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If you’ve updated your iPhone to iOS 14, then you have a helpful new tool that can change the way you use your phone — widgets. With iOS 14, you can now add widgets to your iPhone’s home screen to make your phone work better for you.
With widgets, you can get instant information, without having to open an app, tap on your screen, or talk to Siri. The information is ready when you look at your home screen. Widgets make your phone even more useful and can save you the time and hassle of opening apps to get the information you want.
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About iPhone Home Screen Widgets
The two best reasons to add widgets to your iPhone is because they’re easy to add and helpful to have. By spending a few minutes setting up widgets on your iPhone home screen you can have the most useful apps giving you instant information at a glance.
Using widgets, you can see at a glance the local weather forecast, favorite photos, recent Apple Notes, news, IMDB recommendations, your calendar events for the day, your todo list, reminders, and more. Widgets make important information readily available on your home screen.
If you use the Today screen on your iPhone, you’re already using widgets on your iPhone. By swiping to the right from your first home screen page, you can see the widgets you have on your Today screen.
See => Today Widgets – A Handy New Tool for Your iPhone
iOS 14 adds the ability to widgets to your home screen for the first time. Now you don’t even have to swipe right to see widgets on your iPhone. They can be available as soon as you unlock your phone.
What Is a Widget?
Widgets are like apps, in fact they’re based on apps. But unlike apps, widgets provide information without you having to open them to see that information.
Information is shown on widgets when you look at your home screen, without you having to open an app. For example, instead of having to open the Weather app to get your local forecast, you can use the Weather widget to see the forecast at a glance. The Stocks widget can show information about the market and your favorite stocks right on your home screen. The Fitness app widget can show you how close you are to closing the circles on your Apple Watch. Your Calendar widget can show you the events on your schedule today.
Both Apple apps and some third-party apps offer iPhone widgets to add to your home screen. So if you prefer using The Weather Channel app to using the Apple Weather app, you may prefer using The Weather Channel widget to using the Apple Weather widget.
How to Add Widgets to Your Home Screen
Adding widgets to your home screen is easy and quick. With just a few simple steps you can add widgets to your iPhone home screen.
To add widgets to your home screen, press and hold an empty space on your home screen. Tap the + button in the upper left corner of the screen.
A new window will appear, showing you widget options. You can swipe through them or search for apps you’d like to add as widgets.
Tap a widget you’d like to add to your home screen. You can choose from three sizes of widgets: small, medium, and large. The larger the widget, the more information it can provide but the more space it takes up on your home screen. You’ll see how much information is shown on a widget when you’re choosing what size widget you’d like to add.
When you’re finished choosing your widget and its size, tap + Add Widget. You’ll see the widget on your home screen.
Smart Stacks
If you become a fan of widgets, you may wish you had more screen space to devote to them. Good news, Apple introduced a helpful widget feature called Smart Stacks. With Smart Stacks, you can stack up to 10 widgets and Siri will show you the top widget according to the time of day when you usually use it. You can also swipe through the widgets in your Smart Stack to view all of the widgets you’ve added to the stack.
To add a Smart Stack widget to your home screen, press a blank space on your home screen and tap the + button in the upper left corner of the screen. On the window that opens, swipe down to Smart Stack or search for “Smart Stack” in the search window.
Tap Smart Stack and choose the widgets you want to add to the stack. You can add up to 10 widgets in your Smart Stack.
Editing, Moving, and Deleting Widgets
After you’ve added widgets to your iPhone home screen, you may want to change your widgets. Perhaps you want to change the size of a widget, move a widget to a different home screen page, or delete a widget from your home screen. You may find that you’re not using the widget as much as you thought, you want it bigger so you can see more information, or smaller so that the widget takes up less space on your home screen.
How to Edit a Widget
To edit a widget, touch and hold the widget until a menu appears. Tap Edit Widget.
On the next window you’ll see the options for editing the widget. For example, with the Weather widget, you’re given the option of editing the widget to show the weather for your current location or to show the weather for a different location.
How to Move a Widget
Moving widgets around your home screen is like moving apps around your home screen. Touch and hold the widget you want to move. On the menu that appears, tap Edit Home Screen.
Widgets and apps on your home screen will be jiggling. Drag and drop the widget into the location and page on your home screen where you want the widget to appear. Tap a blank space on the home screen to stop the apps and widgets from jiggling.
How to Delete a Widget from Your Home Screen
To delete a widget from your home screen, touch and hold the widget. When the menu appears, tap Remove Widget.
Your iPhone will ask you to confirm your choice. Tap Remove to confirm and delete the widget from your home screen.
As of this writing, the only way to change the size of a widget is to remove it and re-add it choosing a different size.
Getting the Best Widgets for You
After you’ve used widgets for a while, you’ll learn what types of widgets work best for you. Widgets with updates about current information such as the News app or Stocks may be your preference. Or you may like to reminisce with widgets such as Photos and Apple Music. Or maybe you like handy shortcuts such as App Suggestions.
You can search for “Best iPhone Widgets” on the Internet, but what is best for others might not be best for you. Also, check back to see which third-party apps have added widgets to the iPhone. If your favorite app doesn’t have a widget available yet, check back in a few weeks or months to see whether a widget becomes available.
Your Thoughts
Have you added widgets to your iPhone home screen? Which widgets are your favorites? Have you used Smart Stack to add a bunch of widgets to your home screen?
Share your thoughts in the Comments section below!
Wow those are really nice widgets. I need to update my iPhone so I can set them up.
Hi Uvoz, Yes, you need to update your iPhone to iOS 14 to add widgets to your home screen. I hope you enjoy them!
Something that always had on Android now making life easier for IOS users! Great post! Thank you!!
Hi Tony, You’re right, Android users have had widgets for quite a long time. It’s great that iPhone users can enjoy them now too.
Thanks, great tips. I love having a countdown widget to count down to the next big date in the future.
Hi Nina, That sounds like a very handy widget to have. Perhaps you could add it to a Smart Stack with other helpful widgets!
Very useful post Carolyn, I must install this widget to my I phone especially for business purposes to get the latest updates of the dollar and gold prices and also to get the latest weather updates and thanks for sharing you just explain this in an easy and simple way good writing
Hi Bilal, Yes, new widgets are constantly being released, making this new feature of iOS 14 even more useful. Thank you for your kind words, Bilal.