Apple’s iOS 14 brings the overhaul to a rather boring and identical iPhone home screen. Since its introduction in 2007, the iPhone home screen carried over the same grid of apps look by default. The behavior is changing with iOS 14, and now, you have more options to customize the iPhone home with resizable widgets.
Initially, the widget functionality arrived on iPhone with iOS 8 in 2014. But it was limited in several ways and accessible only through the iOS Today View menu.
iOS 14 lets you add widgets to the home screen. You can choose from various widget sizes as well. The developer community is already hard at work to get their apps ready with the iPhone’s latest widget trend.
We are barely into the second week of the iOS 14 and the App Store is buzzing with smart and functional widgets support offering apps. We have hand-picked twenty best useful widgets to add on the iPhone home screen. Of course, this is not a definitive least and we might update or replace some of the items in the future.
1. Apollo for Reddit
Apollo, a popular third-party app on the App Store, has nailed the widget implementation with the iOS 14 update. There are 10 widgets (yes, you read that right) to choose from.
You can add a post widget, wallpaper widget, add shortcuts to the subreddit, or pin a random shower thought or joke on the home screen. There is something for everyone.
2. Weather Line
The default weather app on the iPhone does a decent job with widgets to show live temperature. Weather Line takes the experience further with Hourly and Daily Forecast widgets that offer more info such as sunrise, sunset time, wind speed, AQI levels, UV Index, and more.
3. Day One
Day One is my favorite journaling app. It supports tons of widgets type and size with Today View, Daily Prompt, and live streak. My favorite from the bunch is the ‘On This Day’ widget, which displays thoughts from the same day last year.
Daily Prompt is also a nice add-on as it motivates you to add thoughts.
4. Things 3
Things 3 has a strong fan following in the Apple ecosystem. The company has updated the app with iOS 14 widgets. You can choose from three widget sizes – Small, Medium, and Large. You can select which list to showcase on the widget and use the + icon to add tasks to the list.
Unfortunately, due to the iOS 14 limitation, you can’t complete tasks from the widget itself.
5. PDF Expert
PDF Expert can be your ultimate PDF app on the iPhone. You can add a music widget to access audio files quickly, use the Recents widget to open recent files quickly, and use Favorites to open device folders. If you are using PDF Expert to edit PDFs on the iPhone, you will surely appreciate widgets.
6. Spark Mail
Spark Mail is one of the best third-party email apps for the iPhone. With the recent update, it’s getting even better with mail and calendar widgets.
You can have an email list widget with unread emails, the list of incoming emails, action buttons such as Search, Calendar, Compose mail, and more. Spark Mail also supports a Calendar widget that displays the upcoming events for the day or week. Spark has hit it out of the park with widget implementation in iOS 14.
7. Google App
As an Android convertible, I always desired a Google search bar widget on the iPhone home screen. Using the Google app, you can add a Google search widget with Google Lens, Voice Search, and Incognito mode on the iPhone home. It looks way better than its Android counterpart.
8. Documents
Documents by Readdle is an advanced file manager app on the iPhone. Using Documents, you can manage all types of files store on your iPhone. Users can add offline music player widgets, recent files, favorites, and even action button widgets that place music, browsers, and VPN shortcuts right on the home screen.
9. Soor Music
Soor is a beautiful premium music player for iPhone. It offers an intuitive, full gesture-driven user interface with Musixmatch integration. With the iOS 14 update, you can use Soor app widgets to showcase the current song with a couple of upcoming songs in the queue. One can also access playlists and favorite music collection from the iPhone home screen.
10. Elytra
If you are an RSS junkie, you will appreciate Elytra’s couple of iOS 14 widgets to showcase unread articles and unread counter widget on the home screen.
11. OneDrive
I have been asking Microsoft to improve OneDrive gallery support on iPhone. With iOS 14 widgets, Microsoft has finally listened to growing user demand and added a couple of image widgets. I suspect more widgets in the pipeline for OneDrive. As for now, OneDrive widgets are limited in the TestFlight app.
12. Lumy
Lumy is a beautiful app that helps you capture gorgeous visuals by letting you keep track of the Golden hour (also known as Magic Hour). It is a period around Sunrise or Sunset at which the light is often soft, warm, and perfect for capturing beautiful visuals.
Using Lumy, you can add the Golder Hour widget with the Sun’s current position and other information regarding golden hour on the home screen.
13. HabitMinder
Whether it’s practicing yoga, running, swimming, or calling parents, HabitMinder is a fun app that helps you build good habits. With a collection of over five Home screen widgets, you should have a much better time tracking how well you are following your routine.
14. Todoist
Todoist has been my go-to recommendation for anyone looking for a solid cross-platform task management app. With iOS 14, it’s getting even better. You have three Tasks widgets that let you track your daily to-dos, a Productivity widget that showcases your daily and weekly progress.
15. Dark Noise
Dark Noise is a simple yet powerful way to play ambient noise to help you sleep, focus, or relax. You can create custom mixes for an endless variety of soundscapes. Using Dark Noise, you can add shortcuts for those created sound effects such as white noise, thunder, spaceship engine, and more to the default home.
16. Unwind – Mindful Breathing
Unwind is a refreshing, delightful, and distraction-free mindful breathing companion to help you with meditation and get you through the day. Unwind widgets can now be added right on your home screen to quickly glance at your daily mindfulness progress. The widgets come in all sizes and are configurable.
17. Widgetsmith
Widgetsmith lets you personalize your iPhone home screen like a pro. Using Widgetsmith, you can create highly customizable widgets that range in function from date to weather. Each can be adjusted precisely to fit your desired function and appearance.
This set of widgets can then be dynamically scheduled to appear on your home screen following rules you define. For example, a particular widget could show the weather first thing in the morning, then your calendar during your workday, then switch to your Activity ring progress as you wrap up your day.
18. Aviary
Aviary is a beautiful Twitter client built with iOS design guidelines. Using Aviary widgets, you can browse your Twitter feed right from the home screen. I expect other third-party Twitter apps such as TweetBot and Twitterrific to follow the lead.
19. Spend Stack
Spend Stack can be your budget manager, a shopping list, or an expense tracker all in one place. You can keep track of subscriptions, remaining budget for a category, and all expenses on the home screen using widgets.
20. Wikipedia
Wikipedia’s iOS 14 widgets will spruce up your interest in top read items. You can access and see live data of the top read items throughout the day. Picture of the Day widget is a neat add-on that features a stunning image curated by the Wikipedia community.
Add Useful Widgets on iPhone Home Screen
Using widgets, you can quickly glance over the relevant information without opening apps. We have tried to cover major app categories in the list above. We expect to see many more iOS apps boarding the widget train on the App Store soon. Which app widgets are you using on the iPhone home screen? Show off your perfect home screen setup. And we bet there are several other apps that offer beautiful widgets, so share the ones you like in the comments below.
Next up: iPhone now supports picture in picture mode with iOS 14 update. Read the post below to learn how to use picture in picture mode on iPhone.
Last updated on 02 February, 2022
The above article may contain affiliate links which help support Guiding Tech. However, it does not affect our editorial integrity. The content remains unbiased and authentic.
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