3rd party widgets

[MozMan68]

IP Cam Viewer, I wish they would make a widget like they have on Android which shows a live feed. I know, most likely this isn't possible due to Apple's implementation, but it's still on my wish list.

I'd also love widgets which would would let you scroll through content such as messages, email, etc. Interactivity would be nice, but I'd settle for just being able to scroll through content before deciding I need to open the full app.

Why wouldn’t the widget for a related app not be able to do that? Like my Nest app?

 

[rainbowtapes]

Google Calendar, Trading 212, WhatsApp, Waze, Monzo... anything that can offer a useful snapshot of information really.

 

[spinedoc77]

Why wouldn’t the widget for a related app not be able to do that? Like my Nest app?

I have no idea, it's a good question for a developer. But are any widgets on iOS interactable? The only one that is interactable that comes to mind is WidgetCal where you can press a date and get a prompt to edit an event/reminder. I'd still love to see a live video feed widget, or one that lets me scroll through messages and such.

 

[MozMan68]

I have no idea, it's a good question for a developer. But are any widgets on iOS interactable? The only one that is interactable that comes to mind is WidgetCal where you can press a date and get a prompt to edit an event/reminder. I'd still love to see a live video feed widget, or one that lets me scroll through messages and such.

None of the new widgets on the main screen are interactive (other than tapping to open the full app)....but still wondering if I could unlock my phone and see a live feed as you mention. Since they have added PIP...

I'm guessing the widget will be limited to text notifications only like "movement detected at 2:48 p.m." and then you'll have to open the main app to see the feed.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Will third party widgets be available day one of iOS 14 release?

I am guessing a few may be. We will probably have to wait a while to really see a variety.

 

[C DM]

Outlook has always been slow on updates. It took them forever to even get an app for the Apple Watch. Having said that, my company also makes us use Outlook but after ios 14 beta came out, I spent some time to figure out how I could get my work appointments into my iphone calendar (so I could use the widget and also so the appointments would show up in carplay).

Here's how you do it: In outlook for web, go to settings, view all settings (at the bottom), calendar, shared calendar, under "Publish a calendar" click the link next to ics and then say copy link. I was on my computer so I pasted it into an email to myself and then got on my phone and copied the link from the email. in the calendar section of iphone settings, go to accounts, add account, other & then at the buttom, add subscribed calendar. Paste that link (ending in ics) in the server field. It worked perfectly! I couldn't figure out how to do it in the regular desktop outlook but maybe you can.

I guess that would depend on if calendar sharing is something that's enabled organizationaly to begin with.

 

[HeyKatie]

Hoping for a Spotify and Transit widget those are probably the only 3rd party ones I’d even use.

 

[gwhizkids]

So far, the new Swift-based widget are co-existing with the old widgets. Does anyone know if this will continue? Is so, I’m perfectly happy for the new widgets to live on my home page for glanceability and the old widgets can continue their useful life on the minus one page.

 

[mrklaw]

Do we know if developers are able to make apps that exist only to create widgets? Eg something that would let you define text/fields etc like weather and date and time? And can apps generate multiple widgets?

I’m looking forward to swing what carrot weather does. They have a lot of flexibility with their widgets

also I hope they allow interactivity - my today view has a lot of those using the old system - hue light switches, smart plugs, harmony remote buttons. Those are important to me and I assume many people. I’m ok to leave those ticked away on the left as long as they are still supported

 

[AZhappyjack]

Do we know if developers are able to make apps that exist only to create widgets? Eg something that would let you define text/fields etc like weather and date and time? And can apps generate multiple widgets?

I’m looking forward to swing what carrot weather does. They have a lot of flexibility with their widgets

also I hope they allow interactivity - my today view has a lot of those using the old system - hue light switches, smart plugs, harmony remote buttons. Those are important to me and I assume many people. I’m ok to leave those ticked away on the left as long as they are still supported

I know of one app for pre-iOS 14 whose sole purpose was to be a widget on the Today screen (Agenda+) ... no clue how Apple will handle this or similarly intended apps.

 

[pacorob]

Likely yes. Typically 3rd party app updates start being released about a week before the OS.

Can we already use the new homescreen widgets from third parties in the current iOS14 beta months before or will these become available just before the official release of iOS14 somewhere in September as you said? Would Apple block app developers from releasing these already much earlier? If so is there somewhere already a list of apps that already support it?

I also wonder if we can use existing 'old' widgets from third parties on the home screens as well or only on the old location since the widgets sizes are different and need to be set as such in the app code.

 

[Ansath]

Can we already use the new homescreen widgets from third parties in the current iOS14 beta months before or will these become available just before the official release of iOS14 somewhere in September as you said? Would Apple block app developers from releasing these already much earlier? If so is there somewhere already a list of apps that already support it?

I also wonder if we can use existing 'old' widgets from third parties on the home screens as well or only on the old location since the widgets sizes are different and need to be set as such in the app code.

As stated, third party cannot submit apps using the new Xcode until closer to iOS 14's release, with the app updates coming in the week before release.

Old style widgets are on the widget screen and cannot be moved to the home screen.

 

[pacorob]

As stated, third party cannot submit apps using the new Xcode until closer to iOS 14's release, with the app updates coming in the week before release.

Old style widgets are on the widget screen and cannot be moved to the home screen.

Thanks for confirming that I really appreciate it.

 

[itsmilo]

Philips Hue to turn on and off the lights in certain rooms faster

 

[pacorob]

I really hope to see 3rd party homescreen widgets such as:

- Launcher
- weather apps such as: Buienalarm (local minute by minute precipitation widget), Forecast Bar, Hello Weather, Partly Sunny and Carrot Weather
- transportation (train, bus, Google Maps, Waze)
- favorite music and podcast apps (eg Spotify, Deezer, podcast: iCatcher!, DownCast, PocketCasts, AccuRadio, local radio apps)
- lists (AnyList)

It is unfortunate to see the 'classic' widget area has more white margin around the widgets which is causing a widget such as 'Launcher' to show 6 app icons instead of 7 icons as it was in iOS13 and before.
I do hope the classic widget area will remain there as well since I do have some quick links to eg KeepPass which I quite often use from within apps (eg Safari) to quickly login somewhere. Unfortunate a lot of third party apps still don't show their app in the 'Share' area so I'll have to use this workaround instead.

 

[spinedoc77]

My big ones are live video feeds from my cameras and to be able to scroll through and interact with email, texts, and google voice. Those are the biggies I miss from Android.

 

[ipedro]

Not even third party, but Apple Music's widget showing "recently played" isn't all that useful. Sure, I played a song a while ago and now I want to play that specific song again? What would be more useful is a "Now Playing" widget that shows me album art and you can tap to go into Apple Music for playback controls.

 

[Martinpa]

I don’t know if the underlying technology would permit it (though the Siri Suggestion widget alludes to the fact it might be, though I don’t know how many widgets one app can have) but it’d be nice if a third party would come up with a widget you could populate with the app icons you want. In and of itself, it’s a pretty useless widget, but a stack of widgets like that would be a fun and potentially context-sensitive alternative to folders.

 

[dannyyankou]

Not even third party, but Apple Music's widget showing "recently played" isn't all that useful. Sure, I played a song a while ago and now I want to play that specific song again? What would be more useful is a "Now Playing" widget that shows me album art and you can tap to go into Apple Music for playback controls.

This. And give me playback controls in the widget itself.

 

[dhruveonmars]

This. And give me playback controls in the widget itself.

Agreed, would much prefer the playback controls in a widget than on the lock screen. (I still wish we could turn it off on the lock screen)

 

[MDePew24]

The updating is buggy, but, yes, they should be able to update in real time. I wrote a widget yesterday and saw how it works (when it works and doesn't randomly stop working).

The idea is that the developer creates a timeline, with scheduled updates. At the end of the timeline, the system is supposed to ask for a new timeline. So, for example, if you are a sports score app, you might know there are no games for a couple of days, so you might say "here's what to display. come back and ask me again in 6 hours." But *during* a game you can set the thing to update once every couple of seconds, if you want.

This makes a lot of sense. Would love to do a screen share to see how it works/functions if you’d be ok with that.

 

[pacorob]

This. And give me playback controls in the widget itself.

Until we can we have:
* Control Center music control option
* Music Launcher widget by Cromulent Labs in the 'classic' Notification Center (with buttons to control in paid version)
* Lock screen has music control option (if you currently play music)

 

[gwhizkids]

The updating is buggy, but, yes, they should be able to update in real time. I wrote a widget yesterday and saw how it works (when it works and doesn't randomly stop working).

The idea is that the developer creates a timeline, with scheduled updates. At the end of the timeline, the system is supposed to ask for a new timeline. So, for example, if you are a sports score app, you might know there are no games for a couple of days, so you might say "here's what to display. come back and ask me again in 6 hours." But *during* a game you can set the thing to update once every couple of seconds, if you want.

Does the widgets API have restrictions on the frequency and number of updates per day like the Watch complications do? That could limit things, if so.

 

[pacorob]

I have no idea, it's a good question for a developer. But are any widgets on iOS interactable? The only one that is interactable that comes to mind is WidgetCal where you can press a date and get a prompt to edit an event/reminder. I'd still love to see a live video feed widget, or one that lets me scroll through messages and such.

also I hope they allow interactivity - my today view has a lot of those using the old system - hue light switches, smart plugs, harmony remote buttons. Those are important to me and I assume many people. I’m ok to leave those ticked away on the left as long as they are still supported

The new iOS14 widgets interactivity I've seen is only in the Notes widget where you can click a specific note in the widget which then opens this note in the widget. I haven't seen actual buttons as we know them from the classic widgets in the Notification Center with e.g. play/pause button in Music Launcher and also contact launcher such as Launcher (also by Cromulent Labs) but also switching between cities with two small buttons in the Forecast Bar widget or BeWeather3.

 

[spinedoc77]

The new iOS14 widgets interactivity I've seen is only in the Notes widget where you can click a specific note in the widget which then opens this note in the widget. I haven't seen actual buttons as we know them from the classic widgets in the Notification Center with e.g. play/pause button in Music Launcher and also contact launcher such as Launcher (also by Cromulent Labs) but also switching between cities with two small buttons in the Forecast Bar widget or BeWeather3.

Funny enough those are 2 widgets I'm really worried about losing, Launcher and BeWeather3. Another one that has really nice interaction is WidgetCal.

Overall I continue to be extremely underwhelmed with these new widgets, the old ones were better in almost every way. I'm crossing my fingers that this is just a growth period and eventually these widgets will be improved, especially when 3rd party devs get their hands on them. But I don't think my main gripe will ever be addressed, that we lost the ability to roll up the widgets to save space.