Microsoft quietly pulls the plug on ads featured in the Weather app on Windows 11

Microsoft placing ads across its ecosystem isn’t a new phenomenon. Just last week, the company was found featuring Microsoft 365 products related ads on the Settings Home page in Windows 11. The bid behind this move usually is to get more people to try out its services and products, ultimately increasing its revenue.

The company took up a similar approach with its MSN Weather app last month. The company released a new version of the app that completely overhauled its functionality. The app that was once ad-free and pretty simple to use started featuring MSN news bundled with ads.

The move left a bad taste in the users’ mouths which led them to quickly express their concerns as well as dissatisfaction across social media platforms. Several users also indicated that this was Microsoft’s bid to push MSN news and ads to yet another app.

Oh great, Microsoft updated the MSN Weather app on Windows and it looks like garbage and shoves ads in your face. They took a perfectly serviceable app and enshitified it.

— Paul Jankura (@Anthropic) May 10, 2023

However, it now seems that Microsoft has given in to the pressure. The latest version of the Weather app on Windows 11 no longer features the MSN news feed or ads as spotted by Deskmodder. Though ads are still a part of the experience, they are less in your face now.

And as it happens, the ad banner that was previously lodged on the Weather app’s main page has now been swapped with a new section that will provide the user with information regarding when the sun will rise and set etc.

To this end, it’s not yet clear the motive behind Microsoft incorporating ads and the MSN news feed into the Weather app on Windows 11 and then retracting. The negative feedback from users could have played a role but Microsoft is yet to comment on why it moved to scrap them from the platform.

The latest version of the Weather app (4.53.51253.0) is currently rolling out Windows Insiders and is likely to hit general availability in the coming weeks. What are your thoughts on Microsoft injecting ads into the Weather app? Let us know in the comments.