Google News and Weather have received a major overhaul

The stock Android faithful have been peering at the same UI inside its News and Weather app for quite some time, but today there’s a welcome update. Folks carrying the unskinned version of Google’s OS are now privy to Now’s card-based organization for recent headlines with the weather forecast for the current location situated up top. You can toggle that meteorology widget off and on, or set it to stay with a locale of your choosing or track conditions in multiple places. Swipe through sections with ease, and as you might expect, those handy home screen widgets got a refresh of their own to match. The update seems to be rolling out to compatible devices now, so if you can’t snag it yet, sit tight ’cause it’s on the way.

The built-in Google News and Weather app on stock Android devices hasn’t been given much attention since back in the Android 2.3 days. That changes today, however, with a major update to the app now hitting the Google Play Store. Google News & Weather version 2.0 is now landing on the Play Store for just about all Android devices, and it’s available as an app update for anyone running the old version. The update brings a new layout, incorporating a Google Now-style card-based design, with the ability to swipe between categories and drill down to view the same story from different sources. As before, there are different editions for various countries, and the sections and editions you’re subscribed to can be controlled through the Settings menu — all linked to your Google account, naturally. There’s also an optional weather widget at the top of the main view, which can be configured to show weather based on your current location, or a location you set manually. On top of that there’s a couple of new home screen widgets to choose from — a 4×1 combined weather and news view, and a larger scrolling news feed with a weather forecast pinned to the top. The rollout for the new app seems to still be in progress, so if you’re seeing the app marked as “incompatible” right now, then try checking back in a few minutes. If you’re already using the new Google News and Weather app, hit the comments and let us know what you think!