About Widgets..........

Hello widgets my old friend…..I've come to glance at you again. 

Not that kind of article but nevertheless widgets are great....and weird; let's get into it. Widgets have been a source of controversy over the past few weeks as Apple recently announced at WWDC that home screen widgets are coming to the iPhone and to the Mac.  Whereas widgets have been available on Android since 2008, the difference being that widgets were always brutalist in android made to serve a purpose and often interactive shortcuts to their parent apps.  

 

 

That's what a widget really is at heart, it's a tile that gives you information at a glance.  Widgets can also be interactive such as a to-do list app.  Widgets on Android are spartan used save for the clock widget, I do use widgets, but many just don't.  Widgets have been left behind on Android having been disregarded as relics of the past.   

 

 

Apple disagrees, Apple jumped into widgets with iOS 14 and their....ok.  The Widget template Apple supplies makes them static live tiles that show you information at a glance.  I must admit apple did have an original idea with the smart stack widget that cycles through widgets based on time of day along with other factors.  Apple has found a way to modernize the Widget, now they just need to continue development.  Android never capitalized on widgets and is now paying the price. 

 

 

The way Apple can take a technology available in 2008 and make the world go nuts for it in 2020 is amazing.  Apple waits in time to perfect features while Android lives on the bleeding edge.  It's ok for Apple to do things differently with their OS, widgets are a prime example of how Apple waits for refinement.  I don't exactly agree with the design of widgets in iOS (I prefer interactive widgets) but Apple is reinvigorating widgets....and the effects of those changes will come to Android sooner rather than later. 

 
 

Thanks for reading and watching,

Best,

BenTechCoder