How to add, remove, organize, and use iOS widgets

Widgets in iOS are a helpful way to get a quick look at information that’s important to you like calendar, maps, weather, news, and much more. However, if you haven’t customized or organized your Widgets they might not feel so handy or worse overwhelming. Let’s take a look at how to make the most of this iOS feature by customizing it to your preferences.

Third-parties can develop their app to work with Widgets, so depending on how many apps you have on your iPhone, you’ll likely have the option to add many of those as Widgets. Some of the most popular widgets are the Batteries widget, Weather widget, Calendar Widget and Maps Nearby Widget. But the nice part is that you can make sure your Today View only shows you information that you care about.

Widgets are found in Today View, here’s how to access this feature:

1. Swipe down from the top of your screen from any app, the Home screen, or Lock screen (or swipe from left to right from the Home screen or Lock screen).
2. You should now see the date at the top along with Widgets below (if you see Recent at the top swipe from left to right to get back to Today View).
3. Swipe to the very bottom.
4. Tap on Edit to customize your Widgets.
5. Tap the  icon to remove Widgets and the  to add.
6. Tap Done when finished.

Follow along with the images below for more help:

You’ll notice when looking at Widgets in Today View you can tap on Show Less (and Show More) to adjust how much information each Widget provides.

You can organize your Widgets by tapping, holding, and dragging the 3 line icon on the right of your screen up or down. When finished tap Done in the top right corner.

Another cool feature is the option to use 3D Touch to add an app’s Widget to Today View without having to enter the Edit setting. Do a 3D Touch (firm press) on an app on your Home screen to see if that app offers a Widget (not all apps feature Widget compatibility and 3D Touch only works on iPhone 6s/6s Plus and iPhone 7/7 Plus).

If the app is Widget compatible you’ll see Add Widget in the upper right corner. Tap there to add, once complete you’ll see a check mark. Now that you’ve got your Widgets customized you should find it to be a valuable way to get the information you need more quickly.