
In my case, simply putting one of the numerous Carrot Weather widgets (seriously, they have 19 widgets, including one where you can customize with any combination of 18 data points) and the Todoist widget meant the number of times I needed to open my phone and navigate through the home screen, and various apps dropped dramatically. The best new iOS 16 iPhone Lock Screen looks, widgets and more By Lloyd Coombes published 19 August 2022 Make stunning Lock Screen looks for iPhone with iOS 16. To those ends, not only are iPhone lock screen widgets great in a general “oh neat, I can see stuff without unlocking my phone” they’re fantastic for my purposes. While I’m sure there are people out there with the kind of laser focus that allows them to open their phone, see all the shiny colorful app icons, and not think about ten other things related directly, indirectly, or not at all, to the task at hand, I’m not one of them, and I’m sure a lot of you can relate. Second, and directly related to that first point, I’ve been trying to jump right to the app I need without any stops in between. You might think you’re unlocking your phone and opening the home screen just to check the weather or just to reference your to-do list, but once that magical distraction portal is open, who knows what might happen?Ī simple “Is it going to rain tonight?” might become a distraction-filled plunge into social media or Googling random things. Apple Fitness 2 Images Apple’s built-in Fitness app is the obvious choice as one of your lock screen widgets. But I found that the lock screen widgets offered a bigger benefit because than just that because they helped me change two less-than-productive phone behavioral patterns.įirst, I’ve been trying to open the phone less because opening your phone up is an attention trap. Sure, there’s a fundamental benefit to putting some information on your lock screen: you don’t have to unlock or open your phone to get that information. Focus filters Choose which Calendar Sets you want to see when a particular Focus. They’re Not Just Useful, They Can Help You Focus Fantastical supports the iOS 16 Lock Screen with three different widgets: Up Next, Calendar, and Quick Action. Lately, however, I’ve been attempting to change some phone-related habits, and I didn’t realize how much lock screen widgets could help with them. But when the lock screen widgets arrived, my attitude was, “Who cares? I already have widgets.” It took me a bit to adopt those too, and when I finally did, I found them genuinely useful. Way back in 2020, with the release of iOS 14, iPhones finally got home screen widgets. Even being aware of them, I’ll admit I didn’t pay them much attention.
