Windows 11's Weather app eats 1 GB+ of RAM — because it's a WebView2 web app

Microsoft’s built-in Weather app for Windows 11 consumes an outsized amount of memory for such a simple task. Testing by Windows Latest measured it at over 1.2 GB of RAM just to show a forecast, while Wccftech saw usage swing from roughly 500–600 MB at idle up to 1.5–1.6 GB during basic navigation like zooming or panning. On an 8 GB machine that can be nearly a fifth of total memory tied up in a weather widget — Apple’s macOS Weather app, by comparison, reportedly stays under 250 MB.

The root cause is architectural: Weather isn’t a native Windows app but an MSN Weather web experience wrapped in Microsoft’s WebView2 (Chromium) framework, which spawns multiple browser subprocesses visible in Task Manager. High-end systems with 32 GB won’t notice, but on entry-level 8–16 GB PCs the extra pressure can push Windows toward heavier page-file use and a less responsive feel — awkward given Microsoft’s stated push to make Windows 11 run better on low-end hardware. The app also embeds sponsored content styled to blend in with the forecast feed, drawing criticism over ads in a first-party OS component.

The episode highlights the cost of shipping web-wrapped apps as OS defaults. Microsoft executive Rudy Huyn has said the company wants to build more genuinely native apps, but it’s not yet clear whether MSN-branded tools like Weather will be rebuilt on WinUI.