Widgets on Android are a great way to personalize your phone’s home screen. They allow you to easily add apps, weather, news, and more without opening them. And some widgets can be customized, allowing you to choose the look of a widget or its size.
The best part is that most of these widgets are free to use. You can find them on the Play Store by searching for “widgets” or by tapping the widget icon in the home screen.
Customizing a widget
To customize an Android widget, first tap and hold on it until the small menu appears. Then, move your finger to the sides of the widget and drag it towards the Widget settings in the upper right corner.
You can also change the color of a widget by dragging the arrows to your preferred hue. The color of the widget is determined by the opacity of the image used to fill the background of the widget. You can also customize the size of the widget by adjusting its height and width.
Changing the size of the widget will alter its shape, depending on how much space you give it on your home screen. For example, the Google weather widget in Android 12 takes the form of an angled bubble with temperature and cloud cover when the widget is 2 x 2. It becomes a wide bubble when it’s 3 x 2.
Resizing your widget
When you want to resize a widget, simply long-press on the widget to reveal a menu that lets you adjust its position or resize it. Once you have a position selected, drag and drop the widget to the desired spot on your home screen. You can also drag and drop the widget to another page of your home screen by letting go of the screen while holding on it.
This feature is available on Android devices running Android 5.0 and above. However, it isn’t supported on devices running Android 4.4 or earlier.
Battery drain from widgets shouldn’t be significant unless the widget refreshes often, like weather or news. The best practice is to update your widget infrequently.
Create a widget on android
To make a widget on Android, start by creating an application. There are a few ways to do this, but the easiest way is by adding an app to your device.
Alternatively, you can download an existing app from the Play Store and then edit it to add a widget. For instance, OneNote for Android has widgets that let you create notes, audio notes, and picture notes without ever having to open the app.
You can even make widgets from scratch using a simple app development tool. Some of these tools include Adobe XD, Android Studio, and Eclipse.
There are also several third-party apps that provide widgets for you to edit and customize. For instance, TickTick offers over thirteen different widgets to help you manage your daily tasks, plan your calendar events, and develop habits.