Honestly, quite a few of us do not put widgets to its right use. Just with a little effort you can make your smartphone so much more productive. Apple introduced the ability to add widgets in iOS 10, but they have been confined to the Notification Center since then. This will soon change with the release of iOS 14. iPhone users will now be able to add customizable widgets on their homescreen. With widgets you can quickly glance at the information that might be important to you without actually opening a particular app. Of course Apple includes widgets for a number of built-in apps, but what gives the feature more importance are the widgets from third-party apps. Here are some of the widgets from apple as well as third-party apps that you should definitely be using with iOS 14 to make your day easier:
Launcher
Launcher is that one widget that has to be on everyone’s homescreen. It is the most flexible widget which allows you to launch different apps with just one tap. You can perform a number of tasks right form your homescreen. Launcher even lets you assign specific actions for a particular widget such as call, text, email, or facetime a certain person. You can even run launcher with your voice using Siri. Here are the options you can try out now:
Launch Center Pro – $4.99
Launcher – Free/$2.99 in-app purchases)
Shortcuts
Siri Shortcuts is an in-built app and also one of Apple’s most underrated tools considering how powerful it can make your iPhone if used correctly. Shortcuts for iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 has got some commendable upgrades to automate tasks. Shortcuts allows you to create your personal automation that you can trigger with a tap or Siri command. For example, if you know you want to silence your phone for 1 hour while you workout, you can create a shortcut and to trigger it, just say, “Siri, Do Not Disturb timer” (or whatever command you prefer). With the new update, you will now be able to create folders to keep track of your shortcuts and you can finally use the app on an Apple Watch with WatchOS 7. Check out the best shortcuts you can use to become a smart iPhone user!
Fantastical
Fantastical by Flexibits is hands down the best smart calendar and tasks app. The app includes interesting calendar with various views, event proposals, reminder, weather forecast from AccuWeather, and a lot more. It even supports for Google Meet and Zoom integration. When you create an event, you can generate a Google Meet or Zoom link to create a video-conferencing room for the scheduled event. It is a beautifully designed app, sporting an user friendly interface with support for Dark Mode and split-view. The core features of the app are now free. You can subscribe to Fantastical premium and get a 14 day free trial for $4.99/month or 3.33/month if billed yearly . You can download the app across iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch.
Todoist
Todoist helps managing your daily tasks faster and easier. With Todoist you can do so much more than just making a to-do-list. From creating important project lists to grocery lists, the app allows you to prioritize your work, delegate work with shared projects, track your progress and so much more right from your homescreen.The also lets you integrate your lists with Google Drive, Calendar, Dropbox, Toggl, and more. The app offers labels, filters, themes and templates for your different project needs. The app is free to download and includes in-app purchases.
With Flipboard widget, you can always stay up-to-date with what’s happening around you and all around the world. Get news highlights to your phone without even unlocking it from world’s best publishers, including The NY Times, BBC, TIME, and many more. Flipboard is a platform offering online news and culture stories. The app uses a magazine like aesthetic which makes it organised and appealing. You can curate the stories to your interests across various categories from politics to entertainment. Save and share stories that interests you. You can connect the app to all the major social media accounts. The app also includes podcasts and music via an in-app player. You can get the app for free across iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch.