How to Add Widgets to Your iPhone’s Lock Screen in iOS 16 | Digital Trends

While Apple finally added support for home screen widgets a few years ago, it wasn’t until iOS 16 that they finally made it to the lock screen, allowing you to quickly see everything from the weather to your to do list. to do, upcoming appointments and more at a glance, all without unlocking your iPhone.

While lock screen widgets are useful across the iPhone range, they have given the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max new superpowers, thanks to the gorgeous new always-on display that has appeared on these models.

Now that iOS 16 has been out for a while, there is no shortage of apps that support lock screen widgets. Naturally, these include Apple’s built-in apps like Weather, Calendar, Reminders, Tasks and more, plus a huge range of third-party apps like Facebook Messenger, Google Maps, Gmail, Fantastical, Things and even ChatGPT and a remote widget that lets you see how close or far you are to a loved one.

Note that these are different from the widgets you can put on your home screen, so you won’t necessarily be able to access the same type of widget, and some apps that have home screen widgets may not offer lock screen widgets. Lock screen widgets are also more limited than their home screen counterparts, presenting information in a much smaller monochrome layout.

You also can’t plaster the entire lock screen with widgets; Apple limits them to a single row of up to four square widgets, two rectangular widgets, or three widgets if you want to combine both sizes. The good news is that you can have multiple lock screens with different widgets, and even link them to Focus modes, so you can keep your widgets tailored to the different places and mindsets you’re in throughout the day.

How to add widgets to lock screen in iOS 16

Adding widgets to the iPhone lock screen is the same way as changing any part of the lock screen. It’s a little different than what Apple had in previous years, but it should be easy enough once you get used to it.

Step 1: From your iPhone’s lock screen, long select (press and hold) an empty space to enter edit mode.

Step 2: From here, select customize and choose Screen lock on the left side.

Step 3: To select Add widgets from the box under the clock.

Step 4: A widget picker will appear showing some suggested widgets you can quickly add, followed by an alphabetical list of all the apps installed on your iPhone that support lock screen widgets.

Step 5: If the widget you want to add appears in the suggestions, select it to add it to the widget bar below the clock.

Step 6: Otherwise, scroll down to browse the app list. When you find the app you want to add a widget from, select it to see the lock screen widgets available for that app. If more widgets are available, you can swipe right to see additional options.

Step 7: Repeat steps 5 and 6 to add more widgets. As mentioned above, you can add up to four small widgets, two large widgets, or one large and two small widgets. The widgets you add are placed automatically and the layout is a bit restrictive. You can reorder the smaller widgets or two larger widgets, but one larger widget must always be on the left side of the smaller ones.

Step 8: After choosing the desired widgets, select the file X button in the upper-right corner of the widget picker, then choose Done from top right to finish. If you’re creating a new lock screen, you’ll see Set as wallpaper pair select this and save.

How to remove widgets from your iPhone lock screen

Whether you want to clean up your lock screen or just remove a few widgets to make room for different ones, you can rearrange your widgets as easily as adding widgets in the first place.

Step 1: From your iPhone’s lock screen, long select (press and hold) an empty space to enter edit mode.

Step 2: From here, select customize and choose Screen lock on the left side.

Step 3: Select the widget area. THE Add widgets the selector will appear.

Step 4: Select the minus sign (-) in the upper left corner of the widget you want to remove. You can also drag the widget out of the widget bar. Repeat for any other widgets you want to remove.

Step 5: If you want to add a new widget to replace the ones you’ve removed, follow the instructions in the previous section. Otherwise, select the X button in the upper-right corner of the widget picker, then choose Done from top right to finish.

While widgets in iOS 16 are a great start, there’s still room for improvement. For example, Apple may let you customize them by adding even more widget space to your lock screen instead of the limited four. Also, while you may have heard that iOS 17 is adding interactive widgets, this is only for home screen widgets. So far, it doesn’t look like Apple is doing much with lock screen widgets on the iPhone with this year’s software releases, but the good news for iPad fans is that Apple’s tablet will be joining the lock screen party. block with iPadOS 17.

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