Google’s weather frog spotted on smart displays – The Verge

Google is testing a new background for Assistant smart displays that shows a cartoon frog enjoying, or coping with, the weather in real-time. The character, Froggy, has previously been a fixture in Google’s weather search results, and has also moonlighted as a minor character in several Google Doodles. Now 9to5Google reports that the critter is randomly cropping up as a new “Photo Frame” option for the smart displays for users on Reddit and Twitter, where it appears alongside existing backgrounds like images displayed from your Google Photos account.

The software describes the screensaver as “a lovable frog to bring you an animated weather experience.” When enabled, the display shows the current weather, a two-day weather forecast, and an animation of Froggy in the current conditions. 9to5Google notes that these animations include Froggy sunbathing when the weather’s good, or hiding under a plant pot when it’s raining.

Froggy has been appearing on smart displays since at least September last year. When available more widely, the background will appear as an option in response to the “Hey Google, change photo frame” voice command.