How to Find UV Index of Location on iPhone

Want to know what the UV index is of your current location, or somewhere else? Your iPhone can tell you the UV Index of anywhere, and you don’t even need any additional apps.

All you need to use is the default Weather app for iPhone, and with that you can check the UV Index of anywhere in the world, or even right where you’re located at that moment.

As you may know, the default Weather app for iPhone has an extended weather details section that can be accessed by scrolling down, and among the detailed weather specifics now resides UV Index as well. We’ll show you where you can find this helpful information:

How to See the UV Index of a Location with iPhone Weather App

Here is how you can see the UV Index of any place, location, or destination, all right from the iPhone:

1. Open the “Weather” app on the iPhone



2. Weather will load for the current location, but optionally you can swipe to access the location of elsewhere you’d like to check the UV Index for *



3. Scroll down on the location screen of Weather app to reveal extended weather information
4. Look for “UV Index” to see the UV index information for that location

There you have it, now that you know the UV Index of a location, and you can be more prepared with sunblock, hats, sunglasses, a welders mask, solar panels, or whatever other UV exposure precautions you want to take. Or maybe you just want a tan, in which case finding the highest UV Index of a destination may appeal to you.

Optionally, you can use the cool Spotlight Weather search trick to type in any location name (for example, “New York City”) and then tapping on the Spotlight search result. This will open the location in the Weather app where you can find added details, including forecast, and UV Index, but without having to add any additional locations to the Weather app.

And in case you were wondering, despite some of the other weather info you can get from Siri about a location upon request, oddly enough UV Index is not among those available weather details at the moment.

* You can add a new location to the Weather app list by tapping the little three lines button in the bottom right corner of the Weather app for iPhone, and then scrolling all the way to tap on the “(+)” Plus button.

Why should my iPhone care about UV Index?

UV index is a standardized measurement for the strength of ultraviolet radiation being emitted from the sun.

Your iPhone probably doesn’t care much about the UV Index directly (though if left in the hot sun the iPhone can quickly see a temperature warning saying “iPhone needs to cool down” and get surprisingly hot to the touch until it is returned to a cool location again), but YOU might care! Most public health organizations recommend limiting time in high UV Index locations, and at least wearing protective clothing, sunblock, hats, or sunglasses, if you’re venturing into a place with a higher UV index on the scale. You can read more about UV radiation at the World Health Organization if you’re interested. But, we’re talking about the iPhone of course, so this is really just one of those things where the iPhone is helping you prepare for a situation, kind of like knowing if you need to be dressing for snow or rain, or any other time you check the weather and temperature.

Do you have any particularly handy tips about getting this sort of weather and environmental information from the iPhone? Any experience or thoughts with anything to do with ultraviolet light and the iPhone? Share with us in the comments!