Are your iPhone Widgets Distracting you? (And how to stop them!)
Channel: Devise & Conquer: Productivity, Technology, ADHD
Date: 2023-01-03

If you’re finding yourself spending a bunch of time in an app when you didn’t mean to even open the app, sometimes it comes from a widget.  

When you find yourself pulling out of an app rabbit hole, take a moment to figure out how you fell down the hole in the first place. That way you can learn from it, and figure out how to avoid it next time. Was it a widget that grabbed your attention?

Types of Home Screen Widgets:
 - Widgets you created
 - Widgets added by Apple for you

What's distracting about widgets created by you?? Maybe it’s just the wrong time to remind you of something that sounds more fun, or just less pressuring, than what you're *supposed* to be doing right now.

Maybe that widget you added isn’t a good idea, after all. I like the photos widget. But when I was going through some tough times, personally, my friend pointed out that the photos widget was probably reminding me of things I didn't need to see at that time in my life. She encouraged me to take them off until that time had passed-- and she was right!

Or, if you don’t want to delete the widget entirely, you could customize your home screens with Focus Modes, so you only see the distracting widgets at a convenient time.
   
The widgets Apple added for you can also be distracting. Just because Apple gave you a widget to get you thinking up ideas for your own widgets, doesn’t mean you have to keep it. (I'm looking at you, News Widget!)

There are also suggested widget stacks. These suggestions are based on either what Siri thinks you might like, or what Apple wants to promote. The suggestions from Siri assume that your previous behavior is what you want to *keep* doing in the future. That might not be true.

You can turn off suggested widgets. That way only the widgets you actively choose are on your iPhone. 

You can remove app widgets from screens if they’re luring you in at the wrong time, or just flashing distracting information (like the news).
   
**Remove the widgets that aren’t helping you.**
Or change the rotation of a stack of widgets to manual, so you select when to see each yourself.

You can delete widgets, add your own, or whatever! It’s your Home Screen! Go nuts! What widgets do *you* like on your Home Screen?
- Which help you get stuff done?
- Which are distracting?


00:00:20 What to do when you're down an iPhone Rabbit Hole?
00:00:53 Was your rabbit hole from a Widget?
00:01:20 What is "Smart Rotate" in Widgets for iPhone?
00:01:40 Turn off Smart Rotate in the Widget Stack
00:01:48 Apple Adds Widgets for You
00:02:21 Why be choosy about your Widgets??
00:03:05 You get to Choose your own Widgets!


If you’d like more on hiding distracting apps, check out my mini series on Hiding Distracting Apps: 
https://devise-conquer.teachable.com/p/hide-distracting-apps 




Twitter: https://twitter.com/devise_conquer
ADHD Coaching & Technology Coaching Website: https://conquer.consulting
Extra Apple-Nerdy Brittany’s personal Twitter: https://twitter.com/addliberator
Course on ADHD and Task Management:
https://devise-conquer.teachable.com/p/from-aggravated-to-navigated

To Support this Work:
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/addliberator
Purchase mini series on Hiding Distracting Apps: https://devise-conquer.teachable.com/p/hide-distracting-apps

Tech Tips with Brittany Smith is hosted by Devise & Conquer Coaching (https://conquer.consulting), which offers Technology, Productivity, and ADHD Coaching. Music by Brian Freeland of B. Free Productions. Edited by Derek Miley.