In the iOS 16.2 update, Apple added the Sleep and Medication widgets in multiple variations to your iPhone’s lock screen.
- What is happening? In iOS 16.2, two new lock screen widgets display useful statistics about your sleep and medication schedule.
- Why care? If you’re tracking your sleep or medication, you can now see your sleep time and medication schedule without opening the Health app.
- What to do? Update to iOS 16.2 when it launches to get the new widgets.
iOS 16.2 introduces iPhone sleep widget
The Sleep widget displays your last sleep session on your iPhone’s lock screen. This includes your sleep stages and how you slept.
You can also view your sleep schedule with this widget. Three widget options are available. The small one occupies one tile on the lock screen, displaying your sleep time in hours and minutes. The two-tile version shows the quality of your sleep. The other displays both your sleep time and a detailed chart.
On iPhone 14 Pro, the widget collapses when the always-on display dims.
Introducing the Medicines Widget
The Medications widget allows people who track their medications in the Health app to view their pill reminders and quickly access their schedule.
The small version occupies one tile and displays a pill icon. The large version will show you if you plan to take any medication today. This widget does not support displaying stock levels or restocking reminders.
No, it’s not interactive.
As with all iOS lock screen widgets, tapping the Sleep or Medication widget will take you to the corresponding section in the Health app.
iOS widgets are not interactive, so they can only provide these connection points to the creator app. This limits what you can do with widgets and is the reason why you can’t, say, delete emails or mark a message as read directly from the widget.
When will iOS 16 be released?
Apple is currently testing iOS 16.2 with developers and public beta testers. If you don’t have an account on the Apple Developer website at developer.apple.com or you’re not enrolled in the Apple Beta Software program at beta.apple.com, you’ll have to wait for the iOS public launch. 16 to try out these new widgets.
There are a few more betas ahead, expect the update to roll out in the coming weeks.
According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, iOS 16.2 will be available around mid-December. When it appears, you will download and install the over-the-air update on your iPhone or iPad from Settings → General → Software Update.