Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
3rd party widgets
- Thread starter miamialley
- WikiPost WikiPost
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
- Status
I'm assuming that they will repurpose the old style ones to a new style ones at the minimum. ☺️
After a couple of weeks, I think I finally realized what I love most about widgets (and this does relate to third party widgets, so bear with me one second)...it will really be about cleaning up the main home screen.
I think like most people (maybe not on here, but MOST people), I have about 100 or more apps. I placed them in 20 folders only so I could have access to all on just one screen. It's changed a little bit over the years, but not by much.
Now with widgets and the app library, I find myself using three screens now of the most common things I want to see at a glance (I'm sure this will change), like clock, weather and calendar on my first screen...second screen is dedicated to news (Top Stories, Alternative Rock and Technology), third screen; battery, maps and music app. And then the app library, which I actually find to be quite smart in having my other regularly used apps within easy reach.
Again, I'm sure this will change once the tons of third party app widgets are launched (especially the ones I use way more than the Apple ones), but I'm planning on simply doing more smart stack options for similar apps. Just the idea of having a bunch of News widgets with separate topics I like to read about stacked has me wanting to do that one already.
I'm all ready planning out my smart stacks...social media stack, news stack, weather stack, sports stack...and I think the key will be to limit it to widgets that will actually provide some sort of useful info at a glance (I like the wide screen widget) so I don't just end up with 20 stacks in place of the 20 folders I had before...going to try and see how the app library works for me.
I think like most people (maybe not on here, but MOST people), I have about 100 or more apps. I placed them in 20 folders only so I could have access to all on just one screen. It's changed a little bit over the years, but not by much.
Now with widgets and the app library, I find myself using three screens now of the most common things I want to see at a glance (I'm sure this will change), like clock, weather and calendar on my first screen...second screen is dedicated to news (Top Stories, Alternative Rock and Technology), third screen; battery, maps and music app. And then the app library, which I actually find to be quite smart in having my other regularly used apps within easy reach.
Again, I'm sure this will change once the tons of third party app widgets are launched (especially the ones I use way more than the Apple ones), but I'm planning on simply doing more smart stack options for similar apps. Just the idea of having a bunch of News widgets with separate topics I like to read about stacked has me wanting to do that one already.
I'm all ready planning out my smart stacks...social media stack, news stack, weather stack, sports stack...and I think the key will be to limit it to widgets that will actually provide some sort of useful info at a glance (I like the wide screen widget) so I don't just end up with 20 stacks in place of the 20 folders I had before...going to try and see how the app library works for me.
Without being interactive it’s no point, you should be able to use apps in widgets like change track, select messages they are not worth it for me
I think people miss the point of Apple's "home screen" widgets....They're there for info only.
You can swipe right to get to interactive widgets....swipe down from the upper right to get to control center...I mean, they give you two other ways to interact....and the lock screen makes three when music is concerned!
I know that Apple thinks that but the users do want interactive widgets. It also doesn't make much sense that widget in the Today View have somesort of interactivity while on the homescreen they can't.
Last edited:
Maybe I missed something but the Widgets I have on the Today Screen are identical (aside from ESPN) to the ones on the Home Screen. Still no "interactivity". Miss the old Music widget that showed what is Now Playing and had the controls.
Well...I noticed something this morning with the latest beta...my old widgets are still there, but I don’t have the ability to add them anymore if I delete them.
Hopefully just a temporary thing as it would make zero sense to have the today screen the same as the Home Screen as you point out...weird.
Third party widget cannot be updated just yet to be live in the App Store for iOS 14 since IOS14 is still in beta. You can only use existing third party widgets that are suitable for iOS13 and before and still work as well that way in the Today View (only) in iOS14 beta. There are now some third party widgets available which you can also test through TestFlight (I mentioned two before) on iOS14 beta. Third party Music Launcher has controls in the premium version in the Today View and besides this you can ofcourse still use the onboard music control on the lock screen and control center area.
The public beta (2) lacked the 'Edit' button to remove/add Apple and 'classic' third party widgets but when you go to the Today View area and long click between search bar and first widget that appears you will the '+' button in the top but when you scroll down you will see again the 'Edit' button to add widgets in the Today View. In public beta 3 released a couple of days ago they fixed this for what I've read (I haven't updated just yet)
I just want to say thanks to sweet Jesus that we have a News widget, or I would have missed this important headline.
? ???I just want to say thanks to sweet Jesus that we have a News widget, or I would have missed this important headline.
Running gm, and none of my apps have widgets.
Was hoping carrot weather had a widget, but no. The stock ones are just meh.
Was hoping carrot weather had a widget, but no. The stock ones are just meh.
I thought the public release was out, but I guess not until tomorrow. Perhaps then we'll see more about the third party widgets.
I have not been that impressed with Widgets, especially considering the real estate they take up and the lack of interactivity. Curious to see what apps of mine will have widgets, but most of what I want that for is quick actions, not reference. Widgets in iOS 14 are dynamic reference snapshots. They can jump into an app but there is no force touch actionability. Mostly they just make the old app grid a little less boring.
none, and you won’t see any tomorrow probably either. Devs had to wait for Xcode GM before they could finalise apps using iOS 14, and they only got this about 6 hours ago.
depending on how quick they are, and then how quick Apple are with App Store submission review, will be the factor in when we will start seeing them.
it used to be that with the week or so gap between GM and public release in the past, then you’d see stuff on public launch, but with doing the GM yesterday and public launch today, they’ve irked developers.
Releases - Apple Developer
Get the latest operating system releases and learn about updates to App Store Connect, TestFlight, and other developer tools.
Last edited:
Apple released Xcode GM 7 hours ago, and that meant they could start submitting them then. Usually there's a week between this and the public release of iOS x.0, meaning there is time for these app updates to be submitted, reviewed and released. Since that gap is non-existent, won't see any apps today using the new iOS 14 things like the new widget style.
Releases - Apple Developer
Get the latest operating system releases and learn about updates to App Store Connect, TestFlight, and other developer tools.
Only way to try any now, is if any are available via TestFlight
Will be interesting to see what developers/app creators have created for widgets.
Parcel have this already on their beta app (and presumably main one very shortly). Very cool.
I wouldn't mind something like that for my GE app...show me the preheat temp progress, stove timer, status of dishwasher. Not crazy...