diff --git a/apps/docs/docs/advanced/environment-variables/index.mdx b/apps/docs/docs/advanced/environment-variables/index.mdx
index d9aa03901..d81c57160 100644
--- a/apps/docs/docs/advanced/environment-variables/index.mdx
+++ b/apps/docs/docs/advanced/environment-variables/index.mdx
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ Using the `PUID` and `PGID` will require you to set the correct permissions on t
 | `PGID`                   | Group ID to run the container as                                                                                                                                                                                                       | Any valid group ID                  | `0`                           |
 | `LOG_LEVEL`              | Log level to use                                                                                                                                                                                                                       | `debug` / `info` / `warn` / `error` | `info`                        |
 | `BASE_URL`               | Public Homarr origin used by MCP OAuth metadata and redirects. Set this when a reverse proxy does not preserve the public host and protocol.                                                                                           | HTTP(S) origin without a path       | -                             |
-| `NO_EXTERNAL_CONNECTION` | Disables Homarr's internet-backed requests, including update checks, weather, and RSS feeds                                                                                                                                            | `true` or `false`                   | `false`                       |
+| `NO_EXTERNAL_CONNECTION` | Disables Homarr's internet-backed requests, including update checks, weather, location search, and RSS feeds                                                                                                                           | `true` or `false`                   | `false`                       |
 | `ENABLE_DNS_CACHING`     | Enables dns caching. Enabled by default, but if you experience issues with IPv6 or static IPs, see [#4006](https://github.com/homarr-labs/homarr/issues/4006) or disable this flag                                                     | `true` or `false`                   | `true`                        |
 | `HOMARR_DISABLE_IPV6`    | Disables the IPv6 listener of the internal nginx proxy, even when the host supports IPv6. IPv6 is normally disabled automatically when the host has no IPv6 configured. See [#4596](https://github.com/homarr-labs/homarr/issues/4596) | `true` or `false`                   | `false`                       |
 | `HOMARR_WEBSITE_URL`     | Main Homarr documentation/site base used by runtime links. Must be an absolute HTTP(S) URL.                                                                                                                                            | HTTP(S) URL                         | `https://homarr.dev`          |
diff --git a/apps/docs/docs/widgets/weather/index.mdx b/apps/docs/docs/widgets/weather/index.mdx
index 931cb87b6..1ec1cabcd 100644
--- a/apps/docs/docs/widgets/weather/index.mdx
+++ b/apps/docs/docs/widgets/weather/index.mdx
@@ -31,5 +31,6 @@ adds hourly temperature and precipitation charts and the complete seven-day fore
 Weather and location data come from Open-Meteo. Active weather refreshes every ten minutes; identical location requests
 can reuse a server response for five minutes. Failed refreshes keep the last successful data with an error indicator.
 
-Set `NO_EXTERNAL_CONNECTION=true` to disable this and other internet-backed requests. Allowlist
-`https://open-meteo.com` when outbound access is restricted.
+Set `NO_EXTERNAL_CONNECTION=true` to disable this and other internet-backed requests. Weather data and the city search
+inside the widget configuration are unavailable while it is enabled. Allowlist `https://open-meteo.com` when outbound
+access is restricted.
diff --git a/packages/api/src/router/location.ts b/packages/api/src/router/location.ts
index 050d66cb4..c5687a0be 100644
--- a/packages/api/src/router/location.ts
+++ b/packages/api/src/router/location.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import { z } from "zod/v4";
 
+import { env } from "@homarr/common/env";
 import { fetchWithTrustedCertificatesAsync } from "@homarr/core/infrastructure/http";
 import { withTimeoutAsync } from "@homarr/core/infrastructure/http/timeout";
 
@@ -37,6 +38,8 @@ export const locationRouter = createTRPCRouter({
     .input(locationSearchCityInput)
     .output(locationSearchCityOutput)
     .query(async ({ input }) => {
+      if (env.NO_EXTERNAL_CONNECTION) return { results: [] };
+
       const url = new URL("https://geocoding-api.open-meteo.com/v1/search");
       url.searchParams.set("name", input.query);
       const res = await withTimeoutAsync(async (signal) => {
diff --git a/packages/translation/src/lang/en.json b/packages/translation/src/lang/en.json
index a4f0fd69e..3ef6ed947 100644
--- a/packages/translation/src/lang/en.json
+++ b/packages/translation/src/lang/en.json
@@ -3125,6 +3125,7 @@
         }
       },
       "currentWindSpeed": "{currentWindSpeed} {unit}",
+      "disabled": "Weather data is unavailable because outbound connections are disabled",
       "dailyForecast": {
         "sunrise": "Sunrise",
         "sunset": "Sunset",
diff --git a/packages/widgets/src/weather/component.tsx b/packages/widgets/src/weather/component.tsx
index 9b47565d2..d78a0ce3a 100644
--- a/packages/widgets/src/weather/component.tsx
+++ b/packages/widgets/src/weather/component.tsx
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 "use client";
 
-import { Box } from "@mantine/core";
+import { Box, Center, Text } from "@mantine/core";
 
 import { clientApi } from "@homarr/api/client";
+import { useI18n } from "@homarr/translation/client";
 
-import { WidgetEmptyState } from "../common/empty-state";
 import { getUsableWidgetQueryData, isInitialWidgetQueryPending } from "../common/query-state";
 import { WidgetQueryLoadingState } from "../common/query-state-indicator";
 import type { WidgetComponentProps } from "../definition";
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ export default function WeatherWidget({
   height,
   displayMode,
 }: WidgetComponentProps<"weather">) {
+  const t = useI18n("widget.weather");
   const input = {
     latitude: options.location.latitude,
     longitude: options.location.longitude,
@@ -27,7 +28,15 @@ export default function WeatherWidget({
   const weather = getUsableWidgetQueryData(weatherQuery);
 
   if (isInitialWidgetQueryPending(weatherQuery)) return <WidgetQueryLoadingState />;
-  if (!weather) return <WidgetEmptyState />;
+  if (!weather) {
+    return (
+      <Center h="100%" w="100%" p="sm">
+        <Text c="dimmed" size="sm" ta="center">
+          {t("disabled")}
+        </Text>
+      </Center>
+    );
+  }
 
   return (
     <Box className={classes.weatherSurface} h="100%" w="100%" pos="relative">