Creating Your Own Widgets: A New Category of Apps Emerges

This summer, when Apple detailed iOS 14 and the Home screen changes it would bring, the company highlighted personalization as one of the key features of the new widget-populated Home screen. Rather than just containing an assortment of apps, iOS 14 Home screens can feature the information that matters most to you. Whether that’s your Activity rings so you can stay on top of your health, the current weather forecast, your task list, a memory from the Photos app – there are an abundance of options for personalizing your Home screens now.

I’ve tried a ton of Home screen widgets from third parties over the summer, and developers are doing lots of creative things with their apps’ widgets. One of the most exciting trends I’ve seen is the emergence of a new category of apps entirely centered around widgets. While most widgets will come built in to the apps you already know and love, some developers have built brand new apps for the sole purpose of enabling users to create and customize widgets in a hyper-personalized way. The best widgets I’ve tried offer configuration settings so you can tailor them to your exact needs, and these new apps take that idea even further, offering widget creation tools relating to a variety of traditional app categories – like weather, photos, health and fitness, productivity, and more – but in a single centralized app.

Leading the pack in this regard is Widgetsmith from David Smith, which not only covers one of the widest array of different widget types, but also features a power user-friendly scheduling option that sets it apart. The App Store hosts a growing number of other widget creation tools too, such as Widgeridoo, Widget Wizard, Glimpse, and Health Auto Export.

Because each app specializes in providing its own custom set of options, there’s no limit to the number of apps worth trying. Widget needs can be highly personalized, so it’s no surprise that the apps designed for creating widgets all offer their own takes too.

Get ready to upgrade your Home screens.

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Tara AI: A Smart and Free Jira Alternative [Sponsor]

Project management software should work for you, not against you. Tara AI eliminates the configuration nightmares and lack of support for cross-functional teams that can make getting up and running with project management apps a headache. It’s the solution for teams that value their time and are looking for a tool that works with their existing Git workflow.

With Tara AI, engineering teams can reclaim valuable time and effort that would otherwise be wasted sifting through a bottomless pit of tickets. Tara accomplishes that through a simple, modern design that gets out of the way, allowing teams to move quickly and efficiently, delivering releases on schedule. The app combines sprint planning with a unified task view to provide a clear, bird’s eye view of your project and priorities, all synced to Git, so everyone from engineering to sales knows what’s happening and when.

From the time you sign up and create a workspace through every phase of your project, it’s the design of the entire process that sets Tara apart from the pack. Tara is loaded with thoughtfully-considered features like quick stats that show the progress you’re making during sprints with daily and weekly progress insights alongside commits and pull requests. Modern teams move fast and expect their tools to just work. Tara AI 1.0 delivers with no user or task limits, completely free of charge.

To learn more and signup to try Tara AI for free today, visit tara.ai now.

Our thanks to Tara AI for sponsoring MacStories this week.

MacStories Unwind: Apple’s Watch and iPad Event, App Reviews, and Club MacStories 5th Anniversary

AppStories+ Deeper into the world of apps
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AppStories+ Deeper into the world of apps

Sponsored by: Muse – Tool for Thought on iPad

This week on MacStories Unwind:

MacStories

Club MacStories

  • MacStories Weekly
    * Giveaways
    * A sneak peek at tips from Federico’s upcoming iOS and iPadOS 14 review
    * A collection of apps with widgets
    * Thoughts on the new iPad Air
    * An interview with Aaron Pearce, the developer of HomeCam, HomeRun, and other HomeKit apps
    * Lots of app updates
  • Join Club MacStories

AppStories

Unwind

  • Federico’s Pick:
    • This week’s app reviews on MacStories
  • John’s Pick:
    • Super Mario All-Stars available as part of Nintendo Switch Online
      • Featuring:
        • Super Mario Bros.
        • Super Mario Bros., The Lost Levels
      • Lost Levels
      • Super Mario Bros. 2
      • Super Mario Bros. 3

Soor Offers Beautiful, Customizable Widgets for Apple Music

The formula is tried and true: Apple makes quality software that nonetheless leaves a lot of room for third-party developers to build something more powerful and better tailored for specific needs. In iOS 14, the built-in Music widget is a great example of this. I really like Music’s widget, which shows your recently played albums and playlists so you can quickly get some music going; it offers valuable utility. But if I’m frank, there’s a whole lot more that could have been done with widgets for Music.

That’s where Soor comes in. The third-party client for Apple Music that I recently covered offers not one, not two, but three different widgets to satisfy your music needs. And within those three widgets there’s a lot of customization to help account for a wide assortment of user preferences and desires. Every widget is powerful and also just as beautiful as what Apple’s team built, matching the full Soor app’s identity as a whole.

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watchOS 7: The MacStories Review

Memoji App

Alongside the Memoji watch face, Apple has also dropped a brand new Memoji app for the Apple Watch. The app opens to a scrolling list of your custom Memojis, and you can tap one to edit it. If you scroll to the top you can also hit the plus button to create a new Memoji from scratch.

The editing section is simple and straightforward. From the top level you can select editing the skin, hair, eyes, mouth, and other features of the Memoji. Once selected you’ll get a scrolling list of the available options, and as you scroll by each option it will display on your new Memoji. At the bottom of the main editing view you can also choose to create a watch face from the Memoji or duplicate or delete it.

I think it’s great that Apple Watch users can now create Memoji without needing to use a phone. This app was clearly added to work well with the new Family Setup feature, which allows family members to use an Apple Watch without having an iPhone of their own to pair it with (it still needs to be paired with an iPhone, just not necessarily one that uses the same Apple ID). Assuming you do have an iPhone though, it’s definitely easier to configure Memoji on the larger screen real estate than it is on the Watch.

Cycling Directions in Maps, Eventually

watchOS 7’s Maps app has been updated to include detailed directions for cyclists. At least, it has if you live in New York City, the San Francisco Bay Area, Shanghai, or Beijing. Other cities will be added over time, but I haven’t been able to test this feature since my home city of Minneapolis is not yet supported. If you search for a destination in the watchOS 7 Maps app you’ll see an option for cycling instructions, but tapping that will just tell you that they aren’t supported (unless you live in one of the areas mentioned above). Cycling directions join the previously supported transportation methods of driving, public transit, and walking.

All methods of transportation have been updated to support multiple routes in Maps for watchOS 7. After choosing a destination you’ll be given a suggested route, but can scroll down to see alternate routes too. Unfortunately this list does not actually show the maps themselves, so the only difference in routes that you can easily see is the time they take and their mileage. You’ll need to tap in and out of them one by one to actually view the route. Fitting route maps onto the Apple Watch screen is certainly a challenge, but I wish Apple would provide some better way to determine between them since most routes to the same place have similar times and mileage.

Last month MacStories’ John Voorhees covered this year’s Apple Maps changes in another of our summer OS preview articles. Make sure to check that out if you missed it, as it goes into much greater detail on the new Maps features across all of Apple’s platforms.

Miscellany

watchOS 7 has removed support for Force Touch, even on existing watches which include the hardware to support the feature. Force Touch has always had a significant discoverability issue, but it was also quick and easy to activate in places where you knew you needed it. All such places have been replaced in watchOS 7 by tap-and-hold gestures, and I find this to be a significant regression in experience. Force Touch’s discoverability problems are not relieved at all by replacing it with a long press. Instead, Apple has simply added latency to many simple interactions throughout the system. I understand that this clears the way for future Apple Watches to drop the Force Touch sensors and utilize that space in other ways, but I still can’t condone such a clear downgrade in usability. Editing watch faces in particular feels like such a sluggish action to initiate now.

Siri has been updated on the Apple Watch to support translating speech into different languages. It supports ten different languages to start, but more will be coming in the future. Siri dictation can also now happen locally on the Watch, so most Siri interactions should now be sped up.

One of the features announced at the Apple Watch Series 6 event is Family Setup. This allows Apple Watches to be shared among family members even without them all owning iPhones. We haven’t been able to test this feature yet, but our Apple Watch Series 6 overview has some more details on the announcement if you’re interested.

Conclusion

watchOS 7 might not be a revolutionary update, but I think it’s just what we needed this year: a clear, solid, and stable iteration. Health and fitness are the Apple Watch’s main selling points, and Apple is continuing to push forward in these important areas. I love seeing Apple pay attention to watch faces as well, and this year has brought some excellent new features there.

Sleep tracking isn’t for me right now, but I think it will work for most people who live on normal sleep schedules. I expect it will loosen up over time too, so I’m looking forward to future iterations. Handwashing detection is well-timed, and hopefully will help more people adjust to that vital habit.

Multiple complications from individual apps combined with face sharing make for very exciting new potential in watch faces. I’m excited to see the work that developers have been putting in this summer, as we’ll need third-party help to realize the full potential of these additions.

Shortcuts on the Apple Watch were sorely missed, and it’s good to see that hole filled back in. This is another area that will get even more powerful as developers update their apps to support shortcut execution on the Apple Watch itself.

To top everything off, this year’s batch of watch faces have several options which are actually great. So find yourself a new watch face, set yourself a healthy sleep schedule, and enjoy the calm waters of watchOS 7.

    Wikipedia’s Widgets Bring Daily Updates to Your iOS 14 Home Screen

    My iPad and iPhone are both important devices in my life, but they serve different roles for me. I use the iPad Pro as a work machine, while my iPhone is set up more for recreation and on-the-go uses. As a result, my approach with widgets has largely differed on each device. One widget I happily keep installed on both, however, is Apple’s Photos widget. I love the surprise and delight element of having the widget update automatically throughout the day, displaying photos I wouldn’t have seen otherwise.

    This sort of passive, but welcome information delivery is at the heart of three separate widgets included in the latest Wikipedia app update:

    • Picture of the day
    • On this day
    • Top read

    The purpose of each widget is pretty self-explanatory: one shows a different beautiful photo each day, another tells you about something that happened on this day in the past, and another shows today’s popular Wikipedia pages.

    Widgets that surface data from one of the largest public information hubs in the world seems like a no-brainer use case, and the Wikipedia app has done a great job here.

    Each widget is available in small, medium, and large sizes, showing more or less information as they’re able. I find the small size a great choice for the picture of the day, though the large is nice too because it includes a caption to accompany the photo. With ‘On this day’ and ‘Top read’ the medium size strikes a great balance of providing just the right amount of information. And if you ever want to learn more, you can always tap on the widget to jump straight to the content you’re interested in.

    Widgets have so many different use cases, but this delivery of information I’d never otherwise see is one of my favorites. Wikipedia is a perfect example of how to do it right, and I’m eager to continue exploring this concept as I build out my ideal iOS and iPadOS 14 Home screens.

    Things Introduces New Widgets and Scribble for Task Creation on iPad

    I’ve used Things off and on as my primary task manager for as long as I’ve used Apple devices, which is just over a decade now. During that time the app has been remarkably consistent at supporting new OS features as soon as Apple launches them, and this year is no exception. In its latest update, Things has added new widgets for iOS and iPadOS 14 as well as a unique implementation of Scribble for creating new tasks. Apple Watch users will find a couple useful new complication options too.

    On the surface, the update may seem simple and straightforward: new widgets, Scribble support, and new complications. But as the team at Cultured Code has done time and time again, their implementation of new OS technologies is thoughtful and even innovative, especially on iPad.

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