Click to Skip Ad
Closing in...

5 of the best iPhone widgets you’ve never heard of

Updated Dec 19th, 2018 9:05PM EST
Best iPhone Widgets

If you buy through a BGR link, we may earn an affiliate commission, helping support our expert product labs.

On Thursday, I ran a simple post that covered 10 of the best iPhone widgets in the App Store. Widget support isn’t new on Apple’s iOS platform, but it’s buried in the Notification Center and so many people have forgotten widgets are even there. While Apple’s implementation of widgets isn’t quite as functional as Google’s widget support in Android, widgets can still add tremendous value to the iOS experience, and yesterday’s post gave you 10 great examples of apps that do just that.

Following that post, I received a number of emails from readers who were excited to find some nifty new iPhone and iPad widgets, but also who wanted to recommend a few additional apps that people might not have heard of. In this post, I’ll share five of the more obscure recommendations I found in those emails — and be sure to keep sending in your recommendations via email or to @zacharye on Twitter.

FROM EARLIER: 10 of the best iPhone widgets in the world

eMail Widget

*** Now, you can view and manage your emails DIRECTLY in the Notification Center.***
◆ Archive, Star, Mark as Read, Mark as Spam and Delete emails, all with a single tap.

◆ Manage your Mails without even opening any Mail app:
Easily keep track of all your latest emails and perform actions from any app or even the Lock screen, with just a swipe of a finger.

◆ View your latest emails, sort them out instantly and achieve Inbox Zero:
If you get tons of emails, eMail Widget will make dealing with them easier and faster than ever.

◆ Universal App:
Pay once and use in multiple devices

◆ Designed exclusively for the latest Apple iOS 8:
Experience the real power of iOS Notification Center Widgets.

◆ Supports Gmail & Google Apps accounts. Other email platforms are coming soon.

Download eMail Widget ($1.99)

Vidgets

=== Vidgets now supports Apple Watch, get Vidgets for Apple Watch and checkout these bite-sized widgets on your Apple Watch. ===

Get Vidgets for all things widget, a super handy tool that changes your lifestyle!

Instead of multiple taps and digging around, heaps of things can now be done with only ONE TAP or even less. Watch our half-minute video clip to have a quick idea!

Vidgets features over 50 widgets for iOS, that you can customize and access right within your Notification Centre and Apple Watch.

Full iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, Apple Watch support, with Retina HD graphics, guarantees the best possible visual experiences.

Vidgets is a truly FREE app, without any annoying banner ad. If you like Vidgets, you could support us by buying the Pro pack with extra neat features through in-app purchase.

Widgets included in this version:

== Quick Contacts
Email, Message, Call or FaceTime your contacts right from notification centre.

== Installed App Launchers
Choose from over 50,000 supported apps with automatic app discovery.

== Preset App Launchers
List of popular app launchers ready for use (Facebook, Twitter and more) with elegant matching designs. Launch your favourite app within one tap.

== Quick Actions
Quick GPS navigation, quick bookmark.

== Clock
Analog Clock (Two Styles), Digital Clock, World Clock and Calendar with time zone support
Timer – one click to turn on your preset timer

== Network
System Network Download / Upload Speed, Mobile Speed, WIFI Speed.

== Barometer
Analog Barometer, Digital Barometer (Requires iPhone 6 or iPhone 6+).

== System Status
Battery, storage, CPU and memory usages.

== GPS
Analog Speedometer, Digital Speedometer, Altimeter, Compass.

== Motion
Level

== Separator
Separator and Spacer for layout fine tune.

== Weather
Current weather condition, Forecast, Temperatures of your chosen locations, Sunrise time, Sunset time.

Choose your preferred metric system in any widget with units of measurement – MPH or km/h, feet or metre, °F or °C

Request us to add any new widget within the app, if your desired ones are not included yet.We’ve fulfilled most of our popular requests.

Download Vidgets (free)

MacID

Unlock your Mac with just your fingerprint, passcode, or wrist – without even unlocking your iOS device.
***
MacID requires a Mac with Bluetooth LE (Low Energy) running OS X Yosemite or later, and an iOS device with Bluetooth LE running iOS 8 or later. Please make sure your devices support Bluetooth LE before purchasing MacID for iOS.
***

FEATURES:

• MacID works with multiple Macs at once.
• Unlock your Mac using Touch ID, device passcode, and now your wrist with MacID for Apple Watch!
• Apple Watch Glance for super quick access.
• Interactive notifications – you don’t even have to unlock your iOS device.
• Control your Mac’s audio; works with iTunes & Spotify!
• Manually lock your Mac or start the screensaver remotely.
• Auto-lock when you’re away from your Mac.
• Proximity waking and automatic unlocking when returning to your Mac.
• Notification Center widget; unlock your Mac from anywhere on your iOS device.
• Share clipboard text between your Mac and iOS device.
• Choose between MacID’s standard colours or a more high-contrast UI.
• Authorise with Touch ID for tasks like moving protected files to the Trash on your Mac. (Admin accounts only)

INTERACTIVE NOTIFICATIONS:
With MacID you don’t even need to open the app to unlock your Mac. MacID intelligently notifies you when one of your connected Macs is woken up, which you can authorise and unlock directly from your iOS lock screen using either your fingerprint or passcode.

AUTHORISE:
MacID will even notify you when tasks require your OS X password, like moving protected files to the Trash or changing a setting in System Preferences. (Admin accounts only)

AUDIO CONTROLS:
You can also play, pause and skip iTunes & Spotify on your Mac remotely, as well as change the volume. Simply long-press on the audio controls to toggle between track and volume controls. Audio controls work anywhere the physical keys would on your Mac.

CLIPBOARD SHARING:
Ever needed to quickly share a phone number or piece of text between your Mac and iOS device? Clipboard sharing is built right into MacID; share anything up to 4000 characters. And now you can do it right from the Notification Center.

AUTO-LOCK:
Enable auto-lock in MacID for OS X and your Mac will automatically lock when your iOS device moves away from it. You can even get notified when your Mac locks itself.

PROXIMITY WAKING:
Enable proximity waking in MacID for OS X and your Mac will wake itself when your iOS device gets near. Then simply authorise from the interactive notification MacID sends you to unlock your Mac, or enable automatic unlocking to have MacID do it for you.

WIDGET:
MacID includes a handy Notification Center widget, which will show all your currently connected Macs and give you quick access to lock and unlock them from anywhere on your iOS device. You can even start a Mac’s screensaver or share the clipboard; right from the Notification Center!

MacID is:

• Secure: your OS X password never leaves your Mac, and iOS never discloses your fingerprint data or passcode to MacID.
• Trustworthy: MacID doesn’t ever connect to the Internet.
• Simple: designed to be as easy to use as it is beautiful to look at.
• Power friendly: MacID uses the latest Bluetooth Low Energy technology to use as little energy as possible, no matter how much you use it!
• Fast: MacID for iOS and MacID for Apple Watch have been built with speed in mind.

***
Macs that support Bluetooth LE:

• MacBook Air from 2011 & newer
• MacBook Pro from 2012 & newer
• iMac from 2012 & newer
• Mac Mini from 2011 & newer
• Mac Pro from 2013 & newer

Check if your Mac supports Bluetooth Low Energy by clicking on the Apple menu > About This Mac > System Report > Bluetooth.

MacID for iOS needs to be paired with the MacID for OS X companion app, which you must download from http://macid.co/get

Download MacID ($3.99)

Wdgts

Wdgts is a set of beautiful and incredibly useful widgets tailor made for iOS 8 and Apple Watch.

Wdgts includes the following 10 widgets:

1. App Launcher (up to 4 launch actions in free mode)
2. Contact Launcher (up to 4 launch actions in free mode)
3. Calculator
4. Currency Converter
5. Time Zone
6. Calendar
7. Photo Frame
8. Network Monitor (part of Premium Pack)
9. Battery (part of Premium Pack)
10. Memory & DIsk (part of Premium Pack)

Watch App includes the following:

1. Calculator – Calculations will be synced with iPhone’s Calculator Widget
2. Currency Converter
3. iPhone Stats

## Premium Pack includes the following additional features ##

– Ability to add more than 4 launch actions
– Ability to copy and paste result from Calculator and Currency Converter
– Add up to 5 times zones
– Add up to 10 photos to phone frame
– Ability to scroll between months in calendar

Download Wdgts (free)

Overglide

Overglide, the game widget that lets you play anywhere, anytime, directly from the notification screen and even while your iOS device is locked.

Now with support for iPhone 4S and iPhone 5 devices.

Pilot the paper plane as far as possible while dodging the obstacles and facing ever increasing difficulty. Just touch and hold to glide up and release to fly down. You can quickly access Overglide from the today screen or lock screen to easily try and beat your top score anytime.

• Simply swipe down to start playing
• Accessible from the lock screen
• Simple, fun and challenging gameplay
• Customizable styles
• Game Center leaderboards
• Challenge your friends and share scores on Twitter, Facebook and Weibo

Download Overglide ($0.99)

Check out our earlier post for more great iPhone widgets you might not have heard of.

Do you know of a great iPhone widget that isn’t on this list? Tweet the author @zacharye and let him know!

Zach Epstein
Zach Epstein Executive Editor

Zach Epstein has been the Executive Editor at BGR for more than 10 years. He manages BGR’s editorial team and ensures that best practices are adhered to. He also oversees the Ecommerce team and directs the daily flow of all content. Zach first joined BGR in 2007 as a Staff Writer covering business, technology, and entertainment.

His work has been quoted by countless top news organizations, and he was recently named one of the world's top 10 “power mobile influencers” by Forbes. Prior to BGR, Zach worked as an executive in marketing and business development with two private telcos.