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iOS 14 Widgets Offer iPhone Users Creative Home Screen Ideas

iZac said:
It may be slightly pathetic, but I'm intentionally not updating to iOS 14...

That way, when I replace my glorious iPhone SE with the 5.4" iPhone 12 mini, it'll feel even more new and exciting :)
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I'm in the exactly the same boat. I tested the iOS14 beta for a day or 2, it was a terrible experience on the old SE, not even talking about the bugs here, it just doesn't make sense on the small screen. Got a new Apple Watch on the way, I hope the new watch OS 7 sort of works with iOS 13, waiting a month for the watch to be useful would be a shame.
 
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Am I the only one thinking that widgets on Home Screen look awful for the most part? And customizations even worse, it totally doesn’t look like iOS. Apple shouldn’t allow customizations!
 
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MrCrowbar said:
I'm in the exactly the same boat. I tested the iOS14 beta for a day or 2, it was a terrible experience on the old SE, not even talking about the bugs here, it just doesn't make sense on the small screen. Got a new Apple Watch on the way, I hope the new watch OS 7 sort of works with iOS 13, waiting a month for the watch to be useful would be a shame.
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Unfortunately you won’t be able to pair your watch with iPhone on iOS 13
 
sniffies said:
Mine's very simple, very default






View attachment 956580
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Wow looks like you work/live in social media/information.

Here’s mine.
15BA91EB-CA2F-49AC-BBD4-784C9876761D.jpeg
 
The only two reasons for widgets on the home screen are:
1. It makes it look nice
2. Fills empty space
 
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I tried just one and stopped. I don’t need any widgets unless I can trigger specific views at specific time. Tried during Android days decade ago. We should be able to see specific widgets at specific time. Such as weather at 8, stock at 10/12/2/4. Music at 1 etc. otherwise it’s useless and takes screen real estate.
 
kiensoy said:
I’m glad people now have more ways of customizing their iPhones but I really doubt Apple had this in mind or is too happy about iPhones looking less like iPhones at a first glance 😂
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I'm happy about the customization too! Options are great!

I don't see myself changing my icons, though. And given that the process for it is a little more involved, I don't think that many people would bother. But it's good to know that we can.
 
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I have seen more ugly iPhone screenshots in past 48 hours than in entirety of my life. I'm all for people having more choices but I'm slightly disturbed, must admit.

Widgets are alright when done well. Using mid sized versions of Apple's Calendar and Things on my first screen. Both very sleek and non-intrusive with the dark theme against a near black wallpaper. They provide information I need to constantly be reminded of, so having it in my face 24/7 seems nice. Had a similar sized weather widget on the 2nd screen just to separate 2 groups of apps (that's the kind of customization I would really like) but decided I prefer less clutter and more battery life after all.
 
I find it odd that there’s no “Home” widget to easily control lights and other IOT devices ect. Seems like a no brained. Waiting for google home, Phillips hue to release widget...or is there some rule that they can’t have interactivity and only show information?
 
svenning said:
I find it odd that there’s no “Home” widget to easily control lights and other IOT devices ect. Seems like a no brained. Waiting for google home, Phillips hue to release widget...or is there some rule that they can’t have interactivity and only show information?
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You can make shortcuts that control home devices though and then use the shortcuts widget.
 
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The only problem (other than bouncing through shortcuts first) is that app shortcuts don’t badge so using it for all the icons either means no notification badges or not changing the icons. I’m going to do it for some of my static apps.
 
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A sidenote but I just noticed it through the article links - when did Weather Line go up to €3.99 a month? It was €1.99 when they released version 2, which was already expensive. I understand that developers need to pay for 3rd party API access, but €3.99 a month (or even the €21.99 a year) for a weather app feels like the dev made a typo when updating their App Store pricing. They've said stuff in the past like 'theme designers cost money' which is such a ridiculous reason that it makes me wonder how they're running their business.
 
I have my home screen set with all my commonly used apps. I'm used to where all these apps are. If I add a widget I don't like that it moves all my apps around. Besides, I cant find anything that I really need on display all the time via a widget.....
Have seen some very nice home screens, but its just not for me.....
 
Am I the only one where organizing the icons on your homescreen (I've got four pages of homescreen) has become a nightmare after adding a few widgets? The icons and widgets fly all over the place when I try to move one.
 
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bgarnett said:
Clever use of shortcuts there. My OCD zeroed straight in on that person with 84,000+ unread emails 😮
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Haha same, I can't believe so many let that go - any red icons need to be cleared for me. If it can't be cleared I turn the badge off!

At least mark all those emails as read right? The badge is useless at this point!
 
Mr.Blacky said:
The only two reasons for widgets on the home screen are:
1. It makes it look nice
2. Fills empty space
Click to expand...

Not really. There are certain pieces of information that some of us find more essential to see instantly than a grid of app icons, such as weather or upcoming events. Many of us had app icons on the home screen to fill space before, now we have something useful.
 
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kiensoy said:
I’m glad people now have more ways of customizing their iPhones but I really doubt Apple had this in mind or is too happy about iPhones looking less like iPhones at a first glance 😂
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That's a good point, and is probably why Apple has avoided doing this until now. But I still err on the side of Apple having less control of the overall experience, and the user having more. After all, they don't continue to own those iPhones after they sell them.
 
unfunfionn said:
Not really. There are certain pieces of information that some of us find more essential to see instantly than a grid of app icons, such as weather or upcoming events. Many of us had app icons on the home screen to fill space before, now we have something useful.
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I don't get why most people seem to think, that widgets on the home screen is better or more useful than the widgets left from the homescreen. Aside from the two reasons I mentioned earlier, of course.
 
pratikindia said:
I tried just one and stopped. I don’t need any widgets unless I can trigger specific views at specific time. Tried during Android days decade ago. We should be able to see specific widgets at specific time. Such as weather at 8, stock at 10/12/2/4. Music at 1 etc. otherwise it’s useless and takes screen real estate.
Click to expand...

If you create a stack it will learn that you like looking at x widget at a specific time and start auto showing it to you.
 
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