Gadget bridge is amazing. I use it all the time with my Amazfit watch. Very privacy friendly, the app doesn't even ask for internet permission. It syncs better than the other third-party is app "Notify for Amazfit". That one always stopped syncing activities after a while.
Unfortunately it has some problems too. The weather function requires a third party app (because of the lack of internet permission) that fails to update automatically. And many features are not supported or don't work well.
But it serves me well overall with some workarounds with my Amazfit GTS 2 mini. I have a pinetime too but that still needs a lot of love to be usable.
Weather notification updates fine for me after disabling Android's power saving mode on the applet (aka "duraspeed" / "background killer" / "battery optimization" depending on the device).
I tried that of course but it's not working on my Galaxy A52s :( With the german weather app (the weather notification one didn't update at all even manually)
Personally I don't prefer the Tiny Weather Forecast Germany app as the Weather Notifications app has been super stable and reliable for me on several devices. You need own OpenWeatherMap API key, see full details here https://codeberg.org/Freeyourgadget/Gadgetbridge/wiki/Weathe...
I used it too with Amazfit Bip watch. No complaints, recommended. I installed it before my first use of the watch, and never had to connect with the manufacturer at all. This does mean I never had a basis to compare with the manufacturer's app.
I currently use an Apple watch only because I needed more capabilities.
If you hide the weather app's notification on my device, it won't update because it stops running in the background. If I leave the notification present, it will keep updating the weather.
Ah I'm not using the weather notification app though, I use the German weather app. The other one failed to work at all (though it is probably because I hid the notification, indeed). I hate a phone full of notifications.
But it shouldn't be necessary, even Gadgetbridge itself works fine in the background while hiding the running notification :)
I really wish it had weather retrieval simply built-in to be honest. I know it's slightly more trustworthy with no internet access in its manifest, but really it's open source, we can check exactly what it's doing.
Yes, the pairing on Miband/Amazfit devices seems cryptographically safe, meaning in order to pair, you must first connect it to the official app, get the auth key and pair with Gadgetbridge. You should uninstall the original app then, without unpairing. See details here https://codeberg.org/Freeyourgadget/Gadgetbridge/wiki/Pairin...
Unfortunately it has some problems too. The weather function requires a third party app (because of the lack of internet permission) that fails to update automatically. And many features are not supported or don't work well.
But it serves me well overall with some workarounds with my Amazfit GTS 2 mini. I have a pinetime too but that still needs a lot of love to be usable.