Widgets are a feature Apple introduced withwatchOS 10. They represent one of the most significant additions to theApple Watch’suser interface in years. So much so, that you’re going to need to relearn some gestures that may have become second nature, such as swiping up to see the Control Center.
However, the effort is worth it; widgets let you quickly access your favorite apps more easily, no matter what watch face you’re using. You may even wonder how you ever survived without them before.
Apple watchOS 10: All the features now available on your Apple Watch
This is everything you need to know about the new major Apple Watch software, watchOS 10, including all the features now available.
What are widgets on Apple Watch?
Widgets on Apple Watch are similar to the widgets you may add tocustomize your iPhone home screen. They’re small blocks of information from various Apple Watch apps that cover the full width of your watch face and fit two to a screen. Tapping a widget opens the associated app.
The beauty of widgets is that they’re customizable, so you’re able to quickly access the information that’s most important to you. Better yet, they’re part of a feature Apple callsSmart Stack.With the help of machine learning, watchOS 10 will do its best to display the most relevant widgets at a given moment.
For instance, if you’re about to fly, watchOS 10 will display the boarding pass you added to Apple Wallet toward the top of the Smart Stack. You can also manually organize widgets to make the Smart Stack as dynamic or static as you want.
There are two different categories of widgets in watchOS 10. Dedicated app widgets display information from a single application, while complications widgets allow you to add up to three watch-style complications to a single widget.
How to see your widgets on Apple Watch
Adding widgets requires a little patience. That’s because the way you access widgets used to be the way that you accessed the Control Center. In watchOS 10, to open the Control Center, you’ll need to press the side button instead. First, to bring up the Smart Stack and your current widgets:
How to edit and add widgets on Apple Watch
By default, the Smart Stack is populated with Apple apps such as News, Weather, Activity, and Mindfulness. You can add and remove widgets, and pin them in place if you want to keep certain ones at the top of the stack. Not allApple Watch appssupport widgets, so some of your apps may not appear in the list of available options.
Now, you now have the following options:
The number of widgets you can add to the Smart Stack is dependent on the age of your Apple Watch. Newer models like the Series 9 feature more powerful internals that can display more widgets concurrently.
Whilst the new location of Control Center is going to take some getting used to, Apple Watch widgets have the potential to be a serious game changer. You no longer need to choose a watch face based on how many complications slots it has or set up multiple faces to fit inall the complicationsthat you want.
You get the best of both worlds: You can rock that newSnoopy watch facewith no complications at all, but still be able to see key information with a single swipe. And for power users, a face such as Modular combined with widgets gives you access to even more apps and complications all from a single watch face.
Widgets are only available inwatchOS 10. So ensure you’re running the latest version of Apple’s operating system to get the most of this new feature.
