how to set up widgets on iphone

To see what goodies Apple has in store for iPad and iPhone users, read our guides to iPadOS 14 and iOS 14. MyFitnessPal is a good alternative to Apple Health and the widget allows you to enter your calorie counts after each meal via its catalogue of meals. Things 3 can be a great tool for organising your life and the widget instantly shows all of your tasks for today, plus allowing you to tick items off your list. It’s something we’ve seen a variation of previously on iPadOS, but it’s brand new for iPhone.

Use widgets on iPads

how to set up widgets on iphone

To do this, swipe in from the left to reveal the Today View widget, then scroll down to the bottom of the panel until you see the Edit option. Tap this and select the Keep on Home Screen option at the top of the page. With iPadOS, Apple introduced the ability to have the Today View widget on the home screen. You can access this at any time by swiping in from the left, but for a more permanent fixture you can actually pin it to the Home screen. Swiping right on the home screen opens the Today View page where all of the widgets live.

  1. Click the plus icon in the top left corner of your iPhone display to open the widget menu.
  2. The steps above work for making all kinds of widgets, and there is no limit to how many widgets you can make with Widgetsmith.
  3. Of course, there’s no need to transform your iPhone displays into a meticulously coordinated theme.
  4. A Smart Stack is a pre-built collection of widgets that displays the right widget based on factors like your location, an activity, or time.

How to add widgets to your Home Screen

As you’re starting out with the app, we recommend you customize the “Today” widget. While Watchsmith is great for creating simple custom widgets, you can do some really complex things with Widgeridoo. The best thing about Widgeridoo is how it lets you bring multiple data types into a single widget.

That button takes you directly to a widget panel, where you can select blockchain pascal’s mining calculator 2020 the exact type and size of widget you want. Have you ever swiped right on your iPhone’s Lock screen or Home screen? That’s the Today View screen with widgets from Apple’s stock apps. If you want to customize this screen, you can add and customize widgets from third-party apps as well as reorder everything that’s already there.

Set up and run shortcuts from a widget on iPhone or iPad

That list also includes an option for creating a Smart Stack widget. We’ll tell you how to make a Smart Stack widget in a separate article. After adding and reordering widgets, you might want to remove some of Apple’s stock widgets. To do this, simply tap on the red Minus (-) button.

How to make custom iPhone widgets and app icons with iOS 14

Tap on the Plus button at the top of your phone’s screen. In this example, we’re going with “Distance Today.” You can scroll down and choose a border as well.

Fortunately, the process is pretty simple, with Apple giving you two ways to tweak your iPhone’s home screen by adding widgets. To move the widget around the screen or to another screen, just long-press it until it starts to shake and then move it where you want it. If you want to get rid of the widget, long-press to bring up a remove option. Swipe all the way down to the bottom of the widgets screen and tap on the “Edit” button to customize the Today View screen.

Enter edit mode by long pressing on the widget you want to move off the Today screen. You can drag the widget to place it where you want, or tap anywhere on the screen to exit edit mode. On the subsequent page, you’ll see a collection of available widgets. Apple’s widgets appear at the top, followed by widgets for third-party apps. Scroll down the screen to see an alphabetical list of widgets available by app.

How to add and edit widgets on your iPhone

You can go back and customize one of the other widget templates. From here, you can change the alignment, font, the background color, and the foreground color. Lastly, go to the “Background Color” section.

You can add or remove widgets manually, and the process is easy. Open the widget page (or Today View as Apple calls it) through one of the methods outlined above, then scroll down to the bottom until you see the Edit button. Widgets are a quick and easy way to add extra functionality to your iPhone or iPad, bringing you the information you need at a glance. They are small programs that provide shortcuts to features normally found inside your apps. Drag the widget off the Today screen to wherever you want to place it on the home screen. Tap anywhere when you’re done to exit edit mode.

To reorder widgets, tap on the three-line Handle icon found on the right edge of the screen and then drag each item to reorganize the list. To get started, swipe right when you’re on your iPhone’s Home screen to access the Today View. Here, you can swipe up to view more widgets and tap on any of the arrow buttons to expand or contract a widget. After opening the Widgeridoo app, you’ll find a collection of pre-made widgets.

By Barbara Krasnoff, a reviews editor who manages how-tos. She’s worked as an editor and writer for almost 40 years. Previously, she was a senior reviews editor for Computerworld.