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.
Apple Supposedly Considering Interactive Widgets for iOS 17
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Some think iOS 7 was a step back in usability. I would hope it doesn't happen again.
Well, I’m sure the new features will be great, but all I really want is the ability to remove the little camera icon from the bottom right corner of the Lock Screen, so that I don’t burn my leg recording 20 minutes of 4K ProRes video of the inside of my pants pocket while I’m at work. I’ve even been locked out of my phone for a few hours, because of bad password unlock attempts while the phone is in my pocket.
God forbid I accidentally butt dial emergency services while doing my job.
Makes me 😡
Seriously, Apple! Fix this!!
God forbid I accidentally butt dial emergency services while doing my job.
Makes me 😡
Seriously, Apple! Fix this!!
The interface is such a mess now.
Is that thing I want on one of the lock screens? Or one of the home screens? Or is it if I pull down from the top left? Or the top right?
Or is it that extra screen to the left of the first home screen?
Is that thing I want on one of the lock screens? Or one of the home screens? Or is it if I pull down from the top left? Or the top right?
Or is it that extra screen to the left of the first home screen?
Aah... those were the days. When we had to wait hours until the keynote finally came online to watch and no thousands of over-speculating Youtube shows before the event.
But on-topic... interactive widgets... why? To me a widget is purely a tile on screen that shows some (web) information.
When it becomes interactive, then it is an app. Or is this just the PR department sticking a different (jargon) name to something that already exists?
That's what I mean, exactly. A swipe is much more finger travel than a tap. Android is simply far more efficient, interfsce-wise, therefore much quicker to do interface stuff in. People fluent in both OSes know this. iOS has different advantages. Interface is not one of them.
They'll HAVE to make big improvements to Siri, because you won't be able to physically touch any of their products without setting something off.
I guess is one of these things that people in general will do it couple of times and then forget about it.
iOS already has them today, has for quite a while. May not be a widget in some peoples minds (“”nah dude that is a mini player, or Lock Screen player””) but that’s just terminology, effectively it’s a widget.
I think what may be happening (hopefully) is support for 3rd party widgets which I will greatly appreciate for some apps that really would work fine in a locked screen situation.
I think what may be happening (hopefully) is support for 3rd party widgets which I will greatly appreciate for some apps that really would work fine in a locked screen situation.
Attachments
The Home Screen/launcher thing is not working as is, making widgets interactive won’t fix the layout issues and that awful App Library conundrum that lives in parallel and yet fails to improve anything.
It’s mindboggling how we used to make fun of Android for being inconsistent and messy, iOS has now totally claimed that crown unfortunately.
It’s mindboggling how we used to make fun of Android for being inconsistent and messy, iOS has now totally claimed that crown unfortunately.
One could easily expect this to see how you can use widgets with dynamic island. Can’t expect too much additional new features but at least it’s being chosen what is beneficial vs not necessary really.
Don't several of the third party weather apps have widgets that can only be unlocked if you get their top-tier subscription?
This 👆. Removing the auto left-aligning apps/widgets and allowing you to place things anywhere on the screen would be a huge improvement. Part of what makes the current situation awkward is that apps/widgets keep shifting around and jumping between pages when you move anything.
Adding in some options to sort apps/widgets would be useful as well. Oh and provide a quick way to access the App Library so I don't have to swipe all the way past the last page everytime to access it, maybe a swipe up or even just an App Library icon that takes you there.
And let us put what we want where we want instead of being bound to top left
I doubt this because not only is the 12/13 mini a unique and rarely small screen size, but its scaled mode also requires the iPhone SE 1 (iPhone 5 design) to continue to be supported as a UI mode in apps.
An example I am aware of that would be helped by this use case is the Tesla app. If you want to manually lock your car or anything similar, you press the lock icon which opens the app to then say your car has been locked. If the widget was interactive you could press the lock icon and then carry on moving through your home screen.
I would be happy if they would just let me put icons were I want them. The way iOS moves app icons around is the most annoying thing about the iPhone.
iOS 13 was famously unstable in the first couple of releases. Much worse than 15/16 ever were.
A new home screen UI would be nice, 16yrs of the same bloody icons is getting really boring now.
Maybe. Those apps have a lot of features behind subscriptions.