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Widgets were one of the most important parts of last year’s iOS update, and Apple didn’t forget them for iOS 15. Certainly, iOS 15 pays more attention to other features, such as as FaceTime group calls, a new Focus mode and improvements to the existing one. apps – but widgets are getting some welcome additions as well.
Think of widgets in iOS 15 as Apple tweaking the process that started in iOS 14, where you can finally place widgets on the Home screen. In iOS 15, Apple adds its own widgets, tweaking the Smart Stack feature that combines multiple widgets and makes it easier to find new widgets. While these aren’t substantial changes, they’re always welcome and they promise to make the widget experience even better than it was before.
Here’s what to expect from widgets when you download iOS 15, try the public beta now, or wait for the final version to arrive this fall.
Before we meet the new iOS 15 widgets that Apple includes with this software update, let’s take a quick refresher course on what Apple introduced in iOS 14 and where you can find widgets in Apple’s iPhone software.
Widgets are mini-versions of apps that provide information at a glance – the current temperature from the Weather app, your upcoming Calendar appointments, even a selection of your favorite images from Photos. Starting with iOS 14, you can place these widgets on your home screen, and a Smart Stack feature lets you combine multiple widgets, which you can browse or let iOS automatically switch between them.
You have several options for finding widgets. The easiest method is to simply change the home screen you’re on.
1. Long press an app or widget and select Edit Home Screen from the drop-down menu that appears.
2. All apps and widgets on your home screen will start to shake, but you’ll want to press the Plus (+) button in the upper left corner of the screen.
You will be taken to a screen of available widgets, which includes widgets for Apple’s built-in iPhone apps as well as third-party apps installed on your phone.
You can also access the widget menu by swiping right to go to the Today screen, which contains active widgets that you haven’t placed on your Home screen. Scroll to the bottom of the page and press the Edit button. You’ll get the same choppy screen as in step 2 above, and from there you can tap the Plus (+) button to see other available widgets.
So now that you know how to access the widget screen, what can you expect in iOS 15? In addition to the existing widgets for built-in apps that first appeared in last year’s iPhone software update, iOS 15 introduces new widgets for Mail, Find My, Contacts, Sleep, App Store, and Game. Center. Here’s a look at what each offers.
To post: Apple promises quick access to any of your mailboxes through the new Mail widget. So far, the option I have on my widget screen is a list of messages from senders that I have designated as VIP. Both options display either the last two messages or the last four.
Find my: You have a few widget options for Find My – some that let you see your family and friends’ locations, and another that will help you keep tabs on your stuff. Presumably, this last widget will be especially useful if you’ve purchased an Apple AirTag to track keys and other items. Both versions of the Find My widget are available in square and rectangular views.
Contacts: The contacts widget is really something – easily my favorite iOS 15 widget. On the surface, it looks pretty straightforward – the widget has a contact name that you can tap to access their information from the Contacts app. Depending on the size of the widget, you can display from one to six contacts.
But if you interact with that particular contact a lot, the next page that pops up when you tap their name in the widget is a sight to see. Yes, you get quick links to make a phone call, send a text, initiate a FaceTime call, send an email, and even send payments through Apple Pay. But if you interact with that person a lot, you also get a handy summary of your interactions: recent texts and emails as well as photos and links you shared. If there are any upcoming appointments with this contact, they will be there too. It’s incredibly convenient to have all of this information at your fingertips.
To sleep: If you use the sleep tracking feature in the iOS 15 Health app, there is now a widget that details how well you slept (or not in my case) and lets you review your sleep schedule.
Application store: Today Apple’s App Store has its own widget, available as a square, rectangle, or block that fills half the screen. It’s a good way to stay informed about in-app events, and Apple also uses it to highlight curated app collections.
Game center: Apple’s often overlooked game management app now has two widgets – one that shows recently played games and another that lets you see what your GameCenter friends have been playing.
New widgets are the main focus of iOS 15, but the software update also introduces some widget management features. The one I’ve mainly used so far is the ability to rearrange Smart Stacks, i.e. change the order in which widgets cycle through a Smart Stack collection. Presumably, widgets at the top of the list have a higher priority, although widgets can also appear at certain times of the day and in certain places, depending on your activity. (Calendar appointments appear at the start of the day, for example, or the Cards widget appears when you’re away from home.)
Rearranging a smart stack is a simple matter of long pressing the smart stack and selecting Edit Stack from the next drop-down menu. You will get a stack widgets window that you can rearrange by dragging; you can also remove widgets from a stack. I find the move a bit finicky, especially on iPhones with smaller screens, but this fits with my long-standing complaint about handling the home screen – I’d like Apple to suggest a method more precise than displacement.
Other changes to iOS 15 widgets include Apple’s promise to make smart widget suggestions, with widgets for apps you already use automatically appearing in Smart Stacks based on past activity. Apple says there is also a new layout, aimed at helping with the discovery of widgets. I didn’t really notice either feature during my time with the beta of iOS 15.
The ability to add widgets to the Home screen elevated the iOS 14 update a year ago, greatly improving the iPhone experience. iOS 15 doesn’t try anything so drastic, at least not with widgets. But that stays the course, proving that Apple’s approach to widgets is here to stay.
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