People are just realizing what the bars in the weather app really mean and it's blowing minds

If you're one of the many that is confused by the yellow bars on the weather app, don't worry, you're not alone.

Turns out, they actually serve a pretty useful purpose.

A Reddit user recently shared a screenshot of their weather app, asking why the bars weren’t always the same length.

They posted: “I always thought it was just the temperature range but why is one bar slightly longer than the other when the temperature range is exactly the same for both days?”

Thankfully, the internet being the internet, people came to the rescue and jumped in with explanations.

One person provided their own screenshot and explained: “My understanding is that the bars represent the temperature range relative to the 10-day forecast, with the bar showing how close a day’s forecast is to the min and max temps over the 10 days.

iPhone users have been wondering what the bars mean for ages (NurPhoto / Contributor / Getty)

“In my screenshot, you can see that 4° C is the lowest temp in the 10 days, and so that day starts at the very left. 20° C is the highest temp, so that bar goes all the way to the right. A forecast like today’s only goes between 7 - 15° C, so the range of the bar is shorter.”

Another person weighed in how the bars are a ‘visual representation’ of the daily temperature range, adding: “It makes it easier to compare day to day temperature changes and trends.”

What's more is the colour of the bars also changes depending on the temperature.

So 'dark blue is for temperatures below 0 Celsius' whilst 'light blue' covers '0-15 Celsius'.

This follows on to 'green 15-20 Celsius, yellow 20-25, orange 25-30 and red 30 Celsius plus.'

Some users classed this discovery as eye-opening, with one calling it a 'nifty feature,' while another joked it’s just a 'visual representation of daily misery.'

The iPhone weather app continues to evolve as we get new versions of iOS (Reddit/MayBeJen_)

However, not everyone is on the same page when it comes to how the app looks. One confused user asked: “Wait when did you guys get bars?”

The latest launch of Apple's iOS 18 introduced two major changes to their built-in weather app.

One feature is the 'Feels Like' Temperature which lets users get a more accurate sense of the day's weather.

However, this only appears when there's a significant difference between it and the actual temperature. It tends to display where current conditions would be. Also, the app now displays personalised weather reports which allows users to see weather forecasts for saved addresses.

As for its accuracy, Apple explains in its guide to the app that it uses data from national weather services - just like most weather apps.