iOS 17: Update your Home screen with these interactive widget apps

By Julie Clover

Apple today released iOS 17 after months of beta testing. This means that the new operating system update is available to all iPhone users. ‌iOS 17‌ makes widgets much more useful than before by adding a new interactive element that allows you to use them from the lock screen, home screen, or home screen without having to open the app.

We've compiled a list of apps that use interactive widgets so you can update your widget workflow. Note that interactive widgets work on ‌iPhone‌, iPad, and will even be available on Mac when macOS Sonoma launches, thanks to the new interoperability between iOS and macOS.

WidgetSmith (free). Premium Subscription

WidgetSmith offers several interactive widgets to choose from, including a series of photo galleries that you can tap to scroll through photos, and feature-rich widgets that let you switch between photos and steps. consider hiding useful information behind images.

The app also includes a Music widget for scrolling through music albums and playlists, a weather widget for viewing the upcoming weather forecast without having to open the app, a calendar widget for seeing the day's upcoming events, and a tile for adding numbers. game.

Spark Mail (free premium subscription)

Spark's interactive widgets allow users to delete or mark emails as completed to archive them without having to open the Spark app. . Spark will also have the ability to view emails directly from different categories (People, Priority, Newsletters, Notifications, and All Emails) in the Spark widget.

Spark also gets new drag-and-drop features. on ‌iPad‌ to add attachments and app shortcuts to create calendar events, open your priority list, and more.

Rise Sleep Tracker (free premium subscription)

Sleep tracking app Rise has widgets that you can use to control alarms and sleep sounds without opening the app. The app also includes outdoor lighting exposure monitoring so you can see how lighting affects your sleep, and there's a dedicated ‌iPad‌ app.

Copilot (free premium subscription

Budgeting and money tracking app Copilot has added a View Transactions widget that you can use to view and confirm all your purchases without having to open the app. Copilot lets you track all your spending and investments in one place.

Launchpad (free, various premium unlocks)

Launching apps The app launcher includes an interactive widgets folder so you can nest multiple actions in one folder and access them with one tap without having to go into the Launcher app. There are also multi-contact widgets, allowing you to quickly contact a friend, for example, as well as music control options.

Other apps with interactive widgets

Things ($9.99) – The Things task management app now supports interactive widgets, so you can complete tasks right from your ‌Home screen.
TripIt (free premium subscription) – Travel The TripIt planning app has interactive widgets that let you scroll through your entire trip itinerary from the ‌Home screen‌.
Calendars ($30). Calendars include new widgets such as the Loading Indicator widget, the current date icon, and monthly calendar options, all of which can be used without opening the app. Standby mode support is also available.
Focus (free premium subscription) – Interactive widgets in the productivity app Focus let you start a timer with one tap on your home screen or lock screen. There's also a StandBy Focus widget and an updated Apple Watch app.
Timery for Toggl (free premium subscription) – Timry, a time tracking app designed to work with Toggl, has interactive widgets that you can use for quick setup timers, time tracking and report detail display. Apple Watch features StandBy widget and updated design.
Chronicling (free premium subscription) – Event tracking app Chronicling features interactive widgets for logging events from the ‌Home screen‌, plus new watchOS app and support standby mode
SmartGym (free premium subscription) – The SmartGym fitness app has an interactive widget that lets you switch between different metrics, such as heart rate and calories burned, during your workouts. There's also an updated Apple Watch app and standby support for ‌iPhone‌.
Liftin' (free premium subscription) – weightlifting app Liftin' features interactive widgets to get you started with a workout, plus widgets optimized for the Apple Watch Smart Stack and Live Activity.
Home Widget (Free Premium Upgrade) – The HomeKit Home Widget app offers a selection of widgets you can use to control your smart home devices from the &zwnj ;Home screen‌.
Overcast (Free, $9.99 premium option) – The Overcast podcast app has interactive widgets that let you control episode playback without opening the app .