As of iOS 15, however, this has changed, as Apple has revamped widgets and introduced widgets for its own apps like App Store, Mail, Contacts, Game Center, etc. Subsequently, many apps have since introduced Home Screen widgets to avail easy access to their services right on the Home Screen. If you, too, like the idea of widgets, here are some of the best iPhone widgets for iPhone (and iPad) that you must use right now. Most of these widgets are available on iOS 15 (and iPadOS 15), so make sure you’ve updated your device to the latest version.
1. Weather
Weather is an essential app on any smartphone. On iPhone, Apple offers a stock weather app called Weather, which provides all the essential weather conditions and forecast information you’d need to know about a day. Weather also has a widget that you can add to your iPhone’s Home Screen or Today View to glance at information quickly. Currently, the Weather widget offers three sizes. Of which, we feel the small and medium widgets serve the best, as they get you the weather conditions for a particular day and can be stacked in a Smart Stack for better use of the Home Screen estate. Get Weather Widget
2. Clock
Clock is a really useful iPhone widget for those who frequently communicate with family, friends, or colleagues abroad. If you work remotely for an organization, this widget will spare you the hassle of constantly having to open the Clock app. To get a world clock widget on your iPhone, first, go to the Clock app and add the countries you want to track the time in if you haven’t already. Then, while you’re on the Clock widget selection page, choose one of the World Clock widgets. Available widget sizes include small and medium, wherein the medium widget shows city names upfront, and you also get the time difference with your current location. Get Clock Widget
3. xCurrency
xCurrency is a currency converter and exchange rate tool that offers real-time queries for over hundreds of currencies, precious metals, and more. It’s a must-have app on your iPhone if you frequently travel to other countries or study/work abroad. With xCurrency, you get a variety of widgets. These include a converter, real-time rates, rate trends, multiple currency pairs, and a single currency pair. So depending on what you want to monitor, you can choose an xCurrency widget accordingly to display on your Home Screen. If required, you can even have a widget stack with multiple xCurrency widgets in it. We find xCurrency’s currency converter widget to be very useful. Get xCurrency Widget
4. TickTick
TickTick is one of the best to-do and reminder apps for the iPhone. It’s simple, clean, and offers all the essential features you’d want in a task manager app. If you use TickTick on your iPhone, you must add its widget to your iPhone Home Screen right away to stay on top of your agenda for the day right on the Home Screen. Plus, having such a widget also gives you quick access to the calendar on your iPhone. TickTick currently offers around a dozen widgets, ranging from tasks, daily view, and monthly view to various habit forming and other widgets. So, depending on your requirements, you can pick the one that serves your purpose and use it. If you use some other to-do/reminder app, you can check if it offers a Home Screen widget and add it to your iPhone’s Home Screen to quickly access your tasks or reminders. Get TickTick Widget
5. Google Maps
Google Maps is probably the most preferred navigation app for most people. If you use it to get directions, find transport, or determine ETA, you may want to use its iOS widget, too, to do all of those operations without needing to go into the app. Google Maps offers a variety of iPhone widgets like traffic, transit departures, travel times, and local guides. Currently, you can add a Google Maps widget only to the Today View on your iPhone. So depending on your requirements, you can add as many of those widgets as you want. Our favorite Google Maps widgets are transit departures and traffic alerts. Get Google Maps Widget
6. Spark
Spark is one of our top picks for the best iPhone email apps. It’s free to use and offers a range of features to simplify email management on your iPhone. With Spark, you also get Home Screen widgets. Depending on whether you’d just like to view your inbox, check your upcoming events, or perform a quick action (reply, view attachments, search an email, or reply), you can pick one of the widgets and add it to your iPhone’s Home Screen. Get Spark Widget
7. Drafts
Drafts is a powerful notes app that simplifies the note-taking experience on the iPhone. It has extensive customization support and gives you the ability to automate a lot of your writing operations. Plus, you can integrate various services into Drafts and leverage the power of scripting to do things more efficiently. With Drafts, you get multiple types of widgets. Some of these widgets can be configured to show specific menu items or elements from the Drafts app. On the other hand, there are some simple/static widgets that you can use to show or pin a particular note from your notes directory on the Home Screen. In case you use Apple Notes or some other note-taking app, you can add its widget to your iPhone Home Screen instead for quick access to your notes. Get Drafts Widget
8. NetNewsWire
NetNewsWire is an RSS feed reader for iPhone. If you’re a fan of RSS, you must surely check out the app. It’s clean, fast, and offers a good reading experience. In addition, NetNewsWire also offers widgets for the iPhone to help you stay up to date on your feeds right on your iPhone’s Home Screen. It has a bunch of widget options for different feeds like unread, today, and starred, which you can add as to your preference. Alternatively, if you use some other RSS feed reader (like Feedly) or a newsreader app, you should start using its widget to get updates on your iPhone Home Screen. Get NewNewsWire Widget
9. Shortcuts
Shortcuts (formerly Workflow) is an automation app that lets you automate different system operations on your iPhone or iPad. It offers a bunch of shortcuts, and you can even create your own shortcuts by stitching various actions together. Plus, Shortcuts also has widgets, which take things to the next level. So now, you can simply add your most-frequently-used shortcuts to the Shortcuts widget and run them quickly right from your Home Screen. Shortcuts widget options include a single shortcut as well as a shortcuts folder. For instance, you can add shortcuts to completely turn off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on your iOS Home Screen. That way, you can turn them off easily and save battery. Get Shortcuts Widget
10. Flightstats
Flightstats, as the name suggests, shows you the real-time status of your upcoming flights so you can be sure you’re on time and schedule accordingly. It also offers an iPhone widget—albeit, you can’t add it to the Home Screen. Instead, you can add the Flightstats widget only to the Today View in iOS 15 and view live updates without opening the app. Get Flightstats Widget
11. Parcel
Parcel is a courier tracking service that works with 300 delivery services worldwide. It requires you to add your upcoming parcels to the tracking list, after which it tracks them and gives you updates on their present status. However, you will need to open the app manually or set your notifications to receive these updates. While this is fine, the Parcel widget makes checking updates even more seamless. So now, you can add a Parcel widget—in any widget size—and view your parcels’ current status right on your iPhone’s Home Screen. If required, Parcel also has a map widget, which you can use instead to view your parcels’ current location on the map. Get Parcel Widget
12. Find My
Find My is a pre-installed app on iPhone that helps you view the location of your missing Apple devices (iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Mac, or AirPods) or people (who have shared their location) on a map to make it easier for you to find them. It even works with AirTags. Just like most Apple apps, there’s a Home Screen widget for Find My as well. And as you’d guess, this makes it extremely easy to find lost devices or track people, as you can do it right from the Home Screen. (Location Sharing is required for tracking people.) Get Find My Widget
13. Batteries
Batteries is another must-have iPhone widget. It shows you the current battery status for your iPhone, as well as other devices connected to your iPhone. Apple currently offers three battery status widgets, with the largest widget having labels for devices to help you easily identify the device and its battery status. So depending on your requirements and the available space on the screen, you can add a widget accordingly to view the battery levels of your connected devices on your Home Screen. Preinstalled
Interact with Your iPhone Apps Efficiently
Using iPhone widgets is the easiest way to customize your iPhone’s Home Screen to meet your specific needs. Not only does it give your device a distinct appeal, but it also leverages the Home Screen estate to make it more functional, and in turn, eliminates the need to open apps repeatedly to perform those actions/operations. Listed above are some essential Home Screen widgets you must use on your iPhone. A lot of these widgets can be stacked on top of other widgets using Smart Stack so you can add more widgets to your phone’s Home Screen.
