With iOS 10,Apple redesigned the lock screen and got rid of the slide-to-unlock gesture.
Now, instead of unlocking your phone, swiping right takes you to the Today view
where you can glance at and interact with widgets. You can also access these
same widgets on an unlocked phone by swiping right on your home screen, but
they are most useful for performing quick checks and actions without unlocking
your phone.
Along with
many of Apple's stock apps, third-party apps are allowed widgets on the lock
screen. Options abound; I tried many. After roughly a month with iOS 10, here
are the 10 widgets that currently occupy a spot on my iPhone.
1. Launcher
The Launcherwidget provides the quickest way for me to call home, text my wife, Face Time
David Lee Roth and view Instagram. The free version of Launcher lets you
program up to seven actions, from launching apps to calling or texting or Face
Timing specific contacts.
2.
Fantastical 2
Fantastical2 is a superior calendar to Apple's stock calendar app, and its widget is
superior to the stock calendar app's widget. The Fantastical 2 widget shows you
how many minutes remain until your next calendar appointment, and when you tap
to expand the widget, it displays the current month where you can view any
day's appointments. It also integrates reminders from the stock Reminders app
if you want to combine your calendaring and tasks.
3. Todoist
I like to
keep my calendar and reminders separate. The stock Reminders app has a
lock-screen widget, but it shows only reminders set to remind you at a certain
time; items without alarms set do not show up. The Todoist widget shows you all
of your reminders for the current day. You can mark items as complete and add
new tasks with the widget.
4. BeWeather
The stock
Weather app's widget shows the current conditions along with the expected high
and low temperatures for the day, while the expanded view shows the hourly
forecast for the next few hours. That's more than the surprisingly lackluster
widget for Storm, which had been my go-to weather app. I want more from my
weather widget and turned to BeWeather because its widget lets you customize
the information it displays, including current conditions, hourly forecast,
daily forecast and text forecast.
5. Shazam
Shazamremains my all-time favorite iOS app. If you told me 20 years ago that such a
thing existed -- that my cell phone would magically tell me the name and artist
of any song I hear -- I would flipped my phone shut and quickly walked away
from such an insane-sounding person. With the Shazam widget, I can quickly get
it to start listening and tell me what it is I'm listening to before the song
ends.
6. Batteries
I use the
sadly discontinued Jawbone Jambox Bluetooth speaker to listen to music in my
home. My kids use it, too, so the speaker moves around my house and is rarely
plugged in. Half the time, I don't know where it is. And I never know how much
battery life it has left, which is why I love the stock Batteries widget that
shows me how much juice my Jambox has left. It also shows me the battery life
remaining on my Apple Watch. And the widget smartly disappears when my
Bluetooth devices are off or out of range.
7. ESPN
My wife
jokes that I can turn on the TV, turn on any game of any sport and have some
sort of vested interest. And I don't bet on sports! The ESPN widget gives me
quick access to the scores (or the time and spread of their next game when they
aren't playing) of the favorite teams I selected in the ESPN app along with any
notable games of the day.
8. Timeglass
When I'm not
blogging or watching sports, I can be found in the kitchen. I like to cook, and
the Timeglass widget lets me monitor multiple timers so I can keep track of
what's in the oven, what's on the stove and what I have outside on the Weber
grill. The free app gives you up to three timers, which is the maximum number
of timers I need on any given night.
9. Dropbox
The Dropboxapp received a recent update that improved its widget. Now, in addition to
showing the four most recently added files, the widget has three helpful
buttons: Scan Document, Upload Photo and Create File. I don't think I've
touched the Dropbox app itself since the widget added these buttons, and I use
Dropbox daily to shuttle files around.
10. DataMan
I keep
DataMan at the bottom of my widgets to keep an eye at the end of my billing
cycle where I stand toward my monthly 4GB data limit.
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source: cnet.com
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