Google Play Services popup continusly spamming
-
Hello,
I really appreciated your application up to version 47.1.4. Since the successive updates, the app persistently displays a popup indicating a problem with Google Play Services. I have been an Android user since its launch, but I do not use the services provided by Google, and I dislike its policy of mandatory, massive data collection as well as the repeated violations of users’ privacy.
In fact, simply refraining from using Google’s apps is not enough to escape this collection and usage. The only way to avoid it and preserve one’s privacy is to uninstall all proprietary Google apps and services from the device. For my part, by uninstalling these apps I am merely exercising a fundamental right, which is guaranteed by current europeans legislation.
Returning to the services delivered by Windy.com, I wonder why exercising a fundamental right forces me to settle for a degraded (paid) service—either an app that constantly spams me with pop‑ups, or a website that does not provide an optimal experience on a mobile device.
I should note that despite the absence of Google Play Services on my device, I am using the official WINDY version from the Google Play Store. There is indeed an alternative, open‑source client called Aurora Store that downloads application packages from Google’s official servers, also allowing the download of paid apps from the platform.
Having used the Windy app for years on a device without Google Play Services, I am well aware of the limitations: no GPS positioning and no push notifications, because you chose to rely on Google’s proprietary libraries. While I can live with those limitations, the persistent popup is unnecessary and truly spoils the user experience.
It seems these choices are more political than technical, given that performant alternatives exist. Could the reported bug be resolved by disabling the check for Google Play Services installation on the device?
-
@steven663 Thank you for the detailed and thoughtful feedback, and for being a long-time Windy user.
First, we want to be very clear that our choices here are technical, not political, and we fully respect that users may deliberately choose not to use Google services for privacy or other reasons. Windy does not collect Google account data, and we do not gain any additional user data simply because Google Play Services are present on a device.
Regarding the popup you are seeing:
starting with newer versions of the app, certain core features rely on components provided by Google Play Services (most notably location services, push notifications, and some system integrations). When these services are missing, the app cannot reliably determine whether specific functionality will work correctly, which is why the warning is shown.Historically, Windy could run without Google Play Services with fewer checks in place. However, as Android itself has evolved, the number of edge cases and failure modes has increased. The popup is not meant to "punish" users or force a dependency, but to prevent silent malfunctions that would otherwise look like bugs or data errors from the user's point of view.
That said, we fully acknowledge your point that:
You are already aware of the limitations
You are intentionally running without Google Play Services
A persistent popup negatively affects the user experienceThis is valid feedback, and we agree that repeatedly showing the same warning is not ideal in such cases. We are currently reviewing how this check is implemented and whether it can be made less intrusive.
Finally, regarding alternatives: while there are non-Google solutions for some of these capabilities, maintaining parallel implementations across the Android ecosystem (with acceptable reliability and support cost) is unfortunately not trivial for a small team. Our priority is to keep Windy accurate, stable, and sustainable for the vast majority of users.
We genuinely appreciate you taking the time to explain your setup and concerns in detail. Feedback like this directly informs how we improve the app, and we will follow up internally on how to reduce the impact of this warning in future versions.
Thank you for your continued support of Windy.
-
@Suty Thank you so much for being open and clear about this.
Let me chime in as a non-Play-Store person. We might be a rare breed? At least in my friend/family circle, I dont know anyone else.
A little on the wording of the message "Windy won't run without Google Play services" is not completly right: It will have limitations, but for me it runs as good as I need it to be.
Is a checkbox viable? Something in the ballpark of "I have read, understood, accept and am happy the limitations. And understand that the app might brake in the future. Please don't show this message again".
At least the app works, in my eyes, 100%. I'm super happy with this, as Windy is awesome. And I don't know any other application that can scratch my inner-weather-nerd-needs as Windy can!
