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iOS 15 Lets Developers Hide Sensitive Information in Widgets on the Lock Screen Until iPhone Is Unlocked

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On iOS and iPadOS 15, Apple is adding new functionality to WidgetKit, introduced last year, that will allow developers to classify information deemed as sensitive in their widgets, meaning that specific information will only become viewable on the lock screen when the user unlocks their device.

3rd-party-widgets-feature-1.jpg

iOS 14 introduced completely redesigned widgets for the lock screen and Home Screen. While there are no major changes to WidgetKit this year, the new password-protected feature may be welcomed by apps that feature widgets with sensitive information, such as health and banking information. Widgets are accessible on the lock screen by swiping left to Today View.

Related to widgets on iOS 15 is new functionality for Smart Stacks. Smart Stacks allows users to stack different widgets on top of each other and allowing iOS to determine which widget is most relevant to be shown depending on factors such as time of day, location, and more.

On iOS 15, the system can now automatically add widgets to Smart Stacks that it believes are relevant. The feature called Widget Suggestions is a new way for users to discover widgets they may not have known existed. Developers interested in learning more about the changes in iOS 15 can check out this WWDC session.

Article Link: iOS 15 Lets Developers Hide Sensitive Information in Widgets on the Lock Screen Until iPhone Is Unlocked
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2021/06/10/ios-15-sensitive-info-for-widgets/
Widgets on the Lock Screen? Is this something coming to iPhone 13/AOD…?

Edit: Never mind. I forgot that widgets are also accessible via the Today View.
 
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Oh this is good news. I turned off being able to see any sort of Widget from the Lock Screen unless the iPhone is unlocked for this very reason.
 
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I hope we can control this, I would rather control what is private info rather than developers. I don't always want to have my phone unlocked to look at say.. my calendar.
 
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I’m going to sound old and get off my lawn-y but I don’t see a lot of uses personality for widgets and I haven’t found a site that explains why I would want them. To me they seem to be containers. My photos Widget seems to randomly select what album to display and it is usually a rather old one. This may be a setting that can be changed, but the last time I looked I couldn’t find anything about it.
 
EdT said:
I’m going to sound old and get off my lawn-y but I don’t see a lot of uses personality for widgets and I haven’t found a site that explains why I would want them. To me they seem to be containers. My photos Widget seems to randomly select what album to display and it is usually a rather old one. This may be a setting that can be changed, but the last time I looked I couldn’t find anything about it.
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For me, when I swipe to the right on the lock screen to access the Today View, quickly seeing my weather widget, stocks widget and/or the Flipboard widget to see if there's any articles worth reading is convenient and makes sense to have certain widgets available.
 
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drinkingtea said:
Widgets on the Lock Screen? Is this something coming to iPhone 13/AOD…?

Edit: Never mind. I forgot that widgets are also accessible via the Today View.
Click to expand...
I was thing the same thing at first. Completely forgot about today view on the Lock Screen. Since widgets have come out I haven’t used it. Since with Face ID my iPhone unlocks when I look at it and it’s a swipe either way to go to today view or my homescreen with widgets.
 
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Is the Today View visible with a swipe on the lock screen on an iPhone 8? My 8 isn't showing it. A swipe brings up the camera
 
EdT said:
I’m going to sound old and get off my lawn-y but I don’t see a lot of uses personality for widgets and I haven’t found a site that explains why I would want them. To me they seem to be containers. My photos Widget seems to randomly select what album to display and it is usually a rather old one. This may be a setting that can be changed, but the last time I looked I couldn’t find anything about it.
Click to expand...
Battery widget on the home page saves time and extra actions to easily see phone, watch, and airpods battery %.
 
I wish the Robinhood widget would just show the first 3 digits of my balance (with no indication of total number of digits) instead of showing the whole amount.

I want to know how my stock portfolio is doing, but I don't want anyone who happens to see to know how much I have... it should show, IE, 810 with no indication of whether that's $8.10, $810, $81K, $8.1M, or any other amount that starts with those three digits. The percentage isn't good enough... that just tells me how it's doing today, it doesn't tell me how its done over the past week.

But I guess this is all for Robinhood to take care of, not Apple.
 
whyamihere said:
Battery widget on the home page saves time and extra actions to easily see phone, watch, and airpods battery %.
Click to expand...
I have that one there, in the widget that can have 4 or 5 different apps that you can swipe up and down to see. This widget is also where I have Apple Maps, Music and Photos. Photos is the one that puzzles me here. I take a picture and later I want to show someone. Instead of defaulting to recent pictures it randomly selects one category from a number of possible photo categories and some random photo from that category. I’ve transferred my photos from phone to phone as I have upgraded and I think the oldest phone photos I have were from an iPhone 6. When opening the album it seems to select a somewhat random year and whatever calendar month/day it is from the For You category.

A widget that I still have but don’t really like at all is ‘Siri Suggestion’ which I don’t think has much to do with Siri as I very rarely use it, and seems to just randomly grab apps not in any other category.
 
It is not wise to have sensitive Information on the Lock Screen to begin with. I think the decision should be left to the user with him or her consenting to said ability when opening the app for the first time.
 
iOS 15, iPadOS 15 and Monterrey are all looking like day one upgrades for me when they become generally available in the fall. I would love to try them out now, but I depend too much on my devices to dare entertain the idea.
 
ChrisMoBro said:
Unless you live in China. Then Apple doesn't care about human rights.
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How is that Apples fault? It’s the totalitarian government. Im surprised apple has been able to give the Chinese any sense is privacy. Good for apple for trying.
 
ArtOfWarfare said:
I wish the Robinhood widget would just show the first 3 digits of my balance (with no indication of total number of digits) instead of showing the whole amount.

I want to know how my stock portfolio is doing, but I don't want anyone who happens to see to know how much I have... it should show, IE, 810 with no indication of whether that's $8.10, $810, $81K, $8.1M, or any other amount that starts with those three digits. The percentage isn't good enough... that just tells me how it's doing today, it doesn't tell me how its done over the past week.

But I guess this is all for Robinhood to take care of, not Apple.
Click to expand...
Why not just show the totality gains for the hour/day vs total book balance.
 
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