Either there is a weirdly specific glitch plaguing iPhones right now, or Apple is refusing to show us the number 69. Give us our fave number back, cowards!
The Verge reported that in some versions of iOS (including the current one), Apple’s weather app just straight up refuses to show the weather as 69 degrees Fahrenheit – even when that’s the accurate temperature. Instead, it jumps from 68 degrees to 70 degrees.
It’s not clear yet whether this is something intentional to try and prevent 69 jokes, or if it’s just a glitch in the matrix.
Apple hasn’t issued a statement as to why 69 degrees Fahrenheit just doesn’t exist on its app yet, but some Twitter users have a theory.
I’d take a guess that the source data is in celsius and is converted then rounded:
20C = 68F
21C = 69.8F (70F)Probably means a bunch of different fahrenheit won’t be shown, like 76F for example
— Ian Brennan (@nannerb) July 13, 2021
It turns out 20 degrees Celsius converts to 68 degrees Fahrenheit, but 21 degrees Celsius converts to 69.8 degrees Fahrenheit. And if you round that up, it becomes 70 degrees Fahrenheit. So it’s possible that actually Apple just gets its weather data in Celsius and then converts it to Fahrenheit for those who use that metric.
Which would make sense because Celsius is obviously the superior measure of temperature. Americans can fuck off with their confusing Fahrenheit bullshit. I mean, 0 degrees Celsius is the temperature water freezes at and 100 degrees Celsius is the temperature water boils at. Celsius just makes so much more sense!
Anyway, the Twitter theory becomes more legit considering The Verge also reported there are other numbers that don’t show up either, and those numbers also skip a degree when converted into Celsius.
So hey, maybe Apple aren’t cowards – or maybe this is all a convenient part of their plan to escape detection. Who knows.
