You unlock your phone to check the weather, then open the calendar to see your next meeting, then open Photos to find a picture you like. Three apps, three taps, for information that could have been sitting right on your home screen. A widget puts that information where you already look — no opening, no searching, just a glance.
What a widget actually is
A widget is a small live window into an app that lives on your home screen. A weather widget shows today's forecast, a calendar widget shows your next events, a music widget shows playback controls, and a photos widget rotates pictures from an album you choose. The app itself stays installed and unchanged; the widget only displays part of it in a compact form.
That distinction matters for two common worries. First, a widget does not replace the app — tapping it usually opens the full app, so everything you could do before is still there. Second, a widget can only show what its app offers. If an app has no widget, no setting will conjure one up, and if it offers only one size, you cannot stretch it into another. When a widget you expect is missing, the app is almost always the reason, not your phone.
On iPhone: add a widget to the Home Screen
Apple's route has been the same since widgets arrived on the iPhone home screen, and it works for built-in apps and third-party apps that support widgets.
- Go to the home screen page where you want the widget.
- Touch and hold an empty area until the apps begin to jiggle.
- Tap Edit in the top corner, then tap Add Widget to open the widget gallery.
- Scroll or search to find the app you want, tap it, then swipe through the size options.
- When you see the size you want, tap Add Widget.
- While the apps are still jiggling, drag the widget where you want it, then tap Done.
Size is worth choosing deliberately rather than taking the first option. A small widget shows one glanceable fact, such as today's temperature. A medium widget adds useful detail, such as the next few hours or days. A large widget turns a whole section of the home screen into a dashboard, which suits a calendar or a photo album but crowds out app icons fast. Start with small or medium, and go larger only for the one or two things you check most.
On iPhone: Lock Screen, Today View, and Smart Stacks
The home screen is not the only place widgets live on an iPhone, and the other two spots suit different habits.
For the Lock Screen, touch and hold it until the Customise button appears, tap Customise, then tap Add Widgets and choose the small widgets you want under the clock — temperature, battery level, or upcoming events are typical picks. Space is tight here, so only a few small widgets fit, and if there is no room, remove one first to make space.
For Today View, swipe right from the home screen, touch and hold an empty area until things jiggle, then tap Edit and Add Widget the same way as on the home screen. Today View suits widgets you want without unlocking fully, but it is a separate page from your home screen, so it only helps if you remember to swipe there.
A Smart Stack is a pile of same-size widgets in one slot. Add one from the widget gallery like any other widget, then swipe up or down on it to flip through the widgets inside. The stack can also rotate on its own, showing what it judges most relevant at that time of day. To build your own stack, drag one widget directly on top of another of the same size while the apps are jiggling. Stacks are the best answer to a crowded home screen: four widgets' worth of information in the space of one.
On Android: Pixel, Samsung, and other phones
Android's route is nearly identical across brands, with one difference: the menu is opened from a long press, not from an Edit button.
- Touch and hold an empty area of your home screen until a menu appears.
- Tap Widgets.
- Scroll through the widgets, grouped by app, or use the search field at the top.
- Touch and hold the widget you want, then drag it onto your home screen and release it.
- If the widget can be resized, handles appear around it — drag a handle to change its size, then tap elsewhere to finish.
On a Pixel phone, this is the whole story: the Widgets menu, the drag, and the resize handles. Pixel also shows an At a Glance area at the top of the home screen with date, weather, and upcoming events, but that area is part of the launcher rather than a widget you add or remove like the rest, so treat it as a bonus, not as a widget slot.
On a Samsung Galaxy phone, the same steps apply — long press, Widgets, drag — and Samsung adds its own extras in the same menu, including photo widgets from the Gallery and the option to stack widgets. If you stack widgets on Samsung, touch and hold the stack later and choose Edit stack to add, remove, or reorder the widgets inside it. Exact labels vary a little by One UI version, but the long-press-to-Widgets path is consistent.
Move, resize, edit, stack, and remove
Once widgets are placed, rearranging them uses the same gestures on both platforms. Touch and hold a widget to move it: on iPhone, enter jiggle mode first; on Android, the drag starts straight from the long press. Dragging a widget onto a full page pushes icons aside or refuses the drop, so clear a little space first rather than fighting the grid.
To resize on Android, touch and hold the widget until handles appear, then drag a handle. On iPhone, widgets do not stretch freely — instead, touch and hold the widget, and if the app offers another size, change it from the menu, or remove it and re-add it at the size you want.
To change what a widget shows, touch and hold it and choose Edit Widget on iPhone, or the widget's own settings on Android. A calendar widget can point at a different calendar, a weather widget at a different city, and a photos widget at a different album. If Edit Widget does not appear, that widget simply has no options to change, and nothing is wrong with your phone.
To remove a widget, touch and hold it and choose Remove Widget on iPhone, or drag it to the Remove area at the top of the screen on Android. This only removes the window from your home screen. The app, its data, and its settings all stay exactly as they were.
Which widgets are worth the space
A home screen only has so much room, so the test for every widget is simple: does it answer a question you ask several times a day without opening the app? The table below is a starting point, not a prescription — keep the ones that pass that test for you, and drop the rest.
| Widget | Best for | Size tip |
|---|---|---|
| Weather | Today's forecast at a glance | Small for temperature, medium for the week ahead |
| Calendar | Your next meeting or the day's plan | Medium for the next few events, large for a full week |
| Clock | World times or a second timezone | Small, unless you track several zones |
| Photos | A favourite album rotating on your home screen | Medium or large, so pictures stay recognisable |
| Music | Play, pause, and skip without opening the app | Small or medium, near the bottom for easy thumb reach |
| Notes or reminders | A shopping list or today's tasks | Medium, so more than one line stays visible |
Two or three good widgets beat a page full of them. A home screen crowded with widgets you never read is slower than the plain grid it replaced, because the thing you actually want is buried again.
When a widget does not show up or stops updating
Most widget problems have boring causes, and they are quick to check in order. First, confirm the app actually offers a widget: open the widget gallery or Widgets menu and search for the app by name. If it is not listed, no setting on your phone will add one.
Second, check that the app is installed and signed in. A widget for an app you removed, or one that needs you to sign in again after an update, shows nothing or an empty frame until the app itself works again.
Third, give a stale widget a nudge: remove it and add it again. This clears a stuck display without touching the app's data, and it fixes most widgets that stopped refreshing after an update.
Fourth, check battery optimisation on Android. If a phone aggressively limits an app in the background, its widget may update late or not at all. Allowing the app normal background activity, in the battery settings for that app, usually restores updates — though this is a tradeoff with battery life, so only change it for widgets you genuinely rely on.
Finally, restart the phone if several widgets broke at once. A restart clears the home screen's own state without changing any setting, and it is the fastest fix when the problem is the launcher rather than any single app.
FAQ
Does removing a widget delete the app?
No. Removing a widget only takes the window off your home screen. The app stays installed with all its data, and you can add the widget again at any time from the same menu.
Why does an app I use every day have no widget?
Not every app offers one. Widgets are built by each app's developer, so an app without a widget simply has none to add, however popular it is. Check the app's own settings or description for widget support, and use a shortcut or the app icon itself for apps without one.
Can I put widgets on the Lock Screen too?
On iPhone, yes, in the small area under the clock, added through the Lock Screen's Customise option. On Android, lock screen widgets depend on the phone maker and Android version — Samsung offers more lock screen customisation than most stock Android phones, while others limit the lock screen to clocks, notifications, and shortcuts.
Do widgets drain the battery?
A handful of ordinary widgets — weather, calendar, clock, photos — make no difference you will notice. Widgets that refresh very often, such as live sports scores or stock prices, use more background activity by design. If battery life drops after adding widgets, remove the most frequently updating ones first.
Can I stack widgets on Android as well as iPhone?
Yes, on many Android phones. On Samsung, drag one widget onto another of the same size to stack them, then touch and hold the stack and choose Edit stack to manage it. On other Android phones, stacking depends on the launcher — stock launchers vary, and third-party launchers usually support it.
Why is my widget showing the wrong city or calendar?
The widget is pointing at the wrong source, not broken. Touch and hold it, choose Edit Widget, and select the city, calendar, or album you actually want. If no edit option appears, that widget has fixed content, and the fix is to remove it and add a different widget from the same app that offers the choice.
Sources and further reading
Apple's own steps for adding, editing, and removing widgets are in Apple Support's guide to widgets on iPhone. For Android, the common long-press route across Pixel, Samsung, and other brands is covered in TechBloat's guide to adding widgets on Android phones, with brand-by-brand steps in its Samsung, Pixel, and other-brand widget guide.