Home screen widgets to make your life easier

Stay organized and get need-to-know info at a glance by using widgets on your devices. Here’s what you need to know about these time-saving tools, and how you can customize your home screen with them.

Like an app preview, a widget lets you access key info or specific features from an app without opening it. If you’re looking for an easy way to keep track of pesky to-do lists, track the weather forecast, or just stay on target with your daily step goal, widgets have you covered. You can even use them to keep up with the latest news headlines, or personalize your home screen with a photo gallery.

Chances are, many of your apps have widgets just waiting to be added. To find out which widgets are at your fingertips, simply touch and hold an empty space on your home screen. Tap the Widgets button once it appears, and you’ll see a list of apps with available widgets for you to choose from. Alternatively, you can tap and hold any app icon on your home screen to view its individual widget options.

To see if an app has a widget before downloading, look for the “Widget” tag on its details page. You can explore more apps with widgets by either tapping the tag, or applying a “Widget” filter in the search bar.

You can reposition a widget by tapping it, holding down, and then dragging. To resize a widget, tap and hold it until a box appears around it (if this doesn’t happen, that means you can’t resize it), then drag the sides of the box until you’re happy with the appearance. When you're done, just tap anywhere outside the widget.