The iPhone Smart Stack widget in iOS 14 is great, but here’s how to improve it

When Apple launches iOS 14 this fall you IPhone home screen will look very different. There is a pseudo app drawer called the App Library that allows you to get rid of the endless dashboards of apps we all have. And for the first time, you you can now move widgets out of view Today and on your home screen. Yes, It is very similar to Android. Apple’s signature widget is called Smart Stack, and it combines several app widgets that you can navigate on your own, or let your iPhone decide which app to show you and when, depending on how you use your phone.

For example, if you check the weather and then your calendar first thing in the morning, the Smart Stack will probably include both apps and automatically show you the forecast followed by your schedule the first time you unlock your iPhone in the morning. Then if you routinely check your Activity stats after dinner, the stack will show you the Activity widget around that time of day.

But you don’t have to leave the widget stacked to Apple. You can also create your own smart stack, selecting the included apps to your liking. Next, we’ll show you how to customize a stack.

Remember, iOS 14 is in early beta for developers and not finalized The features highlighted below could and will likely change before its release later this year. We will update this post as Apple releases the changes.

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Create a custom smart stack just like you would an application folder

You don’t have to learn any new steps or techniques to build your own stack – if you’ve ever removed an app or rearranged your home screen, you’re more than ready. If you haven’t, well, it’s still easy.

Before iOS 14, you had to tap and hold an app icon to activate the Edit home screen characteristic. That method is still available, but now there is a shortcut:

one) Press and hold on your screen between the apps in the dock and the first row of apps on your home screen, like this:

two) Play the + icon in the upper left corner of the screen, and then scroll through the list of available widgets.

Locate one of the widgets you want to include in your custom stack. You can drag and drop the widget on your screen or touch the + at the top of the screen

Note that the widgets you add to a stack will need to be the same size, so you can’t have one small, two medium, and three large in your stack. I recommend dragging and dropping additional widgets to your home screen. It saves you a step as you’ll end up moving it yourself anyway.

3) Stacking widgets follows the same process as creating an app folder: drag one widget on top of another.

Repeat that process, adding widgets until you are satisfied with your creation. You can scroll through your battery at any time or let your iPhone automatically change for you. From what I can tell at the moment, there is no limit to the number of widgets you can add to a stack. I found three or four as the sweet spot: I was able to quickly scroll through them and find the information I wanted, without feeling it was too much effort.

4) If you change your mind and want to delete a widget or change its order, tap and hold the stack, and then select Edit stack from the popup menu. Change the order by dragging the name of each widget up or down.

You can remove a widget by swiping left over the name to reveal the Remove button.

Very well, right? We have found many more features in iOS 14 that we love so far, including quite a few accessibility features that is going to be of great help. This is how you can help testing iOS 14 right now if you are a developer.