Over time, Apple has brought radical design changes to the iPhone Home Screen with interactive widgets, App Library, and more. Let’s explore more about the feature and understand how to add widgets to the iPhone Home Screen in iOS 17.
- How to add interactive widgets to iPhone Home Screen
- How to add stack widgets to iPhone Home Screen
- How to add smart stack widget to iPhone Home Screen
How to add interactive widgets to your iPhone Home Screen
- Long-press on the blank space of your Home Screen until the apps start wiggling, or long-press on any app, tap on Edit Home Screen from the contextual menu
- Here, tap on “+” from the top-left corner of the screen
- From the Widget Gallery, select the widget of your choice to add.
- Now, swipe left/right to select the preferred size and tap on Add Widget.
- The widget will show up on your iPhone’s Home Screen. Drag to reposition it.
Note: You can also add a widget from the gallery by holding, dragging, and dropping it directly to your Home Screen. - Tap on Done from the top right corner to set your widget.
Along with a variety of apps, you also have an option to choose the widget size – small, medium, or large. Choose the size wisely, as the information density of the widget depends on that.
If you already have some stock app widgets on the Today view, you can transfer the widgets from there as well. Just hold & drag the widget from the Today Screen to the Home Screen.
How to add stack widgets to your iPhone Home Screen
While playing with widgets is fun, it can end up taking up a lot of your screen space. But what if we can stack them up to save space and swipe through them when needed. Sounds nice, right? You can create stacks of up to 10 widgets. Here’s how:
- Open Widget Gallery → Add one of the widgets you wish to add to the stack on the Home Screen.
- Tap on “+” , hold & drag the other widget you wish to add, and drop it on the first widget to create the stack.
Note: You can only add the same size widgets to the stack. So before you drag, & drop the widget select the right size
- Repeat the second step to add more widgets to the stack
And while this is pretty smart, how about a smarter stack, that’s intuitive and way more helpful.
How to add smart stack widget to your iPhone Home Screen
Apple has very intelligently incorporated a Smart Stack feature that uses on-device intelligence to present you with the right widget at the right time.
For instance, the News or Weather widget in the morning, Calendar during the day, and Maps one during your usual commuting time.
- Open Widget Gallery → Tap on Smart Stack.
Note: Usually, you will find the option first in the Widget gallery, if not scroll down, and select Smart Stack from the listing. - Select the size of the stack → Tap Add Widget.
- Drag it across the device to set it in the desired position and then tap Done.
That’s it! You will have a stack of important stock apps guiding, helping, and imparting data to you all day long.
But what if you want a customize the apps in the Smart Stack, thankfully, Apple has made that possible as well!
How to customize stack widgets on iPhone
You can edit the Stack widget to fit your needs perfectly. From the priority of the app to the data they lend you.
- Add a New Widget to the Stack – Open Widget Gallery, drag and drop a similar-sized widget on to the stack.
- Turn off Smart Rotation – If you don’t want your device to auto-shuffle the widgets depending upon your usage, then there is a simple way out. Long-press the Stack → Edit Stack → Toggle off Smart Rotate.
- Re-arrange the Apps – Long-press the Stack widget and select Edit Stack from the contextual menu. Now hold and drag the three-line icon in front of the widget to the desired position.
- Remove App from Stack Widget – Long-press the Stack widget → Edit Stack, swipe left and tap on delete. Another method is to scroll through the Stack, long-press when the widget is on the screen, and tap on Remove “name” .
- Delete Stack Widgets – Long-press on the Stack and tap on Remove Stack from the contextual menu. Remember, you can use the same method to delete any widget from the iPhone Home Screen.
That’s all for now!
In summary, adding widgets to your iPhone Home Screen in iOS 17 is a breeze, and it offers a fantastic way to personalize and optimize your device’s user experience. Whether you want quick access to your favorite apps, real-time updates, or a glimpse of your calendar, iOS 17’s widget feature allows you to tailor your Home Screen to your preferences.
I hope you found this guide helpful. If you have any further queries, do let me know in the comments below!