You know that feeling when you unlock your phone and it just looks... messy? Pages of apps you barely use, notification dots everywhere, and that one photo of your cat that’s been your wallpaper since 2022. It’s cluttered. Honestly, the whole reason Apple finally gave in and let us have Home Screen customization was to fix this exact burnout. But if you’ve actually tried to figure out how to create widgets for iPhone, you probably realized pretty quickly that it’s not as straightforward as just "pressing a button."
There are levels to this.
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You’ve got the built-in Apple stuff, which is fine if you just want to see the weather. Then you’ve got third-party apps like Widgetsmith that offer a bit more flair. And then, for the real nerds, there’s Scriptable or Swift programming for building something totally bespoke. Whether you’re trying to track your caffeine intake or just want a "dark academia" aesthetic, building a widget is basically like interior designing your digital life.
The App Store Shortcut: Using Customizer Apps
Most people start here. Why? Because coding is hard and most of us just want a widget that shows a quote from The Bear alongside a calendar.
Apps like Widgetsmith, created by David Smith, essentially pioneered this movement when iOS 14 dropped. It’s still the gold standard for a reason. You open the app, pick a size—Small, Medium, or Large—and start layering. You can change the font to something like Futura or a classic Serif, swap the background for a hex code that matches your wallpaper, and set "Timed Widgets" that change throughout the day.
Maybe you want your morning weather to disappear and turn into your activity rings by 5:00 PM. That’s doable.
Then there’s Color Widgets. It’s a bit more "gen-z" in its design language—lots of gradients and neon. If you’re looking for a quick way to show your battery percentage and the date without looking like a corporate spreadsheet, this is the move. The catch with these apps? They are essentially "wrappers." They have to refresh in the background, which sometimes means a slight delay. If you see your clock widget is two minutes behind, that’s just the iOS background refresh limit kicking in to save your battery life.
How to Create Widgets for iPhone Using Apple’s Own Smart Stacks
Don't sleep on the native tools. Apple’s "Smart Stack" is actually pretty clever if you’re lazy. It uses on-device intelligence to guess what you need.
- Long-press any empty space on your Home Screen until the apps start jiggling.
- Tap the plus (+) icon in the top-left corner.
- Scroll down to "Smart Stack" or just drag one widget on top of another of the same size.
Boom. You’ve created a stack. The "Smart Rotate" feature is the secret sauce here. If you always check your Reminders at 9:00 AM, the stack will learn that. It flips the widget for you. It’s less about "creating" a new visual and more about creating a workflow. You can even toggle "Widget Suggestions," where iOS will occasionally slip in a widget from an app you don't even have on your Home Screen yet, based on your habits.
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The "Pro" Level: Widgy and Scriptable
If you find Widgetsmith too limiting, you’re ready for Widgy. It’s basically Photoshop for your Home Screen. It is incredibly dense. You can pull data from JavaScript, JSON providers, or even your phone's internal sensors.
I’ve seen people build widgets that look exactly like a retro Macintosh interface or a Pip-Boy from Fallout. It works on a layer system. You add a layer for "Text," another for "Image," and maybe a "Chart" layer to track your data usage. It’s overwhelming at first. You’ll probably spend three hours just trying to align a battery bar. But the level of control is unmatched.
Then there is Scriptable. This is for the folks who know a bit of JavaScript. It allows you to write scripts that fetch data from APIs. Want a widget that shows the current price of a specific obscure cryptocurrency or the live wait times for Space Mountain at Disney World? You write the script, and Scriptable renders it as a widget. It’s the ultimate "how to create widgets for iPhone" power move.
Simon Støvring, the developer behind Scriptable, built it to bridge the gap between "simple widgets" and "full-blown app development." It’s highly efficient because it doesn't have the overhead of a massive UI-builder app.
The Developer Route: Xcode and WidgetKit
Okay, let's say you actually want to build an app—or at least a real, native widget that lives in the system. You’re going to need a Mac and Xcode.
Apple uses a framework called WidgetKit. It’s built on SwiftUI, which is Apple’s declarative framework for making interfaces. The philosophy here is different. Widgets are not "mini-apps." They don't have live animations or scrolling lists. They are "snapshots."
When you’re coding a widget, you define a TimelineProvider. This tells the system: "At 8:00 AM, show this. At 9:00 AM, show that." The system then pre-renders these views. This is why you can't have a working calculator inside a widget—Apple doesn't want widgets sucking up all your RAM and killing your battery. Every time you tap a widget, it just opens the main app to a specific "deep link."
If you're diving into Xcode, you'll be working with three main components:
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- The Entry: The data model (like weather info).
- The Timeline: The schedule of when the data updates.
- The View: The SwiftUI code that defines how it looks.
It’s a steep learning curve if you’ve never touched code, but it’s the only way to get a widget that feels 100% "native."
Why Your Widgets Might Look Like Trash (And How to Fix It)
We've all seen those Home Screens that look like a 2005 MySpace page. It's too much. If you want a clean setup, follow the "Rule of One."
One large widget, or two small ones. That’s it.
When you’re figuring out how to create widgets for iPhone, the temptation is to fill every square inch. Don't. Use Transparent Icons or apps like Yidget to create "empty" spaces. iOS doesn't natively let you put icons anywhere—they always snap to the top. By creating a "transparent" widget that matches your wallpaper, you can force your actual widgets to the bottom of the screen where your thumbs can actually reach them.
Also, watch your contrast. If you have a busy wallpaper, your widget needs a solid background. If you have a minimal wallpaper, a transparent widget with white text looks incredible.
Common Pitfalls to Avoid:
- Battery Drain: Using five different third-party apps to power widgets will noticeably hit your battery. Stick to one or two.
- Information Overload: If you have to squint to read your widget, it’s failing. A widget should be glanceable. 3 seconds—that’s all the time you should need to spend looking at it.
- Privacy: Be careful with "Photo" widgets. Some apps require access to your entire library. If you're using a sketchy, poorly-reviewed customizer app, you might be handing over more data than you realize. Stick to the big names like Widgetsmith, Widgy, or Locket.
The Future: Interactive Widgets and StandBy Mode
With recent iOS updates, widgets aren't just static images anymore. We finally got Interactive Widgets. This changed everything. Now, you can check off a Reminder or pause your music directly from the widget without the app jumping open.
When you are creating your own, especially via Widgy or Apple’s developer tools, you can add "Buttons." These buttons trigger "App Intents." It’s a game changer for home automation. Imagine a widget on your Home Screen that is just four buttons for your smart lights. No opening the Home app, no waiting for a splash screen. Just tap and the lights turn off.
And don't forget StandBy Mode. When you turn your iPhone on its side while charging, it turns into a bedside clock. You can customize the widgets there too. It’s a separate "canvas." Most people forget to set this up, but having a giant calendar and a music controller while your phone sits on your desk is peak productivity.
Step-by-Step Action Plan
If you're ready to actually do this right now, don't try to do everything at once. Start simple and scale up as you get bored.
- Audit your needs: Do you need information (weather/stocks) or style (photos/quotes)?
- Download Widgetsmith: It's the safest sandbox. Try making a "Medium" widget with a custom photo and a battery bar.
- Match your aesthetic: Use a site like Pinterest to find "iOS App Icons" and a matching wallpaper. Use the "Shortcuts" app to change your app icons to match your new widgets.
- Try a Stack: Take your new custom widget and drag it on top of the Apple Weather widget. Now you have utility and style in the same footprint.
- Go Deeper: If you feel limited, download Widgy. Look at the "Explore" tab to see what others have built. You can "import" their designs and just tweak the colors. It’s much easier than starting from a blank canvas.
Building a great Home Screen is a marathon, not a sprint. You’ll probably change it three times in the first week. But once you get a layout that actually shows you what you need—exactly when you need it—you’ll realize that the default iPhone grid was actually kind of terrible all along.
Focus on the widgets that save you taps. If a widget prevents you from having to open an app, it’s a winner. If it’s just there to look pretty, keep it small. Your Home Screen should work for you, not the other way around.