Best iOS 16 Lock Screen Widgets (Free and Paid)
There are quite a lot of apps that support lock screen widgets in iOS 16, both native apps and third party options. In this article, we will be taking a look at the best lock screen widgets that you can use whether they are pre-installed on your iPhone, or come with third party apps.
As always, you can use the table of contents below to jump ahead to any section within this article.
1. Weather
First and foremost is the weather widget. This is one of the most useful use-cases in my mind for lock screen widgets. The native weather app provides a couple of really useful weather widgets. You can use the rainfall widget, the temperature widget, UV Index, sunrise and sunset, and more. Personally, I use the temperature and the precipitation lock screen widgets to help me quickly get an idea of the conditions I can expect throughout the day.
2. Battery
If you use a lot of wireless accessories with your iPhone, chances are you’re aware of the handy battery widget that shows the battery percentage of each connected device. With iOS 16, you can now add the battery widget to your lock screen. You get a couple of choices as well, so you can choose a small 1×1 widget or a larger 2×1 widget as well.
3. Snapchat
Snapchat has recently rolled out lock screen widgets as well. Now, you can add a shortcut to your friends’ chats directly to your lock screen. You can also add a widget for a chat group, or, if you send a lot of snaps, you can add a widget to the Snap camera as well. Thankfully, the lock screen widgets aren’t limited to Snapchat Plus subscribers, so you can use it without any limitations.
Download Snapchat (Free)
4. Google Maps (Coming Soon)
Google has announced a bunch of new widgets for the iOS 16 lock screen. One of my most anticipated ones is the Maps widget. With this widget, you can add real-time traffic and travel time information for your frequently visited places straight on your lock screen. If you’re an explorer, you can add widgets to quickly find restaurants, shops, and nearby spots directly from the lock screen as well.
Download Google Maps (Free)
5. Google Search (Coming Soon)
There are new widgets coming to for Google Search as well. If you have the Google app installed on your iPhone, you will be able to add widgets for things like starting a Google search (using text, voice, or camera), jumping straight into translation, and more. These widgets will definitely prove useful for people who find themselves using the Google app a lot. Download Google app (Free)
6. Gmail (Coming Soon)
Keeping a track of your emails can be difficult at times, especially if you receive hundreds of mails every day. With the upcoming Gmail lock screen widget, you can add a counter for new emails to your lock screen. You can even customise the widget to display unread emails by categories. So, you can quickly see if there are unread emails in your work inbox, or in the promotions category, etc.
Note: Google is also bringing widgets for Google Drive, Google News, and Chrome. All of these widgets will be rolling out within the coming weeks and we will update this article when they start showing up for us.
Download Gmail (Free)
7. Carrot Weather
Though the native weather widget in iOS 16 is good enough for most users, if you’re looking for something more personal (and witty), you should check out Carrot Weather. This is one of the best weather apps for iPhone, and its lock screen widget is no different. You can choose to use one of the simple widgets to track hourly weather and forecast information. Or, you can use the widget that tells you the weather conditions along with humorous remarks. All in all, there are over 20 widgets in Carrot Weather, so you’ll definitely find something that fits your needs. Download Carrot Weather (Free)
8. Fantastical
Another great set of lock screen widgets comes from Fantastical. You can use the Up Next widget to see what event is coming up in your day, or you can use the simple (but useful) calendar widget to quickly glance at the day and date. The most useful one, at least for me, is the Quick Action widget, which you can customise to quickly add new events, reminders, or even search the Fantastical calendar.
Download Fantastical (Free)
9. Things 3
Things 3 is one of my favourite iPhone todo list apps, other than Omnifocus (which also has lock screen widgets by the way). The app makes it very easy to add, track, and manage your tasks for the day, week, and basically for all time to come. Plus, it now has really useful widgets. You can add the List widget to keep a list of your upcoming tasks straight on your lock screen. Or, you can use the Progress widget to see how much of your daily work has been done and how much is remaining in the form of a nice pie-chart. There’s also a widget to quickly add new to-do list items straight from the lock screen.
Download Things 3 ($9.99)
10. Overcast
Overcast is an amazing podcast app for iPhone and with the new lock screen widgets, it has become even more user-friendly. The app has three widgets that you can use right now, including the ‘Recents’ widget that shows new podcast episodes that you haven’t heard yet, and the straightforward icon widget that just launches the Overcast app. However, if you’re a podcast power user, you must have a ton of playlists to manage. With the ‘Playlist’ widget you can quickly start playing any chosen playlist, directly from the lock screen.
Download Overcast (Free)
11. Launcher
Launcher is a great app for you if you want to create lock screen widgets to quickly launch apps, call people, and more. You can create custom launchers for almost anything you want, and add them to your lock screen. I have added a widget for launching Instagram, which might not be a good idea for productivity, but it definitely saves me a bunch of taps.
Download Launcher (Free)
12. NapBot
NapBot is great for tracking your sleep with an iPhone. Plus, with the new update, the app now supports lock screen widgets. With this, you can easily track your sleep and view your recorded sleep data straight from the lock screen. This is one of those widgets that will only seem useful to a small set of people, but if you’re one of them, you should definitely check it out. Download NapBot (Free)
13. Apollo for Reddit
Apollo was one of the first fun apps for the Dynamic Island, and it also supports the iOS 16 lock screen widgets. With the Apollo for Reddit app you can add widgets to quickly see trending posts, check out the distance you’ve scrolled, your Reddit karma, inbox, and more. You can even add a shortcut to directly open your favourite subreddit in the app.
Download Apollo for Reddit (Free)
14. Home Widget
If you’re using HomeKit enabled smart home devices, this app is a must have for you. The Home Widget app brings smart home controls straight to your iPhone’s lock screen. You can create custom widgets with your HomeKit accessories and control them right from the lock screen. The app also supports creating custom widgets for the home screen, so you can quickly and easily control your devices without having to open the Home app.
Download Home Widget (Free)
15. Music Harbor
If you’re a music lover, keeping a track of new music is probably of the utmost importance to you. Music Harbor brings lock screen widgets that will show you all the new music that has come out recently. This way, you can make sure you don’t miss out on any new releases from your favourite artists, and you don’t even need to unlock your iPhone! Pretty cool, right?
Download Music Harbor (Free)
16. Flighty
Flight tracking is not something you’d often find yourself in need of, but when you’re going somewhere, or someone is flying in to meet you, you can use Flighty’s lock screen widget to track their flight. You can simply add the widget to your lock screen, add the flight that you want to track and that’s it. The widget will update the flight tracking and show it right on the lock screen. Plus, if you have enabled the iPhone 14 AOD, you can track the flight without even having to wake up your iPhone.
Download Flighty (Free)
17. Scanner Pro
Scanner Pro is a feature-packed document scanning app for iPhone. With it’s new update, the app has added support for the iOS 16 lock screen widgets, which means you can now access the Scanner Pro camera straight from the lock screen. You don’t have to unlock your iPhone, find the Scanner Pro app, open it and then scan. Simply tap the widget on your lock screen and you’re good to go. Download Scanner Pro (Free)
18. Halide Mark II
As far as third party camera apps go, Halide is one of the best iPhone camera apps you can get. With its new widgets, you can access important features quickly and easily. You can add widgets for opening the app, directly heading into auto or manual mode, or even to access the macro mode quickly.
Download Halide Mark II (Free)
19. Focused Work
Ask any productivity buff and they will tell recommend a pomodoro timer as a useful app to focus on work. With the ‘Focused Work’ app, you can now add a widget to your iPhone’s lock screen to view your ongoing timer. You can also add a widget to track your daily goals. The widgets make it easier to view your timers and ensure that you take breaks at the right time and enhance your productivity.
Download Focused Work (Free)
20. Lock Screen Shortcuts – Lock Flow
Siri Shortcuts are an extremely powerful feature that you can use to automate pretty much anything on your iPhone. There are a lot of amazing Siri Shortcuts out there, including one for ejecting water from your iPhone. With Lock Flow, you can add any Siri Shortcut to your lock screen as a widget. When you want to run the shortcut, simply tap on the widget and you’re done. Easy, right?
Download Lock Flow (Free)
Use These Lock Screen Widgets on iOS 16
Well, those were the best lock screen widgets you can use on your iPhone with iOS 16. As you can see, there are widgets for pretty much everything already. Whether you’re looking for productivity widgets like to-do lists, timers, and calendars, or time saving ones such as HomeKit, Siri Shortcuts on the lock screen, and more, there are options for everything. So, which lock screen widgets are you using on your iPhone? Let is know in the comments.
