Windows 11’s built-in Weather app wastes more than 1 GB of RAM

Windows 11 内置天气应用占用超过 1 GB 内存

Microsoft has been working to make Windows 11 more efficient on PCs with limited RAM, but one of its own built-in applications appears to be working against that goal. According to tests published by Windows Latest, the operating system’s Weather app can consume more than 1 GB of memory despite performing a relatively simple task.

微软一直致力于提升 Windows 11 在内存受限电脑上的运行效率，但其内置的一款应用程序似乎与这一目标背道而驰。根据 Windows Latest 发布的一项测试显示，尽管 Windows 11 的天气应用执行的任务相对简单，但其内存占用却超过了 1 GB。

Windows Latest reports that the app exceeded 1.2 GB of RAM while displaying a weather forecast, with no intensive interaction from the user. Wccftech observed similar behavior, noting that memory usage typically starts at around 1 GB, drops to roughly 500–600 MB when idle, and can climb to 1.5–1.6 GB during basic actions such as zooming or navigating the interface. On a PC equipped with 8 GB of RAM, that means the application alone may occupy nearly 20% of the system’s memory.

Windows Latest 报道称，在用户没有进行高强度交互的情况下，该应用在显示天气预报时内存占用超过了 1.2 GB。Wccftech 也观察到了类似的情况，指出该应用的内存占用通常从 1 GB 左右开始，闲置时会降至约 500–600 MB，而在进行缩放或浏览界面等基本操作时，内存占用可攀升至 1.5–1.6 GB。对于一台配备 8 GB 内存的电脑来说，这意味着仅这一个应用程序就可能占用系统近 20% 的内存。

By comparison, Apple’s native Weather app on macOS reportedly uses less than 250 MB of RAM under similar conditions, giving Microsoft’s implementation a memory footprint roughly five times larger.

相比之下，据报道，苹果 macOS 上的原生天气应用在类似条件下内存占用不到 250 MB，这意味着微软该应用的内存占用量约为苹果的五倍。

According to Windows Latest, the high memory consumption is due to the fact that Weather is not a fully native Windows application. Instead, it is essentially an MSN Weather web app built on Microsoft’s WebView2 framework. Task Manager shows multiple Chromium-based subprocesses running simultaneously, which contributes to the unusually high RAM usage.

据 Windows Latest 分析，内存占用过高的原因是“天气”并非完全原生的 Windows 应用程序。相反，它本质上是一个基于微软 WebView2 框架构建的 MSN 天气网页应用。任务管理器显示，多个基于 Chromium 的子进程在同时运行，这导致了异常高的内存占用。

The issue is unlikely to affect high-end PCs with 32 GB or more of RAM, but it could have a noticeable impact on entry-level systems. On computers with 8 GB or even 16 GB of memory, launching the Weather app may increase memory pressure enough for Windows to rely more heavily on the page file, potentially making the system feel less responsive.

这个问题不太可能影响配备 32 GB 或更大内存的高端电脑，但对入门级系统可能会产生明显影响。在配备 8 GB 甚至 16 GB 内存的电脑上，启动天气应用可能会增加内存压力，导致 Windows 更频繁地调用虚拟内存（页面文件），从而可能使系统响应变慢。

The application also includes advertising within its interface. According to Windows Latest, sponsored content is embedded directly into the forecast feed, appearing alongside weather cards in a similar visual style. While Microsoft licenses weather data from multiple providers — including Foreca, the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), and other regional meteorological services — the presence of ads in a built-in Windows application has attracted criticism.

该应用还在界面中植入了广告。据 Windows Latest 称，赞助内容直接嵌入在天气预报信息流中，并以与天气卡片相似的视觉风格呈现。尽管微软从包括 Foreca、欧洲中期天气预报中心 (ECMWF) 以及其他区域性气象服务机构在内的多家供应商处获取天气数据授权，但在 Windows 内置应用中投放广告的行为还是招致了批评。

The findings also appear to contradict Microsoft’s recent efforts to improve Windows 11’s efficiency. The company has been updating several built-in applications and has repeatedly said it wants the operating system to perform better on lower-end hardware. Microsoft executive Rudy Huyn has also stated that the company intends to develop more fully native Windows applications in the future, although it remains unclear whether MSN-branded applications such as Weather will eventually be rebuilt using WinUI.

这些发现似乎也与微软近期提升 Windows 11 效率的努力相矛盾。微软一直在更新多款内置应用，并多次表示希望操作系统能在低端硬件上表现更好。微软高管 Rudy Huyn 也曾表示，公司计划在未来开发更多完全原生的 Windows 应用程序，但目前尚不清楚像“天气”这类 MSN 品牌应用最终是否会使用 WinUI 进行重构。