Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Google Completes Rollout of iOS 16 Lock Screen Widgets With Updates to Maps and Search

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
68,176
38,952


Google has now rolled out all of the promised Lock Screen widgets for its iPhone apps, including the Google app, Gmail, Google Maps, Chrome, Google News, and Google Drive.

Google-Lock-Screen-Widgets-iOS-16.jpg

The rollout was completed today with two Lock Screen widgets for Maps, following five widgets for the Google app that were released on Wednesday. In version 233.0 of the Google app, the widgets include the following descriptions, with two widget sizes for Search:
  • Search: Access Google Search from your Lock Screen
  • Voice Search: Ask a question, hum a song or search for content with your voice
  • Lens: Search with your camera or any image
  • Lens shortcuts: Easily access your favorite Lens feature. Translate, shop, or solve homework with your camera.
Google-Search-Lock-Screen-Widget.gif


Version 6.40 of Google Maps adds widgets for Search and Frequent Trips, with the latter displaying the location, estimated time of arrival, and traffic conditions:
  • Frequent Trips: Get directions and an estimated time of arrival for your frequent trips.
  • Search: Search in Google Maps for restaurants, petrol stations, and more.
Google-Maps-Lock-Screen-Widget.jpg


Equivalent widgets can be found in Google News, Gmail, Drive, and Chrome. Once the apps are updated on your device, launch the new versions first before trying to add the widgets, otherwise they won't appear in the Lock Screen editor.

Article Link: Google Completes Rollout of iOS 16 Lock Screen Widgets With Updates to Maps and Search
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2022/10/14/google-completes-widgets-rollout-maps-search/
Looks cool but I realized quickly that I do not spent much time on the Lockscreen and therefore I have deactivated all my widgets again. I guess it makes more sense on an iPhone 14 Pro with an Always On screen or if you do not have an Apple Watch.

If I did use them, I hope Apple will allow more customisations on iOS 17. Maybe a carusel to easily flip between MORE widgets? I also find the limited arrangement of the widgets somewhat ugly, especially when you only have one widget enabled. I wish it could be placed in the center.
 
  • Like
Reactions: zapmymac, MeSoApple, 1557750 and 1 other person
0089294 said:
Nice !

I wish apple allocated more space to widgets . Since they hide notifications by default anyway,why not allow the widgets to get further to the bottom ?
Click to expand...
Yeah, it would be nice to be able to use more widgets. If Apple wants to keep it to one row to make it the "clean" look, maybe at least let have pages for widgets (like the Home Screen) or stacks (like widgets on the home/today screen) that we can swipe through. Swiping would be done just in the widget area so we don't affect access to the camera or today screens.
 
  • Like
Reactions: zapmymac, Love-hate 🍏 relationship, ignatius345 and 1 other person
So, calendar, the only app that would actually be useful to have widgets, is not going to have them? Lol. Good job google. I guess there aren’t enough opportunities to push people to ads With calendar.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1557750
Maybe they can get ready for Google Maps to take advantage of the LiveActivities - that will help. Or notifications back on the Watch like Apple Maps does. I prefer Google Maps but the advantages Apple has now to their Maps app with support for Always On and the watch app, make it a hard choice. If Google Maps had these, I'd never use Apple Maps.
 
I'm finding that so far the only truly useful widget for me is the Calendar one, which quickly shows me the next meeting or place I have to be.
 
I don’t know yet. I want to see how much control apple gives us to limit these google widgets to our privacy. I can see tapping that google microphone for google maps or just info in general would be more helpful, knowledgeable, and quicker than Siri
 
chugg said:
So, calendar, the only app that would actually be useful to have widgets, is not going to have them? Lol. Good job google. I guess there aren’t enough opportunities to push people to ads With calendar.
Click to expand...
You could get around that by subscribing to your Google Calendar in the native Calendar app, then putting that on the home screen.
 
ignatius345 said:
You could get around that by subscribing to your Google Calendar in the native Calendar app, then putting that on the home screen.
Click to expand...
I came here to comment on the lack of a widget for Google Calendar, then I saw this! - Interesting!!
 
Where is my clock on always display? Why do I need to press a button every time to see the time on my iPhone XS Max? 🤔
 
zephiK said:
I’m surprised there isn’t a widget for google calendar.
Click to expand...
SAME! How is there not a widget for google calendar!

ignatius345 said:
You could get around that by subscribing to your Google Calendar in the native Calendar app, then putting that on the home screen.
Click to expand...
I do this and it is great to have the glanceable information but the downside is if you click the app you get taken to Apple's Calendar app, instead of Google Calendar (which I find far superior from an interface perspective).
 
  • Like
Reactions: MZBS
If I wanted to use Google stuff, they actually look pretty nice.

TheLisnakFactor said:
Maybe they can get ready for Google Maps to take advantage of the LiveActivities - that will help. Or notifications back on the Watch like Apple Maps does. I prefer Google Maps but the advantages Apple has now to their Maps app with support for Always On and the watch app, make it a hard choice. If Google Maps had these, I'd never use Apple Maps.
Click to expand...
Ahhh, the padded handcuffs of both platforms and their default apps....the user experience is much better with them but makes it so its a serious step down in user experience to try to use 3rd party apps in their place. The Apple Watch and Google's new Watch also fall into this area - neither of them would give a good user experience on the other smartphone platform.

That said, the experience is so good with the default app tie-ins on the platforms I'd rather have the tie in than not.

zephiK said:
I’m surprised there isn’t a widget for google calendar.
Click to expand...
You're quite right, from a common sense standpoint it should have been a top priority item for widget creation for them for iOS users. But then this is Google we're talking about here - the lack of good judgement planning is so par for the course for them.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back