What I Discovered About Making Great Widgets: Insights From 100+ Real Users
Tags: mobile, development, webdev
Published: 2024-06-16 17:45:35

We want to help people read more from their to-read pile with minimal effort using our product,  [FeedZap](https://hexmos.com/feedzap). To see if a mobile home screen widget could assist in this, I conducted a small research study on effective home screen widgets for Android and iPhones.

The main goal of my discovery is to answer these questions:

1. What purposes do home screen widgets serve?
2. Are Android or iOS users using widgets effectively?
3. What factors or principles should be considered when building widgets?
4. Who are the top widget makers in the market, and how did they become successful?

## Discovering Popular Widgets: Collecting Insights from 100+ Real Users


For this study, I selected [Reddit](https://www.reddit.com/) and [Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/), platforms where many tech enthusiasts gather. I posted my inquiry in major Android and iPhone subreddits and waited for responses.

The response was amazing. Across all posts, we received around **105k views and over 180+ responses**. I found many widget users and discovered a wide variety of widgets from the replies.

![widget](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/HkWz3l2HA.png)


Since the list was extensive, I selected a few popular widgets and specific situations where widgets are used. 
I also considered some surveys conducted by other platforms regarding the popularity of widgets.

A [poll conducted by Nextpit](https://www.nextpit.com/poll-results-android-widgets-are-as-popular-as-ever) shows that 65% of their readers are active widget users.

## Simplifying Your Daily Routine with Widgets

Android introduced the widget feature in [its very first version in 2009](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_version_history), with Android 1.5 being the first to have the named widget feature. In later Android versions, widgets evolved to become resizable and included more features.

[iOS added widgets into](https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/ios-14-finally-brings-widgets-your-iphone-home-screen-wwdc/) in September 2020 with iOS 14.

People mostly use widgets related to their day-to-day activities, such as 
1. checking meetings
2. looking at the weather
3. marking to-dos
4. keeping notes

There are many good widgets available for these purposes in the store. Widgets enhance apps by creating a larger space to display relevant information compared to the typical app icon.
Besides these categories, custom widgets are also popular these days. 
Custom widgets provide an interface and tools to help users create or modify home screen widgets based on their interests. 
We will discuss more about custom widgets in the upcoming section.

I examined the successful widgets suggested by most users in the market, analyzing their features and patterns to understand what makes them effective.

### Lessons from Google: Building User-Friendly Widgets



The Google Calendar widget is one of the most recommended calendar widgets by users. You likely have a calendar widget, especially the Google Calendar widget, on your home screen. 
What contributes to the simplicity of a widget?

**Optimized design patterns** are crucial in widget design, and Google has successfully overcome this challenge.

![calender (1)](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/BJFLjD2rA.png)




Google Calendar widget only shows the relevant data with minimal clicks, as  referred in this image most of the space in the widget allocated for displaying the most relevant information for the user.

Additionally, *the support for different widgets, rather than incorporating everything into a single view, enhances usability*. 
The Google Calendar widget offers two types of views: 
* daily view 
* monthly view

catering to different user needs and preferences.

Continue reading the full article here: https://journal.hexmos.com/study-about-making-great-mobile-home-screen-widgets/