apps are notoriously “wrong” for me - at least 5 degrees F all the time, and sometimes 10.
Because they have different computing models, using different data, collected at different times.
That’s a negligible difference. Also the sources might use different prediction models. The temperature on the apps is the predicted, not the actual temperature. Go to your local airport website for actual temperature readings (at that location).
Do you think the app is programmed to -=10? It’s likely an error on the part of the service.
It really depends on what you are comparing against. A temperature taken in direct sunlight at human height in a paved parking lot is going to be well over 10 degrees different than a grassy area shaded by a building. Even if they are adjacent areas. Proximity to a large body of water can easily change the temperature by 5-10 degrees.
A weather app is going to present a temperature that trys to average all of that for a fairly wide area.
Apple “overreports” on mine. Because they get their temperature from the business park down the hill. It’s cooler where I am.
I was literally wondering if Google was doing this yesterday because all week it felt way hotter than tge temp it was suggesting; i wish i had had a thermometer available to compare.
i might pick one up or even just compare different sources.
