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If anything has been clear since the release of iOS 14, it’s that there was a pent-up demand for home screen widgets on the iPhone. A variety of third-party apps have added support for homescreen widgets over the past few months, but one app has stood out from the rest: Widgetsmith.
If you have just unwrapped a new iPhone, Widgetsmith is one of our must-have apps to give your device a custom aesthetic.
Widgetsmith comes from David Smith, who is the developer behind several popular Apple Watch and iPhone apps, including Watchsmith, Sleep + +, and Pedometer + +. The concept of Widgetsmith is that it allows you to create custom and custom widgets for your iOS 14 home screen; Is that how it works.
You can download the latest version of Widgetsmith from the App Store for free.
In the Widgetsmith app on your iPhone, there are three different widget sizes to choose from: small, medium, and large. Each widget can display a variety of information and be customized with different font styles and colors, tint colors, and background colors.
The process is incredibly simple. Just click the “Add” button for the size of the widget you want to create, then tap on the widget to customize it.
The first decision you need to make is what kind of information you want the widget to display on your home screen. Here are the data sources available from Widgetsmith:
- Time
- Date
- Custom: Photo, Album Photos, Custom Text, Blank
- Calendar
- Reminders
- Weather
- Health and activity
- Tides
- Astronomy
Within each data type, there are a variety of different options for displaying whatever data type you have chosen. From there you have additional customization options including font style, tint color, and background color. The result can be as colorful and aesthetically pleasing or as information-dense as you like.
Once you have designed the iOS 14 home screen widget in the Widgetsmith app, you can go back to the home screen, long press to full motion mode, and then tap the “+” icon in the upper left corner. Find Widgetsmith in the list of applications, then choose the size of the widget you created.
On the iOS 14 home screen, you can use as many Widgetsmith widgets as you like. Once you add the Widgetsmith size to your home screen, press and hold, choose “Edit widget” and choose the “Widget” option to choose from the multiple layouts you created in the Widgetsmith app. In fact, all the iOS 14 home screen widgets could come from Widgetsmith if you want.
Widgetsmith also supports timed widgets, which allow you to replace the widget on your home screen at a specific time of day. For example, you can show the current date until the business day is over, then have Widgetsmith automatically change the widgets to show you what’s on your calendar for the next day.
More coverage from Widgetsmith:
Go viral
Widgetsmith has exploded in popularity and has reached the top of the App Store charts. The customization and personalization options in Widgetsmith have proven to be incredibly popular, which is proof not only of the power of Widgetsmith, but also the pent-up demand for additional iOS home screen customization options.
The app has gone viral on TikTok multiple times, with Widgetsmith as the basis for TikTok’s tutorials on how to make the iOS 14 home screen an “Aesthetic AF.” In these TikTok videos, you can see how powerful Widgetsmith is and how creative iOS 14 users are being with their homescreen layouts.
My Widgetsmith implementation is much simpler than many of the viral videos on TikTok, but this is a great testament to the versatility of the app. Whether you are looking to create a certain “aesthetic” for the iOS 14 home screen or use it as a tool to add additional information to your home screen, you can check all the necessary boxes. Again, there is even support for scheduling specific widgets based on the time of day.
For me one limitation is that iOS 14 widgets will only launch the app where they were created. For example, you can use the Widgetsmith Activity Rings widget, but it will open the data in the Widgetsmith app instead of the built-in iOS Fitness app. This is a limitation of iOS 14 itself rather than Widgetsmith specifically, but it is something I hope Apple will change in the future.
Widgetsmith is a free download on the App Store, with certain features requiring server costs that require an in-app subscription. That same subscription can be shared with Watchsmith, allowing you to give your Apple Watch the same treatment as your iOS 14 home screen.
Have you already given Widgetsmith a shot on your iOS 14 home screen? What are your favorite designs? Let us know in the comments!
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