Apple released iOS14 last year and finally brought home screen widgets to the iPhone table. These little snippets of information you see on your home screen have been around on Android phones since forever and Apple almost missed the train with this functionality.
There were just a handful of widgets available at launch but now, six months later, the popularity of iPhone widgets has skyrocketed and we have something to work with. Here’s our list of the Best iPhone widgets you actually need in your life!
iPhone 13: price, release date, features, and specs
#1 Widgetsmith
Widgetsmith was one of the most popular widgets in the early days of iOS14 and for a very good reason. It allows users to create their own highly customizable widgets, which offer a wide variety of functions and information - weather reports, date and time, photo albums, calendars and reminders, health and activity feeds, and more.
Widgetsmith is a small but powerful app that will open lots of possibilities before you. If you like to tinker with things and customize your iPhone home screen, this one is a must. The basic version of Widgetsmith is free but there’s also a Premium version offering exclusive widget themes, weather data feed, and more. Widgetsmith Premium is $2/month or $20/year and there’s a 1-week free trial.
Color Widgets is another excellent home screen customization app. It’s a lot flashier than Widgetsmith and offers some extra features too. You can customize the look of your widgets - create color schemes, edit the font, add pictures, etc. You get a good stack of widgets too - various time and weather widgets, clocks and calendars, music widgets, step counters, and more.
Recommended Stories
You can also change how your app icons look with the help of different icon packs. There are themes to choose from - like Ocean, Cotton Candy, Navy, Christmas Wreath, etc. Color Widgets is free but you can also opt for the Pro version and enjoy bonus content. It will cost you $1.99/mo with a 3-day free trial period.
ScreenKit is the last multifunctional app on our list that aims to change how things look on your iPhone. Its main strength is the huge number of icons and themes (5000+ and 500+ respectively). ScreenKit is more of a visual makeover but it also comes packed with widgets - more than 500 of them to be exact.
ScreenKit is one of the best ways to get the most out of your iPhone and currently the app is occupying the number 1 spot in the App Icon & Widget Customization category on the App Store. The app is free to download and all premium themes and widgets are available for a one-time payment of $9.99 - the latter will give you access to all the features, exclusive themes, icon pack, and widgets, etc.
Now let’s get down to business. Electronic mail is one of the greatest inventions of all time! No matter if you’re a businessman, or a student, or just a hardworking individual, chances are you’re writing at least a couple of emails every week and also receiving a good pile as well. Spark Mail is arguably the best third-party mail client for iPhone devices.
Along with all the powerful ways to create, control and access your emails, Spark Mail has a great set of widgets that can be added to your home screen. You can easily glance over new emails, upcoming meetings, and even combine mail and calendar into one widget for extra convenience.
One of the most powerful calendar apps on the App Store - a frequent Editors Choice award winner - Spark Mail is the way to go if you’re a busy person. You can control your events like a puppet master - pulling the strings of invites, schedules, appointments, meetings. From voice commands that magically turn into calendar entries, to integrated weather reports, this app has it all.
Fantastical comes with its own widgets and they’re pretty good. You can choose a simple widget that shows your next event or opt for a huge and detailed 30-day calendar right on your home screen. You can enjoy Fantastical’s basic features for free but there’s also a paid option that unlocks premium things like unlimited calendar sets, Full task support, including iCloud Reminders and Todoist, and more. Fantastical Premium starts from $3.33/mo.
The default weather app on the iPhone does a decent job with widgets but if you want to take things further, Weather Line is your app. This app offers a unique way of visualizing forecasts and data, along with cool features such as Air Quality Index, Radar, Moon Phases, UV index, and more.
Thanks to the excellent set of widgets you can get information about forecasts, sunset and sunrise, wind speeds, Severe weather warning reports, Precipitation, Dew point. You can opt for a basic widget or get a full-blown report right on your home screen. There are 18 different themes to choose from and an auto light/dark mode.
If you just want to decorate your home screen with a photo of your family or a nice memento from your trip to Paris, Photo Widget: Simple is the way to go. It’s not a coincidence that this app was among the top five most downloaded apps/widgets when iOS14 landed. It offers a very simple and intuitive interface and supports 2 ratios (1:1 / 2:1) of any number of widgets. Last but not least, this app is completely free.
If you’re a Reddit user this widget is a must! There’s no better way to consume your daily memes, fun facts, jokes, and news from your favorite subreddits right on your home screen, than with Apollo for Reddit. This app has a ton of fun widgets to pick from, and can truly brighten your iPhone 12 experience. There’s a paid version called "Apollo Ultra" for $0.99/mo or $9.99/year but you’ll be just fine using the free app.
There are more popular music apps out there, like Spotify, Deezer, and Tidal, but if you’re an Apple Music subscriber, Soor is the best music player with the best home screen widgets you can get. This music player offers an Intuitive, fully gesture-driven user interface, useful gizmos like Musixmatch integration and Last.fm auto-scrobbling, and a really beautiful look.
Soor widgets show current songs, current and upcoming music and playlists or favorites. You can choose from a vast array of widget designs and there are also Light, Dark, and Black themes. The Soor Music Player app can be yours for $4.99.
A really simple widget and yet - a very useful one. Remember those little sticky notes all over your fridge or around your desk? Well, Sticky Widgets is the same thing but on your home screen. It feels too complicated to set a reminder or add a calendar entry? Just slap a sticky note to your home screen and be done with it.
The widgets sync to your iCloud account, so you won’t miss a note no matter what device you’re using. Sticky Widget offers three different sizes and you can also tweak the font, color, and alignment of your note. If you like it simple and prefer the visual cue of a note, you can’t go wrong with Sticky Widgets.
Mariyan, a tech enthusiast with a background in Nuclear Physics and Journalism, brings a unique perspective to PhoneArena. His childhood curiosity for gadgets evolved into a professional passion for technology, leading him to the role of Editor-in-Chief at PCWorld Bulgaria before joining PhoneArena. Mariyan's interests range from mainstream Android and iPhone debates to fringe technologies like graphene batteries and nanotechnology. Off-duty, he enjoys playing his electric guitar, practicing Japanese, and revisiting his love for video games and Haruki Murakami's works.
Recommended Stories
Loading Comments...
COMMENT
All comments need to comply with our
Community Guidelines
Phonearena comments rules
A discussion is a place, where people can voice their opinion, no matter if it
is positive, neutral or negative. However, when posting, one must stay true to the topic, and not just share some
random thoughts, which are not directly related to the matter.
Things that are NOT allowed:
Off-topic talk - you must stick to the subject of discussion
Offensive, hate speech - if you want to say something, say it politely
Spam/Advertisements - these posts are deleted
Multiple accounts - one person can have only one account
Impersonations and offensive nicknames - these accounts get banned
Moderation is done by humans. We try to be as objective as possible and moderate with zero bias. If you think a
post should be moderated - please, report it.
Have a question about the rules or why you have been moderated/limited/banned? Please,
contact us.
FCC OKs Cingular\'s purchase of AT&T Wireless
Things that are NOT allowed: