Weather Channel Live Tile Update Question

[firedancer1189]

I own a Focus and like most, I enjoy having a live tile dedicated to letting me know my local weather. So far I have just went with the Weather Channel and seems like a very well done app and certainly looks nice.

My question is do you guys find that more often than not you actually have to go into the actual Weather Channel application for the live tile to update with the current weather?

Now and then mine will update but for the most part I need to push the actual tile which loads the app. As soon as I exit out the live tile reflects the current weather I just viewed in the application itself.

It's not a huge deal I guess but when I think about it what the heck is the point of having it on a live tile if it only updates on it's own 30% of the time. Does anyone know how often the app is "supposed" to update? 30 mins? an hour? Seems like mine hasn't changed for several hours now and then. It's just so random. Is Weather Bug any better?

 

[Paul Acevedo]

Yeah, starting the app manually is the only way to make the live tile update. Kinda lame.

 

[jimski]

Weather Channel uses what's called a "pull" live tile, meaning that updates are scheduled periodically (I think it's every hour) and the info gets sent down sort of around that time period but its not as exact as "push" live tiles/notifications, which should in theory happen instantly.

With that said Weather Channel updates for me about 95+% of the time with no interaction. Wondering, do you turn your phone off at night or maybe turn off data at certain times of the day. Can't understand why your experience would be different than mine.

WeatherBug uses "push" because they also send toast severe weather alerts. But I have found this app to be much less reliable for updating, sometimes going almost 24 hours without an update, despite opening the app, tapping refresh, etc. There is also a known bug where the app will occasionally disconnect/reconnect the the push channel, contributing to a condition where your push live tiles get clogged up and stop working.

I have seen instances where Weather Channel will update as soon as you open /close, which shouldn't happen as it's definitely not "push", but possibly the Microsoft server is holding the update waiting for you to say its OK to send. Don't know why though.

Sent from my HTC Surround using Board Express

 

[jmerrey]

Not meaning to hijack this thread, but you should give world weather a try. It has a two tile system now, and the dev has updated this app quite frequently. It started out pretty rough, but is now very very nice.

 

[firedancer1189]

With that said Weather Channel updates for me about 95+% of the time with no interaction. Wondering, do you turn your phone off at night or maybe turn off data at certain times of the day. Can't understand why your experience would be different than mine.

I don't turn it off at night nor do I turn off data. Up until yesterday it was strictly a wifi device but now it's actually a fully functional and activated phone. Obviously I would lose wifi when leaving my apartment or not being near a hotspot and didn't expect it to update. But now with 3G data on it still doesn't update most of the time unless I open the app itself.

I will give it a few more days, maybe it will work itself out.

Thanks for the reply!

 

[jimski]

Hmm, interesting. Note that WiFi will turn off automatically after about 30 seconds when you turn your screen off, regardless of 3G connection. While plugged into a power supply (AC or USB) and with 3G off, WiFi will remain on during screen off.

So if WeatherChannel is due to update every hour at :01, like in: 4:01, 5:01, 6:01, etc. and your phone is sleeping during those times without 3G you would not get the updates. And as I assumed, when you open the app you are probably triggering the Microsoft server to send you an update that it has been holding, waiting for a connection. So in theory, results should be better with 3G now enabled.

Sent from my HTC Surround using Board Express

 

[Jay Bennett]

Hmm, interesting. Note that WiFi will turn off automatically after about 30 seconds when you turn your screen off, regardless of 3G connection. While plugged into a power supply (AC or USB) and with 3G off, WiFi will remain on during screen off.

So if WeatherChannel is due to update every hour at :01, like in: 4:01, 5:01, 6:01, etc. and your phone is sleeping during those times without 3G you would not get the updates. And as I assumed, when you open the app you are probably triggering the Microsoft server to send you an update that it has been holding, waiting for a connection. So in theory, results should be better with 3G now enabled.

Sent from my HTC Surround using Board Express

Unfortunately not quite true, according to the Windows Phone Documentation: How to: Update Your Tile Without Push Notifications for Windows Phone if you miss the schedule due to your phone being locked, it should update immediately after it is unlocked.