The idea of widgets

Adding a widget is not a new concept in iOS or, in fact, in the Apple ecosystem.

Widgets existed long ago in 2005 in the Tiger version of macOS, as part of the Dashboard feature. Apple took that idea and introduced Today Widgets in the Notification Center in iOS 8, and in iOS 14, Apple introduced the home screen widgets, similar to the widgets that already exist in the Android operating system. In iOS 18, Apple added the ability for third-party applications to add widgets to the control center and the home screen.

The idea of widgets is not to act as a full-blown application – widgets are not supposed to be a mini-version of our app or one of its screens, but rather an extension of our current app’s capabilities.

Widgets exist to enhance user convenience and productivity and, in general, the overall experience.

There are three key roles for widgets in iOS:

• Information at a glance – Widgets provide up-to-date and important...