What widgets would you even want on your Android lock screen?

Ben Schoon | Mar 9 2025 - 9:00 am PT

Google is officially bringing back lock screen widgets on Android, but it begs the question – what would you want to use?

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Years ago, I remember loving lock screen widgets on Android. But after the feature was removed, I also didn’t really miss it. But, since everything in tech seems to cycle back on itself eventually, lock screen widgets are now making a comeback.

After debuting on Pixel Tablet last year, Google confirmed this week that both Android tablets and phones would gain lock screen widget support with Android 16’s QPR1 release. The fit and finish will vary from brand to brand (though an early peek at one method did already surface), but it’ll be nice to have that support officially baked into Android again, especially as many brands have been implementing their own take on this for a while.

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Lately, I’ve been using the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro, which has support for lock screen widgets baked into Nothing OS 3.0. But when I was setting up the lock screen, I couldn’t decide on what widgets I’d actually want to use. Eventually, I settled on weather and battery, and also added a compass widget and a time zone widget (as I started using the device in Barcelona while I was travelling for MWC). When I got home, I swapped it out for the “Screen time” widget because nothing else seemed all that useful (and because, let’s be honest, that little smiley face is adorable). That’s in part because Nothing’s implementation means I can only add Nothing’s own widgets to the lock screen. The same applies to Samsung, which only supports a few of its own widgets for One UI 7’s lock screen.

That’s something I hope Google’s native adoption will fix. The Pixel Tablet’s lock screen widgets support using basically anything, and it seems the same will be true of this implementation on mobile devices.

But, at the same time, I don’t really know what I’d use.

On the whole, I’ve found myself using widgets less and less in general, with Google’s At a Glance widget covering the main things I need – date, weather, and calendar appointments – all in one place. “Good” and compelling Android widgets just feel harder to find nowadays, as there’s been less emphasis on the feature (which Google is trying to change), and less consistency too. Ironically, Google also discussed what makes a good Android widget earlier this week.

So that’s my question to you. What widgets do you want on your Android phone’s lock screen? What would you want to use that exists already, or what would you want to see developed? Let’s discuss!

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