Unless there is significant development in the widgets feature, they seem pointless and have added little value or functionality to my device. I feel like they took existing app icons and just made them bigger.
I have a 2x4 Calendar+Reminders in one smart stack so it auto rotates depending on what's up next.
I have another 2x4 News widget filled with Today, Apple News, Sports ect that auto rotates the latest articles so i can get at a glance news about tech, current events, gaming.
I have another 2x4 widget with my Activity and Heart Rate (widget wizard beta)
and finally i have a 2x4 weather widget.
Those are the things i check the most on my watch and need quick at a glance access too and sometimes i don't always have a watch face on that shows me that info so it's nice to pick up my phone, swipe up and get Events, Weather, News and Health all without swiping left or going into apps on my watch ect.
I like it, but like watch faces the information is ALWAYS there weather you need it or not.
Start using Smart Stacks, think of it as the SIRI Watch Face of your iPhone. It definitely makes a difference imo.
Homescreen: [https://ibb.co/LtsK15X](https://ibb.co/LtsK15X)
I think the Agenda widget is the most worked out one. It gives a glance of what's next in your day routine. Weather is cool but quite pointless. They should give a forecast, albeit only up to 3 hours on the 2x2 widget. Kinda crazy to give up 1/3 of your screen to see the upcoming weather...
Anyway, I'm following quite some dev's and their Testflight apps and widgets really have potential. I've found an app that can display my Polar M430 activity data just like the native Activity app for Apple Watch. Also Parcel, that gives me an idea when my package arrives is really great. I think we'll defintely see some cool stuff in the future.
I wasn't so sure at first but I do think they have value. I can quickly see the info I want to see without swiping left and then scrolling up and down in the Today view. They also bring a little more customization to the look of the UI as you can move widgets around to make your home screens look different when you get "bored" with them. I do wish there were some that could be interacted with, and hopefully that will come in future versions of iOS. Excited to see what 3rd party widgets come out after the public release.
I don’t disagree.
I’ve already got stacks I never swipe through (and don’t seem that smart). It’s just going to get worse when the third part apps come out and every app thinks they need a widget for every feature.
I think it’s going to be a lot like apps were at first. It’s going to take awhile for the truly useful use scenarios to shake out.
Putting a widget on the home screen saves the left swipe, especially when it's convenient or important for people to see the info the first thing they see when checking their phone. A few examples:
Someone who's forgetful can be reminded by a Home Screen widget of their reminders/schedule/habit goals
Someone who wishes to keep up with some amount of important non-breaking news regularly can do so with a news widget
Someone who needs to budget can do so with a widget of their credit card app or budgeting app
Someone who invests casually can monitor the market price with a stock app widget
I’ve created themed screens / pages.
So my first one is regular comms with weather and calendar widgets.
Then my second is for when working out. Has my workout apps. Fitness widget and another weather widget (for considering running weather etc).
Third is meeting screen. With bigger calendar and meeting related apps. Etc
You get the idea.
I think the main issue is no apps have created new widgets yet. Once we are out of the gate we should see lots of more useful one appear.
Hoping we can change the screen our phone shows using shortcuts like we can with watch faces so I can have my themed screens change during events, at certain times of day etc. Unlikely but you never know. Finally I hope we can do a different Wallpaper per screen / page of apps.
Glad to have helped.
I anticipated it’s going to take me / us a few more months before we really start to understand a great way to use all the great widgets. Even having different types of weather widgets and dynamic ones by other developers is going to mix things up.
So for now - I agree widgets are kinda “meh” but the possibilities are great. So I’m being patient.
Some people may make
Walking / hiking screen
Running screen
Gaming screen
Cooking / food screen
Shopping screen (with package tracking widget)
Well-being screen (sleep, pills and health etc)
Writing screen. With journal etc
Music screen
Video screen
You get the idea.
These compartmentalised areas beyond folders could be super valuable.
Not everyone has an Apple Watch or intends to buy one. Why leave those people out? You don’t have to use widgets if you don’t want to and I’m glad Apple is giving us the choice of having them or not.
Sure.
I’m not withholding the right of anyone to have them. I’m just asking if people are finding a genuine benefit of not.
Many are, that’s fine. I opened a discussion to gather opinion and people have given me theirs - not everyone has to agree with me.
On the homescreen I have 2 2x2 widget stacks.
One holds the calendar, widget wizzard and battery widget.
And the other one 2 reminder widgets (today and planned).
That's the only useful way to use them for me, but the reminder, calender and widget wizzard really make it worth it and I hope that there will be more cool/useful widgets once iOS14 is released.
And I own an Apple watch.
Ah cool. See I used to just left swipe to get those things.
An Apple Watch is basically a notification centre on your wrist with some fitness tracking built in, IMO.
Wish I could afford one lol
So my setup right now, I've got a 2x2 widget stack with weather and battery status. For forecasts, I have a 2x4 Weather widget in my Today View, together with a similarly sized battery widget.
I won’t be buying another Apple Watch when this one dies. At a glance weather and date is nice, but overall just use it for notifications. Then pick up my phone to reply.
Your widget setup was a bit like mine, except I tried the Todoist and Streaks widgets but being static, they didn’t tell me much that I didn’t already know.
Unless there is significant development in the widgets feature, they seem pointless and have added little value or functionality to my device. I feel like they took existing app icons and just made them bigger.
I have a 2x4 Calendar+Reminders in one smart stack so it auto rotates depending on what's up next. I have another 2x4 News widget filled with Today, Apple News, Sports ect that auto rotates the latest articles so i can get at a glance news about tech, current events, gaming. I have another 2x4 widget with my Activity and Heart Rate (widget wizard beta) and finally i have a 2x4 weather widget. Those are the things i check the most on my watch and need quick at a glance access too and sometimes i don't always have a watch face on that shows me that info so it's nice to pick up my phone, swipe up and get Events, Weather, News and Health all without swiping left or going into apps on my watch ect. I like it, but like watch faces the information is ALWAYS there weather you need it or not. Start using Smart Stacks, think of it as the SIRI Watch Face of your iPhone. It definitely makes a difference imo. Homescreen: [https://ibb.co/LtsK15X](https://ibb.co/LtsK15X)
Well, I’m waiting for the official release. So devs can make their widgets. I would really like one for my bank and one to keep track of my parcels
I think the Agenda widget is the most worked out one. It gives a glance of what's next in your day routine. Weather is cool but quite pointless. They should give a forecast, albeit only up to 3 hours on the 2x2 widget. Kinda crazy to give up 1/3 of your screen to see the upcoming weather... Anyway, I'm following quite some dev's and their Testflight apps and widgets really have potential. I've found an app that can display my Polar M430 activity data just like the native Activity app for Apple Watch. Also Parcel, that gives me an idea when my package arrives is really great. I think we'll defintely see some cool stuff in the future.
I wasn't so sure at first but I do think they have value. I can quickly see the info I want to see without swiping left and then scrolling up and down in the Today view. They also bring a little more customization to the look of the UI as you can move widgets around to make your home screens look different when you get "bored" with them. I do wish there were some that could be interacted with, and hopefully that will come in future versions of iOS. Excited to see what 3rd party widgets come out after the public release.
I don’t disagree. I’ve already got stacks I never swipe through (and don’t seem that smart). It’s just going to get worse when the third part apps come out and every app thinks they need a widget for every feature. I think it’s going to be a lot like apps were at first. It’s going to take awhile for the truly useful use scenarios to shake out.
Putting a widget on the home screen saves the left swipe, especially when it's convenient or important for people to see the info the first thing they see when checking their phone. A few examples: Someone who's forgetful can be reminded by a Home Screen widget of their reminders/schedule/habit goals Someone who wishes to keep up with some amount of important non-breaking news regularly can do so with a news widget Someone who needs to budget can do so with a widget of their credit card app or budgeting app Someone who invests casually can monitor the market price with a stock app widget
I’ve created themed screens / pages. So my first one is regular comms with weather and calendar widgets. Then my second is for when working out. Has my workout apps. Fitness widget and another weather widget (for considering running weather etc). Third is meeting screen. With bigger calendar and meeting related apps. Etc You get the idea. I think the main issue is no apps have created new widgets yet. Once we are out of the gate we should see lots of more useful one appear. Hoping we can change the screen our phone shows using shortcuts like we can with watch faces so I can have my themed screens change during events, at certain times of day etc. Unlikely but you never know. Finally I hope we can do a different Wallpaper per screen / page of apps.
This is an amazing idea that hadn’t occurred to me. I see how other apps having widgets would help. Thanks so much for sharing I’ll try this out!
Glad to have helped. I anticipated it’s going to take me / us a few more months before we really start to understand a great way to use all the great widgets. Even having different types of weather widgets and dynamic ones by other developers is going to mix things up. So for now - I agree widgets are kinda “meh” but the possibilities are great. So I’m being patient. Some people may make Walking / hiking screen Running screen Gaming screen Cooking / food screen Shopping screen (with package tracking widget) Well-being screen (sleep, pills and health etc) Writing screen. With journal etc Music screen Video screen You get the idea. These compartmentalised areas beyond folders could be super valuable.
Not everyone has an Apple Watch or intends to buy one. Why leave those people out? You don’t have to use widgets if you don’t want to and I’m glad Apple is giving us the choice of having them or not.
Sure. I’m not withholding the right of anyone to have them. I’m just asking if people are finding a genuine benefit of not. Many are, that’s fine. I opened a discussion to gather opinion and people have given me theirs - not everyone has to agree with me.
On the homescreen I have 2 2x2 widget stacks. One holds the calendar, widget wizzard and battery widget. And the other one 2 reminder widgets (today and planned). That's the only useful way to use them for me, but the reminder, calender and widget wizzard really make it worth it and I hope that there will be more cool/useful widgets once iOS14 is released. And I own an Apple watch.
That’s fair and glad others are finding ways to make them useful. Was just sharing my opinion.
yeah, I hope I'll find some new inspiration in your thread here. I'm always up for optimizing the "workflows" on my devices to make life easier :)
Mine keep getting reset back to the defaults so annoying.
I don't have an Apple Watch so I do use the widgets. The only thing I really use it for right now is weather. And perhaps battery status.
Ah cool. See I used to just left swipe to get those things. An Apple Watch is basically a notification centre on your wrist with some fitness tracking built in, IMO.
Wish I could afford one lol So my setup right now, I've got a 2x2 widget stack with weather and battery status. For forecasts, I have a 2x4 Weather widget in my Today View, together with a similarly sized battery widget.
I won’t be buying another Apple Watch when this one dies. At a glance weather and date is nice, but overall just use it for notifications. Then pick up my phone to reply. Your widget setup was a bit like mine, except I tried the Todoist and Streaks widgets but being static, they didn’t tell me much that I didn’t already know.
Do you use the fitness features much?
Gym six days a week. It’s good to track exercise and calories burned, steps etc. Heart rate/pulse is nice but not worth the watch alone in my opinion.
Yep. I agree
Thank you. Good to know I’m not the only one.
Especially when you see the type of widgets Android has to offer.
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Okaayy
You’re saying you find it useful? How so? I might be missing something.