iOS 14 Widgets Offer iPhone Users Creative Home Screen Ideas

by

Updated on September 22nd with hands on video.

In iOS 14, Apple introduced ‌the concept of Home Screen‌ widgets, which provide information from apps at a glance. Widgets can be pinned to the Home Screen in various spots and sizes, allowing for many different layouts.

Despite the relative lack of 3rd party widgets at launch, iOS users around the world have been busy customizing their home screens and sharing their work with others.

(Besides using iOS 14 Widgets, Twitter user Ben Zhu also used Shortcuts to change the look of the icons in the screenshot above.)

On Twitter, the hashtag #iOS14HomeScreen started trending this weekend with users showing off their latest creations. MacRumors followers also shared their creations on Twitter and in this forum thread.

Some bigger brands have already released widget support, including IMDB, Google, and Twitch. Spotify is notably absent from the early supporting apps, though TuneTrack already offers Spotify "Playing Now" widget support in the meanwhile.

Hands On Video

We grabbed some of the tools we describe later in this article and shot this video which shows how you too can customize your iOS 14 home screen. Our videographer shows how to use Widgetsmith amongst other tools to create custom configurations as well as replacing the standard icons with your own images. There are some limitations to be aware of however.

We even tried to create a special Mac OS X Aqua themed home screen just to see how it would go. Bottom line, it took a while and wasn't quite functional.

Widgetsmith

One of the early Widget apps that has seen a lot of popularity is Widgetsmith [Free] which offers the ability to create widgets alongside styling customizations. Widgetsmith allows you to create customized small, medium or large widgets with Time, Date, Photos, Custom Text, Upcoming Events, Reminders, and Health and Activity. Widgetsmith also offers Weather and Tide widgets as part of their premium subscription package which costs $1.99/month or $19.99/year.

The flexibility of the tool has made it popular with iOS 14 Home Screen screenshots that have been circulating around the web. Taken to the extreme, you can see highly stylized home screens:

Update: Widgetsmith has been updated to version 1.0.4 and includes a new custom color picker and a new Battery icon widget.

ColorWidgets

color widgets

Another popular choice we've seen is ColorWidgets [Free] which offers a free Time and Battery widget with a lot of colorful styles. Some premium styles are also offered for a $3.99 one time purchase.

Weather Widgets

Weather is a popular widget type that has already seen a number of supporting apps. There are certainly more that we missed, but notably, Apple's own Dark Sky doesn't have widget support yet.

weather line

Other Widgets

Beyond that, there are a number of early widgets that we've run across, and here is a short list.

Fitness and Nutrition Widgets

fitbod

  • Fitbod - Workout tracking. Free with IAP
  • FoodNoms - Food and calorie tracking. Free with IAP
  • Streaks - Forming habits on a daily basis. $4.99
  • Zones - Workout tracking. Free with IAP
  • Hour Blocks - Dayplanner that shows you what's next. $3.99

Finance Widgets

copilot

Travel Widgets

  • Flighty - Flight tracking app. Free with IAP
  • App in the Air - Travel assistant. Free with IAP
  • KAYAK - Book flights, hotels and cars. Free
  • Tripit - Travel planner. Free with IAP
  • World Clock - Time zone widget. Free with IAP

We will continue to cover notable Widgets as they are released. For a deeper dive, please visit our Twitter thread where we asked for widget recommendations and follow along in the 3rd Party Widgets Thread in our iOS 14 forum.

Additional Widgets

Additional interesting widgets that have launched:

  • Parcel - Delivery tracking. Free
  • WaterMinder - Daily water reminder. $4.99
  • Clatters - Social media monitoring. Free with IAP
  • Launcher - Launch apps from widgets. Free but Limited. $7.99 IAP.
Tags: Widgets Guide, Widgetsmith Guide
Related Forum: iOS 14

Popular Stories

iPhone SE 4 Vertical Camera Feature

iPhone SE 4 Rumored to Use Same Rear Chassis as iPhone 16

Friday July 19, 2024 7:16 am PDT by
Apple will adopt the same rear chassis manufacturing process for the iPhone SE 4 that it is using for the upcoming standard iPhone 16, claims a new rumor coming out of China. According to the Weibo-based leaker "Fixed Focus Digital," the backplate manufacturing process for the iPhone SE 4 is "exactly the same" as the standard model in Apple's upcoming iPhone 16 lineup, which is expected to...
Read Full Article • 132 comments
iPhone 16 Pro Sizes Feature

iPhone 16 Series Is Just Two Months Away: Everything We Know

Monday July 15, 2024 4:44 am PDT by
Apple typically releases its new iPhone series around mid-September, which means we are about two months out from the launch of the iPhone 16. Like the iPhone 15 series, this year's lineup is expected to stick with four models – iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max – although there are plenty of design differences and new features to take into account. To bring ...
Read Full Article • 129 comments
iphone 14 lineup

Cellebrite Unable to Unlock iPhones on iOS 17.4 or Later, Leak Reveals

Thursday July 18, 2024 4:18 am PDT by
Israel-based mobile forensics company Cellebrite is unable to unlock iPhones running iOS 17.4 or later, according to leaked documents verified by 404 Media. The documents provide a rare glimpse into the capabilities of the company's mobile forensics tools and highlight the ongoing security improvements in Apple's latest devices. The leaked "Cellebrite iOS Support Matrix" obtained by 404 Media...
Read Full Article • 66 comments
tinypod apple watch

TinyPod Turns Your Apple Watch Into an iPod

Wednesday July 17, 2024 3:18 pm PDT by
If you have an old Apple Watch and you're not sure what to do with it, a new product called TinyPod might be the answer. Priced at $79, the TinyPod is a silicone case with a built-in scroll wheel that houses the Apple Watch chassis. When an Apple Watch is placed inside the TinyPod, the click wheel on the case is able to be used to scroll through the Apple Watch interface. The feature works...
Read Full Article • 133 comments
bsod

Crowdstrike Says Global IT Outage Impacting Windows PCs, But Mac and Linux Hosts Not Affected

Friday July 19, 2024 3:12 am PDT by
A widespread system failure is currently affecting numerous Windows devices globally, causing critical boot failures across various industries, including banks, rail networks, airlines, retailers, broadcasters, healthcare, and many more sectors. The issue, manifesting as a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD), is preventing computers from starting up properly and forcing them into continuous recovery...
Read Full Article • 482 comments
New MacBook Pros Launching Tomorrow With These 4 New Features 2

M5 MacBook Models to Use New Compact Camera Module in 2025

Wednesday July 17, 2024 2:58 am PDT by
Apple in 2025 will take on a new compact camera module (CCM) supplier for future MacBook models powered by its next-generation M5 chip, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Writing in his latest investor note on unny-opticals-2025-business-momentum-to-benefit-509819818c2a">Medium, Kuo said Apple will turn to Sunny Optical for the CCM in its M5 MacBooks. The Chinese optical lens company...
Read Full Article • 112 comments

Top Rated Comments

Peepo Avatar
Peepo
50 months ago
$19.95/year subscription for a widget app?
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sniffies Avatar
sniffies
50 months ago

How do people change icons into custom images? Need a step-by-step :)
From twitter ('https://twitter.com/kcsnipes1149/status/1307776733181915136'):

You can use the shortcuts app to change the icon. Open shortcuts > add new shortcut > add action > scripting > open app > choose app > click the ... > add to Home Screen > under Home Screen name tap on the icon and choose an image. > add. Done!
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jntdroid Avatar
jntdroid
50 months ago
iPhone forums will now look like Android forums for the past 10 years... ;)
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Rudy69 Avatar
Rudy69
50 months ago

Jailbreak
WTF! Read the article. It says they're using Shortcuts. Why spread misinformation?
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
tegranjeet Avatar
tegranjeet
50 months ago
Meh, just another distraction and battery eater. I tend to keep just one page of apps. thanks but not for me
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jntdroid Avatar
jntdroid
50 months ago
Some of the comments I'm seeing here about widgets, and elsewhere, point to something I've been telling my Android friends (and myself as I also have used and enjoy Android) for a long time... all of the customization is ultimately more of a time waste than anything else. If you enjoy it, great. But if not, if your phone is primarily a tool in your mind, instead of a fun thing to play with, then customization is kind of pointless.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments