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

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

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
62,072
28,004


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/
drinkingtea

drinkingtea

macrumors 65816
Jan 31, 2016
1,076
2,752
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.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DeepIn2U and Maclver
zilchfox

zilchfox

macrumors regular
Jun 30, 2015
187
548
Atlanta, GA
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.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DeepIn2U
kronusdark

kronusdark

macrumors member
Jun 21, 2013
83
45
Southern Indiana
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.
 
  • Love
Reactions: DeepIn2U
EdT

EdT

macrumors 68020
Mar 11, 2007
2,428
1,979
Omaha, NE
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.
 
bchery21

bchery21

macrumors 6502a
Aug 3, 2009
781
586
Boston, MA
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...

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.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DeepIn2U and ohio.emt
O

ohio.emt

macrumors 6502a
Jul 18, 2008
815
181
Ohio
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.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: Maconplasma
N

now i see it

macrumors G4
Jan 2, 2002
10,469
21,794
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
 
whyamihere

whyamihere

macrumors 6502a
Jun 30, 2008
623
1,262
'nati
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 %.
 
ArtOfWarfare

ArtOfWarfare

macrumors G3
Nov 26, 2007
9,484
5,912
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.
 
EdT

EdT

macrumors 68020
Mar 11, 2007
2,428
1,979
Omaha, NE
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.
 
R

rochford

macrumors member
Dec 16, 2009
88
51
I really miss widgets on the old macOS dashboard, the Notification Centre is no replacement. I don’t understand why Apple did that.
 
Mr. Dee

Mr. Dee

macrumors 603
Dec 4, 2003
5,967
12,763
Jamaica
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.
 
BorgCzar

BorgCzar

macrumors newbie
Feb 16, 2021
11
0
ChrisMoBro said:
Unless you live in China. Then Apple doesn't care about human rights.
Click to expand...
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.
 
DeepIn2U

DeepIn2U

macrumors G5
May 30, 2002
12,730
6,838
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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.
 
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