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With iOS 8, Apple opens up for third-party widgets

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By Daniel Petrov

Updated: Jun 02, 2014, 3:23 PM

With iOS 8, Apple opens up for third-party widgets

Brace yourselves, people, as the sky is falling, and Apple is letting widgets wiggle into the fairly restricted iOS system. Yep, third-party widgets can now occupy their rightful place in the notification center of iOS 8.

Granted, these won't be full-fledged permanent widges docked on your homescreen, like Android's system, but it's an advancement nonetheless, and a recognition about the third-party widget power at the same time. Apart from the default widgets, like weather, stocks, Facebook and Twitter updates, and so on, which were replaced with the Today view in iOS 7, Apple will now allow other companies to build their own for their own apps.

The new system in iOS 8 was demonstrated with an eBay widget in the pull-down notification center, which informed the user on the progress of a guitar bidding process. You can place your bid straight from the notification center, too, which adds interactive elements to the widget experience, and increases their usage tremendously. It is not yet clear whether developers will have to go through a vetting process, before their widgets make it in the notification center of your iPhone and iPad, or it's going to be the Wild Wild Widget land there, but the new system is a very welcome and uncharacteristic step, which is likely to earn Apple's a lot of user accolades.

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Daniel, a devoted tech writer at PhoneArena from 2010 to 2025, has been engrossed in mobile technology since the Windows Mobile era. His expertise spans mobile hardware, software, and carrier networks, and he's keenly interested in the future of digital health, car connectivity, and 5G. Beyond his professional pursuits, Daniel finds balance in travel, reading, and exploring new tech innovations, while contemplating the ethical and privacy implications of our digital future.