What’s the reason for the iPad not having the same widget implementation as the iPhone? It’s even better suited for it than the iPhone. What’s the deal? Will Apple change it by GM? Thoughts?
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Why no widgets for iPad, seriously.
- Thread starter miamialley
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Apple already revealed the improvements in the upcoming iPadOS 14. Check out this link: https://www.apple.com/ipados/ipados-preview/features/
Right, but that page doesn't explain the restrictions on widget placement on iPad.
In the Mkhbd video Craig mentioned that they feel the widget situation on iPadOS is already in a good place coming from 13. They never really intended on having widgets placed inbetween app icons (probably due to the variable margins they can have).
Don‘t count on it happening this year, maybe next year when enough people give feedback.
Don‘t count on it happening this year, maybe next year when enough people give feedback.
The deal is that the iPhone grid is fixed. On iPad, you have another format and you can rotate freely between portrait and landscape. That's messing with the app grid and with the layout.
On the “today view” of the iPad Home Screen (on the left hand side), it seems unnecessary to show the time and date above the widgets (as the time / date is already shown in the status bar).
Having the option to remove the time / date above the widgets would allow for more widgets to be displayed on the left hand side, and I feel it looks cleaner, especially if Apple aren’t going to allow us to place widgets anywhere on the iPad home screen.
What do others think? See screenshots for example.
Having the option to remove the time / date above the widgets would allow for more widgets to be displayed on the left hand side, and I feel it looks cleaner, especially if Apple aren’t going to allow us to place widgets anywhere on the iPad home screen.
What do others think? See screenshots for example.
I got a 12.9" iPad Pro, it's ridiculous I can't use the potential of this massive screen... It could support a lot more apps and widgets. The homescreen could be an information powerhouse.
It's because of the different orientation possibilities the iPad has.
I also miss the app library there
I don’t see the date and time in the status bar on my iPad (12.9” Pro). 🤔
I’ve read about the complexity of the sizing and positioning of the widgets on the iPhone homescreen (they have been optically aligned) and I can imagine why it isn’t available on the iPad. The spacing is very different of the icons, you can set different icon sizes, the spacing is different between portrait and landscape, etc. The current widget sizes would look like a mess on the iPad.
I’m pretty certain this will not be possible this year, maybe on the next version of iPadOS if widgets can have real flexible sizes. Or not, because this way it’s more macOS like, having a widget screen slide in from the side.
I’m pretty certain this will not be possible this year, maybe on the next version of iPadOS if widgets can have real flexible sizes. Or not, because this way it’s more macOS like, having a widget screen slide in from the side.
I agree with Craig. While I like the idea of widgets on the iPad. I realize it would probably disrupt my work flow.
I understand the iPad is used in two different orientations, but I don't see why this means you can't have any widgets on the home screen. It just makes no sense. If that's the concern, then limit the number of apps/widgets that are placed to they can all appear on the home screen in either orientation. And as it is now the apps reorder when you rotate anyway, so they'd do the same thing.
My point will be proven when Apple eventually does allow widgets on the iPad in iOS 20 as "an exciting new feature we're bringing to the iPad. Now you can access all of your widget on your home screen, just like on iPhone. Isn't that great?"
I really cannot imagine that not one person in their meetings never said, "Hey guys, WHY can't the iPad have the same widgets as the iPhone? I don't get it."
It really would vastly improve the iPad. There is absolutely no reason that cannot be overcome to not allow widgets. I could get so much information from the home screen, rather than, app, app, app, app, app...
That's your answer. It's an absolute certainty it came up, and there's clearly a reason they opted not to go that way.
Whatever the 'reason' it is not legitimate. Apple is well known for arbitrarily holding back on features. It took forever to get copy and paste, wallpapers, contact pictures in the message app list, allowing use of the flash as a flashlight, god so many things. We could have a long list of features they didn't implement, then eventually did, for no reason. They implemented this on one device and not the other and there is no legitimate reason to limit it the way they have.
Apple absolutely makes decisions that don't always make sense to end users, but in this case I can think of a couple of legitimate possibilities:
1) the functionality might be enabled in a later beta
2) Apple might have bigger plans for iPadOS, related to the home screen
Have you sent them feedback on this?
I.e., my way is the right way and apple should do it my way.
just want to throw this out there, my Nexus 7 from 2012 auto rotates and can have widgets on home screen. So saying Apple can't or won't do it because of that is crazy.
You're right. I'm the only person saying this. Some people just think everything Apple does is perfect the way it is I guess.
Just look at the widget sizes. They are 2x2 icons, 2x4 and 4x4. They are sized that way for the iPhone home screen. If you look at the iPad app grid layout and add the today view to the left, then you immediately see that the widgets are a very different size than the distance is between app icons. So that would either mean that widgets need to be able to stretch in many different length and width sizes or they would need to redesign the iPad home screen lay-out in total just for the widgets.
The iPad and the Mac are converging, so they are moving closer in design, which means a today view on the side makes sense. I don’t like it either but I understand why they are doing it.
Maybe it's the ludicrous sense of entitlement that comes across, particularly with bold underlined text - get a grip. You are of course welcome to flag the absence of minor software features you desire, request them from Apple, and to speculate as to why they may or may not have been implemented, but you can't say "not legitimate", "arbitrarily holding back", "no reason", "no legitimate reason".
Also; perspective.
personally I think the excuses are a bit of a cop out.
however surely at the very least then apple could just have expanded on what it already has in iPadOS. we already have widgets on the home page, just they are on the left which is fine, only appear on landscape, which is fine, and only on the first page. why not allow us to populate every page with different widgets on the left side.
also the lack of other ios14 features on iPad where there's no obvious reason, like deleting apps from the front screen leads me more to a general either lack of interest in ipadOS or that separating them has been a bad idea as maybe the team leading iOS are a bit more inventive than those in iPADOS
however surely at the very least then apple could just have expanded on what it already has in iPadOS. we already have widgets on the home page, just they are on the left which is fine, only appear on landscape, which is fine, and only on the first page. why not allow us to populate every page with different widgets on the left side.
also the lack of other ios14 features on iPad where there's no obvious reason, like deleting apps from the front screen leads me more to a general either lack of interest in ipadOS or that separating them has been a bad idea as maybe the team leading iOS are a bit more inventive than those in iPADOS
Whatever dude. You're the type of person who has no clue why anyone ever jailbroke an iPhone. Most of those jailbreak features over the last 10 years, by the way, are now iOS features!