3rd party widgets

[acousticbiker]

The more I use IOS 14, the more disappointed I am that Apple's functionality for them are basically just glorified apps. They aren't interactive, so having a sports widget doesn't really seem necessary, and they still have them on the far left side. It is a shame though because they did look good at the WWDC presentation. It also isn't good how developers complained about the whole public release being a day after the GM release but most of these developers probably had no intentions to bring in Widgets anyway. It's been a month and a half since the main release now.

From the beginning, I've only used native widgets (assuming those are better optimized for power consumption and frequent updating) or those from 3rd party apps that I otherwise use (so that I can actually tap on the widget to open an app). In other words, I have not used widget-specific apps because I haven't seen one worth having 'dead space' dedicated to only information (and I don't want to constantly see the 'Widgetsmith' label underneath the widget, for example).

When I look at it through this filter, there are only so many widgets worth using screen space for. On my home screen, I have the native medium calendar widget, native medium weather widget, and Siri suggested apps widget. On my today screen (swipe right), I have a native medium shortcuts widget to replace the old phone favorites, the NYTimes widget, and a large native photos widget.

The only additional ones I think potentially worth having are:

• A good one from ESPN that shows scores of my favorite teams and/or leagues
• A medium sized one from TripIt (they have a small one, but I find the medium size to be the sweet spot in terms of space/info) but only for when I'm back on the road again

All of this said, I think it's a huge miss for widgets not to be allowed on the lock screen (would love to just be able to tap on the screen to see calendar and weather widgets) and I wish there was a Siri widget that was a bit smarter. The smart stacks kind of get at this idea, but on Android (I've used Pixels for work) the home screen would just show useful info at the right time/place (mostly travel-related, flight info etc) without prompting.

 

[Paco II]

So I was bemoaning the fact that the Spotify widget didn't have player controls. Then I was like, duh, I can make my own. Works great.

 

[Paco II]

Do you all use Stacks on the Today/NC View? I find that Stacks combined with vertical scroll don't work that well.

 

[pacorob]

Do you all use Stacks on the Today/NC View? I find that Stacks combined with vertical scroll don't work that well.

I'm only stacking on homescreen for e.g. weather widgets from Carrot (daily, hourly) and Forecast Bar. My Today View is mostly for interactive widgets such as the classic Launcher one, minute by minute rain widget, agenda (calendar: widget+) and I sometimes also put a weather radar widget there as well.

So I was bemoaning the fact that the Spotify widget didn't have player controls. Then I was like, duh, I can make my own. Works great.

For me these control Shortcut widgets are too big and ugly. Then I'd rather keep using the main controls via Apple itself instead to control my music (Spotify or any other music app).

 

[adrianlondon]

Yeah, I wish we could have 1x1 shortcut icons in the shortcuts widget.

 

[pacorob]

Yeah, I wish we could have 1x1 shortcut icons in the shortcuts widget.

Best and free option in general:
- use the build in music control for any music app

That would be handy indeed. Until that time we have to live with these workarounds for Spotify:

Homescreen widgets iOS14 for Spotify:
- Shortcuts on homescreen widget (massive size and pretty ugly widget in my opinion)
- MusicView ($0.99 once) homescreen widget - controls only work with Spotify Premium (can't verify), It also works with Apple Music or iTunes Music. I have tried this widget last week with free account of Spotify and couldn't control it via the widget, however I can control the playlist of the music I bought via Apple iTunes perfectly via the homescreen widget. See also below note * for some handy instructions due to Apple limitations with homescreen widgets.

* The developer also indicates in App Store review responses: "Unfortunately due to restrictions the widget can only be updated every 5 minutes or manually. They have added a really cool Siri Shortcut in a recent update so you can automatically refresh the widgets when you open/close Spotify without actually seeing the opened widget (Spotify or Apple Music).
The play/pause actions are also due to restrictions as widgets are not allowed to be interactive. You can speed this up by editing the widget and turning on “Close On Tap” or for a custom theme, under general settings turn on “Refresh On Tap”."

Other alternatives are switching to Apple Music (subscription) or iTunes Music you bought where you have these options:
- Soor ($4.99 once) with iOS14 homescreen widget controls
- MusicView ($0.99 once) with iOS14 homescreen widget controls *
- classic Today View widgets such as Music Launcher, music feature in Launcher, WidgeTunes or Musica.

 

[Paco II]

I'll give Music view another try. When I first tried it it was really bad and the widget never worked. I agree that the Shortcuts widget is ugly. But it works consistently.

For Apple Music or iTunes match or local music, IMO Marvis has the absolutely best widgets.

 

[Paco II]

Network Utility Pro has updated with widgets.

 

[Paco II]

Question: is there an app you use more now due to iOS 14 widgets?

For me it is SnipNotes. I had already been using the app, but when it updated with iOS 14 widgets I started using it much more because the widgets are fantastic and greatly improve my work flow and enjoyment of the app.

 

[MozMan68]

I never used the stock Wesather app, but having the widget right there on my first page has me using it all the time. And now with AppleOne, the News app is my go to all day long.

 

[pacorob]

Question: is there an app you use more now due to iOS 14 widgets?

For me it is SnipNotes. I had already been using the app, but when it updated with iOS 14 widgets I started using it much more because the widgets are fantastic and greatly improve my work flow and enjoyment of the app.

There is a list (e.g AnyList/Cheatsheet) in my case of apps I was using before but now due to high end widgets increased indeed my use them although I must say in the case of weather widgets and calendar widgets there isn't even a need anymore to open the app since the widget already displays all I need to know think of Carrot Weather (hourly widget, upcoming days widget) Forecast bar (smart widget) but also new ones that hook into my calendar (Dayhub, SimpleCal) or music (MusicView) or triggered a new use case where I only use the widget itself (Bears, Dash dot Dash/ClearSpaces). I'm also constantly testing out new ones.

 

[Paco II]

You are so correct. Thank you for recommending I look at Music View again, they did fix most bugs. Between that widget and ones like Weather line, Fantastical's widgets, SnipNotes and others it has changed my work flow so much and I love it.

There is a list (e.g AnyList/Cheatsheet) in my case of apps I was using before but now due to high end widgets increased indeed my use them although I must say in the case of weather widgets and calendar widgets there isn't even a need anymore to open the app since the widget already displays all I need to know think of Carrot Weather (hourly widget, upcoming days widget) Forecast bar (smart widget) but also new ones that hook into my calendar (Dayhub, SimpleCal) or music (MusicView) or triggered a new use case where I only use the widget itself (Bears, Dash dot Dash/ClearSpaces). I'm also constantly testing out new ones.

 

[sjsharksfan12]

I'm surprised we still have no widgets for sports apps or podcast apps. I actually switched from Pocket Casts to Overcast and I feel like these apps could be updated better. Sometimes change is a good thing.

 

[Paco II]

I'm surprised we still have no widgets for sports apps or podcast apps. I actually switched from Pocket Casts to Overcast and I feel like these apps could be updated better. Sometimes change is a good thing.

Please see posts starting at #547.

 

[iFone88]

Been a while since this thread was posted in. In terms of weather widgets, I have come across Hello Weather.

The app and widgets are beautiful and the watch app is basically a scaled down version of the phone app. It’s great! It uses Dark Sky for its info so have found it to be quite accurate. It’s free to download and 99p a month to upgrade to premium.

 

[timeislove]

In the 'Add Widgets' by pressing and holding on the Home Screen to get into Jiggle mode, then tap the + on the top of the screen. You will see Apple's ones, plus any 3rd Party ones that you have available.

It's dependent of developers updating apps to support though, so more will come.

Just upgraded to 14.2.

the iOS native widget for 14 has solid background, those old widgets from 3rd parties have semi transparent background which I prefer. The mix of solid and transparent widget look inconsistent and also not with other UI style like notifications center and control center.

do the new 3 rd parties widgets have solid background? Or old style transparent?

 

[C DM]

Just upgraded to 14.2.

the iOS native widget for 14 has solid background, those old widgets from 3rd parties have semi transparent background which I prefer. The mix of solid and transparent widget look inconsistent and also not with other UI style like notifications center and control center.

do the new 3 rd parties widgets have solid background? Or old style transparent?

New style widgets generally have non-transparent solid type background.

 

[pacorob]

Been a while since this thread was posted in. In terms of weather widgets, I have come across Hello Weather.

The app and widgets are beautiful and the watch app is basically a scaled down version of the phone app. It’s great! It uses Dark Sky for its info so have found it to be quite accurate. It’s free to download and 99p a month to upgrade to premium.

It's definitely nice and offers a lot of different weather sources like Carrot Weather and Forecast Bar but it lacks still details in the the classic/homescreen widgets though compared to e.g. Carrot Weather. The UI of the app is much better though then Carrot although the widget of Carrot look perfect. The app still needs an UI update.

 

[Canyda]

Amazon Kindle app just added a widget.

 

[pacorob]

I've added the above app to the main widget topic here.

 

[pacorob]

Some new apps with widget support:
- Amazon Kindle
- TuneIn Radio
- bergfex/Weather
- - (Dash) (unfortunately still with name of widget visible although short)
- WidgetWorker
- PostNL (Dutch mail company)

All above apps have also been added to the topic start post.

 

[Paco II]

Kind of funny: I had originally removed all the NC widgets and was only using iOS 14 widgets, but now starting to add back some NC widgets that I was missing.

 

[C DM]

Kind of funny: I had originally removed all the NC widgets and was only using iOS 14 widgets, but now starting to add back some NC widgets that I was missing.

I kind of stuck mostly to pre-iOS 14 widgets so far. I'm used to them and they seem to update better and give me the information that I want and expect.

 

[pacorob]

Kind of funny: I had originally removed all the NC widgets and was only using iOS 14 widgets, but now starting to add back some NC widgets that I was missing.

I kind of stuck mostly to pre-iOS 14 widgets so far. I'm used to them and they seem to update better and give me the information that I want and expect.

I switched some weather widgets from NC to Homescreen and kept them there.
For other widgets I still use NC (Launcher widget), minute by minute rain radar (Buienalarm), Agenda: widget+ which all have more interactivity options indeed as the ones on the homescreen also the Launcher widget can be used inside other apps just with a swipe away without having to close the app and go to the homescreen.

 

[Canyda]

Fantastical just updated with more free widgets.