Alex Ruben
How To Manage Widgets on Your iPhone for Easy Customization
Widgets are honestly one of the best ways to personalize your iPhone. They show you quick info, let you jump into apps faster, and make your Home Screen look less boring. But yeah, at first, figuring out how to add and size them isn’t always obvious. It kind of feels like Apple’s little hidden secret. So here’s the down-low based on real-world messing around.
Step 1: Adding Widgets to Your Home Screen
First things first: to add a widget, you gotta get into jiggle mode. That’s when your icons start dancing:
- Tap and hold an empty spot or an app icon until everything jiggles. Sometimes, you might have to hold a little longer than expected. Apple has a weird way of making you wait.
- Tap Edit Home Screen or the Add Widget button that pops up. The options will appear at the bottom or in a menu.
- Scroll through all available widgets, or hit the Add Widget button if you’re in the widget selector. Here, some apps give you different sizes, so swipe to check them out.
- Tap on the widget you want, pick the size if applicable, then hit Add Widget. Yeah, sometimes it feels like a guessing game, but eventually, you find what fits.
- Drag that bad boy to where you want it, then resize it by dragging the corners—because of course, resizing isn’t just a click. Tells you to tap and hold, then drag the edges.
- When it’s looking good, tap Done in the top right. Done and dusted.
Step 2: Customizing Widgets on Your Home Screen
Adding is just the first step. You can fine-tune these widgets, move ‘em around, or resize as much as you want:
- While still in jiggle mode, simply tap and drag the widget to move it around. You might find that sometimes, moving it just doesn’t work at first. Weird, but retry. Often, a quick restart or updating your iOS helps.
- To resize, tap the corners and drag — like resizing a window on your computer. On newer iOS versions, some widgets even offer multiple sizes you can switch between on the widget editing screen.
- When you’re happy with placement, hit Done.
Step 3: Adding Widgets to Your Lock Screen
Yes, you can add widgets here too—pretty handy for quick info without unlocking:
- Tap and hold your Lock Screen until the Customize button shows up. A little “hmmmm” moment every time, but it works.
- Tap Customize, then pick the Lock Screen you want to tweak.
- Next, tap Add Widgets at the bottom. If it’s not showing, tap out and try again. Sometimes, this part is buggy, or your phone needs a reboot.
- Select the widgets you want—think Weather, Calendar, or Battery info. You can usually add multiple.
- If you decide a widget isn’t needed anymore, tap on it and hit Remove.
- Finish by tapping the close button, then Done — done with this layer of your custom lock screen.
Step 4: Adding Widgets to Today View
This one’s more straightforward but sometimes tricky if you’re not used to the swipe:
- Swipe right from your Home Screen or Lock Screen to open Today View. Not sure why, but on some setups, you get a blank screen or weird lag.
- Hold an existing widget or an empty space until the widgets jiggle, as usual.
- Tap Edit, then Add Widget — the usual pick-and-choose.
- Scroll through options, tap on what you want, then hit Add Widget. It’ll appear in the list.
- Move, resize, or reorganize as needed. When done, tap Done.
Extra Tips & Common Issues
Here’s where it gets messy: sometimes, widgets just refuse to update or act weird. A couple of things to try:
- Make sure your iPhone’s iOS is up to date—Apple often patches bugs that mess with widgets.
- If widgets aren’t updating info, try removing them and adding them back. Also, restarting your device can clear out glitches.
- For some reason, on certain setups, adding a widget for the first time might fail once, but after a reboot, everything’s smooth.
- Oh, and if resizing doesn’t work right away, it’s probably a temporary bug. Patience.
Summary
- Adding widgets involves jiggle mode, selecting, and placing.
- Resizing and moving is a drag (literally), but doable.
- Widgets work on Lock Screen and Today View too—just different menus.
- Update iOS to fix bugs and glitches.
Hopefully this shaves off a few hours for someone. Honestly, it’s not always smooth sailing, but once you get used to it, the customization is kinda fun. Fingers crossed this helps.