Why waste your precious time opening different apps when you can access essential information related to an app right from the home screen? You heard it right.
Whether you want to get the latest email, work on related information, or listen to your favourite music, you can do it all without having to jump into another app. These are possible with iPhone home screen widgets, which are worth a look. Here we are listing down our latest roundup of useful iPhone widgets before jumping to any conclusion.
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Best Useful Widgets for iPhone in 2022
Keeping in mind the various requirements, we have handpicked a wide range of iPhone widgets. From the sticky notes widget to music discovery to favourite contacts, the roundup is full of variety so you can pick the widget that best suits your needs. Notably, we’ve included both the Today View and Home screen widgets. So, without further ado, let’s explore them all….!
1. Launcher
It is the most powerful widget on your iPhone that you can use to quickly launch your favourite apps. The widget app is fully customizable and you can fine-tune it to call, message, email, and even kickstart FaceTime video calls. Not just that, you can also use it to quickly access your favourite websites. In addition, you can also play your preferred music from your music app with music launchers and even change app icons, labels and stack widgets.
Considering all these, it’s one of the most useful iPhone widgets right now. However, you need to have the premium version of Launcher to unlock all the goodies.
Install now: (Free, in-app purchases)
2. Widgetsmith
Widgetsmith is another fully customizable iPhone widget that you can fine-tune as per your choice. It houses a collection of widgets, due to which it is one of the most loved home screen widgets among iPhone users.
You can dynamically schedule your custom widgets to show weather information in the morning, calendar during the workday, and the super handy activity progress (requires Apple Watch) in the evening. You can also access cool features like tide and weather however you need to upgrade to the premium version of the widget app.
Install now: (Free, $1.99/month)
3. Spotify
With over 365 million active users worldwide, Spotify is one of the best music streaming apps ever. So, it is worth paying attention to the newly launched iOS home screen widget of Spotify.
Using the Spotify iOS widget, you can access recently played playlists, artists, albums, and podcasts directly from the home screen. Although currently, the Spotify widget offers limited customization options, it will soon be adding some design tools for fun-loving customization.
Install now: (free)
4. Photo Widget: Simple
The iPhone comes with the Apple Photos app widget but it doesn’t offer much customization. The stock photo widget app automatically picks the featured image. This can be annoying sometimes, especially if you don’t want those pictures to appear on the home screen. And this is where a really cool third-party iPhone Photos widget comes into play.
With the help of this widget, you can create an album of images and set the desired refresh interval so that they cycle automatically. And if you’ve ever wanted to hide something specific, you can do so without breaking a sweat. Considering these remarkable features, Photo Widget: Simple we rated as one of the best free iOS home screen widgets.
Install now: (Free)
5. Mail App
This may not be the best email app, but the default mail app on iPhone is very powerful and helpful. It comes with its own home screen widget, which makes it easier than ever.
With the Mail app widget, you can choose from two different sizes (2×4, 4×4). The widget can help you access your emails from the selected mailbox, and you can even tap on a particular email to open it directly in the Mail app.
Comes pre-installed
6. Smart Stack
There’s a lot to like about this iPhone widget. It has the ability to show information depending on how you use your iPhone. For example, the widget will display podcasts when you like to catch up with your podcast and show reminders when you like to check what’s ready for you.
Interestingly, it is a combination of several app widgets including Photos, Music, Reminders, Weather, Calendar and also includes Siri Suggestions. You can scroll through the widgets to take a look at essential information from the home screen and you can even customize the Smart Stack to suit your needs.
Comes Pre-installed
7. Apollo for Reddit
It’s designed for people who want to track their subreddits with utmost ease. Apollo iPhone Home Screen Widget boasts a simple and lightweight design and comes in many different sizes and designs to suit your needs. The “Post Grid Widget” is quite impressive as it shows multiple posts in a grid from a feed of your choosing. This is undeniably the best iPhone widget if you like keeping track of the trending images of a subreddit.
Install now: (Free, $0.99/month for premium version)
8. ScreenKit
ScreenKit is much more than just a simple widget app. You can decorate the home screen with a variety of widgets and over 5000 beautifully designed icons and over 500 stunning themes. Widgets are available in several different categories including a clock, date, calendar, countdown, battery, and more. Furthermore, it also includes a handy icon transformation to create custom app icons for your iOS device.
Install now: (Free, $2.49 for ScreenKit+ with VIP)
9. Weather
This should be your definitive iPhone widget that can help you with weather information. You don’t need to dig deep into the weather app just to keep track of essential weather information like temperature or air quality index.
That said, although the built-in weather widget is more than capable of getting the job done, third-party weather apps for iPhone like Carrot Weather ($4.99) and Hey Weather (free) are more user-friendly. In addition, they also offer more customization so that you can choose to pop up your favourite information.
Comes Pre-installed
10. Soor Music Player
Soor is a solid music player designed to enhance your Apple Music listening experience on an iPhone device. The app is integrated with Apple’s music streaming service that has over 75 million songs. As for the user interface, it is fully customizable so that you can fine-tune it to your taste. Besides that, you also have light, dark and dark themes to customize the interface as per your liking.
As for the Soor Music Player widgets, they are alive. You can use it to easily grab top playlists, recently played tracks and favourite artists. Although the services cost $7, it has the features to live up to the higher billing.
Install now: ($6.99)
11. Batteries
One of the best iPhone widgets, which makes it very easy to keep track of iPhone battery life but also connected to Bluetooth devices like AirPods or AirPods 2.
So, if you want to track your device’s battery life directly from the widget panel, you shouldn’t miss it. What’s more, it comes pre-installed, so you don’t need to install any third-party apps or spend bucks to get started.
Comes Pre-installed
12. Calendar and Reminders
One of the most useful iOS widgets, the Calendar & Reminders widget allows you to quickly take a look at your upcoming events. In addition to the built-in calendar app for iOS, Fantastic (free, in-app purchases), BusyCal ($4.99), are other good third-party calendar apps that offer widgets.
In case you just need a simple calendar/reminder widget, the stock widget can get the job done. But, if you want to do more customization, third-party offerings will be the better option to go with.
Comes Pre-installed
13. Sleep Widget
With Sleep Widget you can track your sleep on Apple Watch. And, if you’re deep into tracking your health data with workout apps, the new Sleep widget could be a useful addition.
As the name suggests, with this widget you can get an overview of information like how much you slept last night. In addition, you can tap the widget to open the Sleep section within the Health app and view other metrics such as your respiration rate, blood oxygen level, and more information about your sleep.
Comes pre-installed
14. Google Assistant
We all know that Google Assistant doesn’t work as efficiently on iOS as it does on Android. This is mainly due to the restrictions imposed however it is still capable of giving tough competition to Siri and there is a lot you can do with it. From checking weather updates or telling bone-tickling jokes to let you track the latest news, the virtual assistant can do all these for you.
So, if you want to use it to the fullest make sure to add it to the lock screen. To get this useful iPhone widget into action, head over to the Lock Screen Widgets library and add it. Once it’s added to the widget panel, all you have to do is tap on the little microphone button to join the conversation.
Install now: (Free)
15. Google Maps
While Apple is great at making many great applications, sadly, Maps is not one of them. Google Maps is still better than Apple Maps, especially if you’re living outside the US. There are lots of useful Google Maps tricks; Plus, Google Maps gives you access to a number of useful widgets as well. You can use a widget on your iPhone which will help you to know traffic in your area, or you can estimate the time it takes to reach your destination.
Install now: (free)
16. Files
What about getting quick access to all the files you’ve recently opened? Well, if you want to get quick access to all the recently used/opened files, you must not miss out on the stock File Manager widget. As someone who relies heavily on the stock file manager to manage files on iOS, I find this widget very useful. It saves a lot of time by ensuring that recent files are just a tap away. And I’m sure you might find it equally helpful.
Comes pre-installed
16. WhatsApp
Since most of us use WhatsApp as the default messaging app to stay connected with friends and loved ones, I thought it would be good to mention its widget. WhatsApp widget for iPhone is pretty decent for quick access to favourite contacts.
So, if you often have to communicate with certain people, you can use the widget to dive into the conversation directly from your device’s lock screen. To get started, all you have to do is go to the widget library (swipe right to access the widget panel -> Edit button at the bottom -> Customize. Then tap the “+” button on the left side of the WhatsApp widget. ) and add.
Install now: (Free)
15. Fitness
If you are a fitness freak then this widget can be useful for tracking your activity. It comes as built-in so it can work reliably on your iOS device showing your progress. That way, you won’t need to go to a health app to know how well you’re doing in the gym and how much effort you still need to put in to meet your goal.
Comes pre-installed
16. Google News
To all the news freaks who want to keep an eye on the latest happenings, you can rely on the Google News widget.
With a diverse group of trusted publishers, it is a platform where you can read stories on a wide range of topics including technology, politics, sports, entertainment, business and more. Better still, it is available for free and supports multiple languages.
Install now: (Free)
17. ESPN
To all sports lovers who want to keep track of their favourite sports, the ESPN widget is there to show you current matches in real-time.
It is one of the best widgets since it lets you take a quick look and find out how your favourite teams are doing. Even if you are not using ESPN, chances are that your favourite sports app comes with a widget that you can use to keep track of your teams.
Install now: (Free, in-app purchases)
18. Screen Time
If you’ve ever wanted to keep a little track of your screen time, the Screen Time widget is for you. With Screen Time Widget, you can keep track of your device usage at a glance. The stock widget does a great job showing the device usage. Plus, it also comes in multiple sizes so you can choose the size you like depending on how much detail you want to keep track of.
Comes Pre-installed
19. Shazam
Shazam is a great music player app for iPhone that also has a Shazam widget. The widget allows you to identify music playing in the background with just one tap. Perfect for those times when you come across an unknown song and want to know more about it.
In addition, Apple has also integrated Shazam with iOS so that you can quickly recognize the song from your device’s Control Center.
Install now: (Free, in-app purchases)
20. Sticky Notes Widget
One of our favourite widgets is the Sticky Notes widget because it makes tracking important notes pretty simple. With this widget, you can show sticky notes directly on your device’s home screen and edit them whenever you want. It is quite lightweight and works as expected. More importantly, you don’t need to spend any bucks to carry Sticky Notes. Also, if you like the idea of keeping track of notes at a glance, then Sticky Widget is for you.
Install now: (Free)
21. Headspace
If you are looking for a widget for the best meditation apps for iPhone then you should look no further than Headspace. The app has a growing library of guided meditations on everything from calming the mind to eliminating stress. It offers short sessions (1/3 minute) to make sure you can make time for meditation even during a busy schedule. Interestingly, Headspace also offers calming stories that you will enjoy listening to while meditating.
Install now: (Free, $12.99/month for premium version)
22. Siri Suggestions
Based on your usage, Siri suggests a handful of apps so that you can launch them easily. It serves the purpose of a user-friendly launcher for your favourite apps.
Since you find the apps suggested by Siri to be user-friendly, you’ll also appreciate the Siri Suggestions widget. Like other widgets, this one also comes in several sizes. We recommend that you choose the larger size if you want to have quick access to more apps.
Comes Pre-installed
23. Chrome Suggested Sites
With this great widget, you don’t have to take the usual route every time you want to access your favourite websites. Using this widget, you can quickly access some of the sites you often visit directly from the Today View screen.
The web browser monitors your browsing history and provides suggestions accordingly, making accessing certain sites incredibly easy. Considering how useful this widget is, I wouldn’t be surprised if you lock it into your exclusive collection of cool iOS widgets for iPhone and iPad.
Install now: (Free)
24. Contacts Widget
One of the things most of the people were deprived of widgets on iOS 14 was the ability to call people directly from the home screen. Well, with iOS 15, Apple has added a Contacts widget that can help solve that problem.
With the Contacts widget, you can set the contacts you want to appear on your home screen. Now you can tap any contact to see their information, including messages they’ve sent you, photos of them in your gallery, and more. Plus, you get handy shortcuts to call them, or FaceTime with them.
Comes pre-installed
25. Colour Widgets
For those who prefer a wide variety of colourful and fully customizable iOS home screen widgets, Colour Widgets seems to be a top bet. It comes with a host of widget designs including Analog Clock, Reminder, Countdown, Calendar, Step Count, and much more that allows you to choose a good one for your iPhone home screen. To make sure you always have a ton of attractive widgets to choose from, the app frequently updates the catalogue with all-new widgets. In addition, you can also create your own custom home screen widgets using your own photos, fonts and colour scheme for a more personalized experience.
Install now: (Free, pro version starts at $1.99)
Conclusion
That’s all folks for now. These were some of the amazing iOS widgets that you can use to get the most out of your iPhone. You can choose the best widgets as per your choice and stick to them. Don’t get too many widgets that defeat the purpose of simplicity and quick action time. Do let us know which one is your favourite iOS widgets in the comment section below.
