Home screen widget support probably isn’t anywhere near the top of most iPhone and iPad users’ wish lists in terms of missing iOS features, but a vocal minority has been begging for widget functionality ever since Android was first released. As opposed to static icons that are merely shortcuts to apps, home screen widgets offer a variety of additional functionality, namely access to zero-touch information that is updated automatically without any effort needed on the user’s part.
While home screen widgets still haven’t been added to Apple’s mobile platform in iOS 8, the latest version of Apple’s iPhone and iPad OS does finally add widget support to the Today view in Apple’s Notification Center.
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There are already hundreds of apps that make use of the new Notification Center widget support in iOS 8, but some are far more useful than others. We’ve tested tons of apps since iOS 8 was released to the public last month, and here are our picks for the 10 best apps with iOS 8 Notification Center widgets, in no particular order:
DataMan Next
Your weapon against overage. In just a glance DataMan tells you if you’re safe from busting your data cap. Never worry about overage again.
* New Widget * Designed for iOS 8, DataMan Widget lets you quickly check your usage from any screen using the Notification Center.
Beautiful design. Simply gives the key statistics you need most in an incredibly clean interface. It’s so easy to track your data usage.
Smart Forecast. The advanced Forecast predicts if you’ll stay within your data cap. And tells you in brilliant colors.
Real-time tracking. Your latest statistics are retrieved directly and immediately from iOS. No more waiting for your carrier to update.
Additional features include:
・ Track cellular (LTE/4G/3G) and Wi-Fi
・ Support monthly, 30 days, weekly plans
・ Auto reset on bill cycle date
・ Four custom alert thresholds
・ Reliable, installed by millions of users
・ Work with all carriers
・ View past usage by bill cycle
・ Stunning themes
Quick-Tap
Quick-Tap gives you one tap access to your contacts, music and more!
Simply drag the Today screen and tap to call, email, message, play music, get directions home and even message friends via Skype, Facebook Messenger or Whatsapp.Designed for iOS 8, Quick-Tap installs to the Today screen, which can be opened from any app by dragging from the top of the screen. From any app, or even without unlocking your phone, you can access your contacts, music and more.
Quick-Tap features an advanced filter system, so Quick-Tap buttons can be shown in certain locations, on specific days or at different times of the day, making Quick-Tap the most versatile way to access your contacts, music or other apps.
Quick-Tap lets you do the following actions with a single tap:
• Phone, email, sms or FaceTime your contacts
• Play tracks from your music collection – even without unlocking your phone!
• Get directions home, via Apple Maps, Google Maps or Maps Pro
• Send your current location to a friend
• Chat via Skype, Whatsapp or Facebook Messenger
• Browse to a specific web page
• Instantly capture photos from InstagramPlease Note : Due to limitations in iOS, it is not possible to add buttons to launch every app that is installed on your iPhone or iPad – it is only possible to launch apps which are directly supported by Quick-Tap or which support launching from other applications.
Quick-Tap is continually updated with support for even more apps.
Quick-Tap is currently free – with in-app purchase for advanced functionality.
Evernote
Evernote is the modern workspace that helps you be your most productive self. You’re on the path to something big — Evernote is where you do the work to achieve it.
– Write notes of all types, from short lists to lengthy research, and access them on any device.
– Collect web articles, handwritten notes, and photos to keep all the details in one place.
– Find your work quickly with Evernote’s powerful search.
– Present your work as it takes shape for better collaboration in meetings.Move projects forward with Evernote:
– Take notes: write in a clean, distraction-free workspace.
– Get organized: create notebooks and add tags to wrangle projects.
– Access anywhere: keep your work in sync across devices.
– Find anything fast: text in notes, photos, and PDFs is searchable.
– Share ideas and resources: create a workspace for collaboration with shared notebooks.
– Keep up with to-do’s: make to-do lists and check items off as you go.
– Harness creativity: capture ideas while they’re fresh, wherever you are.
– Prepare for meetings: draft agendas and to-do’s for next time.
– Manage expenses: organize receipts, bills, and invoices to keep expense reports in check.
– Plan business travel: save reservations and tickets for simple trip planning.
– Make connections: turn business cards into rich digital contacts.Accomplish even more with Evernote Premium:
– Take notebooks offline to access them anytime
– Annotate PDFs and notes to focus attention on key points
– Create rich contacts from photos of business cards
– Present your work on a big screen in a single tap with AirPlay
– Lock the app when not in use and unlock with Touch ID or a passcode
– Rediscover content from your account in the related notes sectionEvernote is available for all your computers, phones, tablets, and on the web! Find your notes anywhere you’ve installed the app.
Routie
Routie is a simple, fast & beautiful way to track and share all your fitness activities. It uses GPS in your iPhone to track your runs, walks, bike rides, kayaking trips and more. Here are some of the more interesting features that Routie offers:
○ Interactive graphs
Explore beautiful graphs of speed and altitude for each of your tracks.○ Take Photos
With Routie or iPhone camera and have them added to the track.○ Statistics
View total distance, duration and route count for each of your activity. For last month, last year or All time.○ Live metrics
During tracking, you can view current speed, current altitude, distance so far, average speed, total time and more.○ File export
Easily export to GPX, KML or KMZ and use your data with other services○ Open Street Maps
Apart from Apple maps, you can view your tracks on Street, Cycle or MapQuest maps.○ Track properties
You can optionally set track name, activity and notes. You can also add placemarks to map as notes, and set captions to your photos.○ 1 tap sharing
Share to Facebook and Twitter with just one button tap. No typing required.○ Auto pause
Tracking session is paused automatically when you stop moving.○ Pebble support
Control tracking and view current metrics like speed, altitude and distance; on your wrist!○ Info in badge
View tracking activity, current speed or distance on Routie icon, right from your home screen.○ Universal tracking
While supporting wide variety of fitness activities, Routie is also great for tracking your travels. It’s a fitness and travel diary in one place.○ All the tracking data
For each of your tracks, you can view: start time, end time, distance, duration, time moving, time paused, average speed, max speed, max & min altitude and climb.○ Resume tracking
In case Routie is accidentally closed, you can restore the tracking session upon next launch. This means that you won’t loose your tracking data ever again.
Forecast+
Forget about the boring weather summary in your notification center!
Meet Forecast+, an elegant weather and forecast widget for iOS 8. It shows the current weather and 5-day forecast with a minimal design.
FEATURES
● Show current temperature
● Show localized weather description
● Show maximum and minimum temperature
● Show humidity
● 5-day weather forecast
● Support compact view (minimal)
● Show/hide forecast with single tapSETTINGS
● City
● Compact view
● Temperature scale
● Weather description languageNote: Forecast+ provides all main functionality in the widget only. Its app is only for widget settings.
Vidgets
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 20 widgets for iOS, that you can customize and access right within your Notification Center.
Full iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus support, with Retina HD graphics, guarantees the best possible visual experiences.
Widgets included in this version:
== Clock
Analog Clock (Two Styles), Digital Clock, World Clock and Calendar with time zone support
Timer – one click to turn on your preset timer== System Status
Battery, storage, and memory usages.== GPS
Analog Speedometer, Digital Speedometer, Altimeter, Compass.== Weather
Current weather condition, Forecast, temperatures of your chosen locations.
Raincast
Raincast displays the chance of rain or snow directly on the home screen icon, lock screen, and notification center. A beautiful app built with the idea of giving you the rain probability at a glance, Raincast makes it quick and easy to stay up to date on the latest precipitation forecast for your current location. The new Today Widget makes it even easier by displaying the three-day forecast right inside the notification center.
(Raincast is only available in the United States and requires location services)
BACKGROUND APP REFRESH
Raincast uses the background app refresh feature to grab the latest weather data, update the notification center widget, and update the home screen icon. This is not push and we have no plans to support push in the future.STAY DRY
The home screen icon displays the most up-to-date chance of rain making it quick and easy to stay informed. Download Raincast now and never forget an umbrella again.STAY ALERT
Do you check the rain forecast before going to work? Before going out with friends? Or before going out for a run? Create automatic alerts for any time of the day and quit losing valuable time. Raincast will inform you of the latest rain outlook directly on your lock screen and notification center.STAY ACCURATE
Raincast uses the National Weather Service’s 12 hour probability of precipitation data to ensure that the forecast presented to you is accurate, up-to-date, and reliable.GO PLACES
Automatically get updates for your current location – no set up required. Raincast updates the weather in the background while you’re on the go.
Argus
Just featured in Apple’s new TV Ad – Strength! and all over the web and on Apple’s home page. You DON’T need a dedicated pedometer to know how many steps you’ve walked each day, download Argus today and use your phone to begin living healthier!
24/7 Steps and active Calorie counter, GPS mapping of Running, Cycling and Driving; keeping track of Water, Coffee and Tea intake; snapping photos of meals in one click. Featured in USA Today, CNN, TechCrunch, Gizmodo and many others.
Argus turns your iPhone into a sophisticated health and fitness device as it monitors and manages your activities, food, workouts, sleep, hydration, weight and vitals, helping you make sense of numerous bio-feedback data points to reach your health goals and improve overall well-being.
Argus is designed to harness every aspect of mobile computing to monitor your lifestyle without compromising your privacy. Argus is engineered for minimal power consumption and run 24/7 in the background. However continued use of GPS running in the background can significantly decrease battery life.
Main Features:
– Daily Steps and active Calorie counter
– GPS mapping of Running, Cycling and Driving
– Creates Food diary of all your meals with food photo snapping
– Set daily goals for Steps, Sleep time and Hydration
– Observe trends over time with all variables to track wellness
– Uses Instant Fitness for your home workouts
– Uses Sleep Time to monitor your sleep cycles
– Uses Instant Heart Rate to monitor your heart beats
– Built in support of third party wearable devices and health apps
– Motion coprocessor support to save battery time on iPhone 5S
– Apple Health App integrationWith an intuitive, eye-catching interface, Argus allows you to get a snapshot of your daily activity. Timeline is organized in a honeycomb structure that allow easy aggregation of your data and detailed views. You can tap once on a cell to get more information. You can tap and hold for 2 seconds to get the aggregated views of your inputs. Smart gesture – tilt iPhone 180 degrees back and forth to add water.
Enjoy Argus – your ultimate health and fitness companion.
Wunderlist
Wunderlist helps millions of people around the world capture their ideas, things to do and places to see. Whether you’re sharing a grocery list with a loved one, working on a project, or planning a vacation, Wunderlist makes it easy to share your lists and collaborate with everyone in your life. Wunderlist instantly syncs between your phone, tablet and computer, so you can access your lists from anywhere.
“Wunderlist is our favorite to-do list manager for just about every platform.” – Lifehacker.
As “Mac App of the Year – 2013,” Wunderlist has also been featured in The New York Times, The Verge, TechCrunch, CNET, The Guardian, Wired, and Vanity Fair, just to name a few.
Key Wunderlist Features:
• Create all the lists you need and access them from your phone, tablet and computer
• Easily share lists and collaborate with family, friends and colleagues
• Start conversations about your to-dos
• Attach photos, PDFs, presentations and more
• Share the work and delegate to-dos
• Setting a Reminder ensures you never forget important deadlines (or birthday gifts) ever againWunderlist is free to download and use. Wunderlist Pro upgrades your experience and gives you unlimited access to Files, Assigning and Subtasks to help you accomplish even more for $4.99 a month or $49.99 a year through an auto-renewing subscription.
Subscriptions will be charged to your credit card through your iTunes account. Your subscription will automatically renew unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You will not be able to cancel a subscription during the active period. You can manage your subscriptions in the Account Settings after purchase.
Weather Underground
COMMUNITY POWERED WEATHER
The Weather Underground iPhone app provides the world’s most accurate hyper-local weather forecasts in addition to interactive radar, satellite maps, severe weather alerts and widgets. Powered by our unique community of weather enthusiasts reporting live data from weather stations in their own backyards, this crowd-sourced data generates forecasts targeted to your precise location. In addition to viewing and sharing weather data, users can also take and upload photos directly from the app!With free push notifications for weather alerts and Today widgets for iOS 8, Weather Underground is your essential app during severe weather events. Our interactive map (WunderMap) displays animated radar and satellite data to track storms, as well as providing specific map presets for tracking hurricanes and wildfires.
WHAT MAKES THIS WEATHER APP DIFFERENT TO OTHERS?
WE FILL IN THE GAPS
– Our 37,000+ personal weather stations report the most localized weather conditions. The data that we collect from our user-owned weather stations fills in the gaps between the airport weather stations that other weather services rely upon to generate forecasts – meaning our data is generated from actual data points in your neighborhood.INTERACTIVE WEATHER & RADAR MAP
The most interactive weather map (WunderMap) on mobile allows you to select from different weather overlays including current conditions from our personal weather station network, animated radar, satellite, webcams, user-uploaded photos (WunderPhotos), and severe weather. Customize the map by selecting specific data layers or choose from the various map presets such as severe alerts, fire risk, active fires, hurricane and webcams.CROWD REPORTING
– Sky reports let you tell us if the sky conditions we’re reporting are what you’re actually observing. If you see something different you can report the conditions you’re experiencing for the benefit of other app users.
– Hazard reports allow you to report any hazardous road conditions you experience to help other people in your area.FREE Severe Weather Alerts Push Notifications and Today widget with forecasts and radar
Easy SHARING capabilities allow you to share forecasts, maps and alerts with your friends and family
