Your first widget

What are you making?#

A widget is a small panel on your iPhone Home Screen. It can put something useful—such as your next event, today’s steps, or the weather—where you can see it without opening the app.

In Widget Ninja, you make the design inside the app, save it to your Library, then choose that saved design for a Home Screen widget. Saving a design and adding it to the Home Screen are two separate steps. This guide takes you through both.

Gallery contains ready-made designs to start from. Library contains the copies you have saved and can change. You do not need to build everything from scratch.

Choose a design#

1. 1

   Open Gallery

   Browse the designs and open one you like.

2. 2

   Choose its color and size

   Use the design’s palette and size controls to see the available versions.

3. 3

   Tap Add to Library

   The app saves your own copy. You can edit that copy without changing the Gallery design.

Edit your copy#

Open the saved widget in Library, then tap Design Visually. Tap something on the canvas to select it. The dock shows the tools for that selection.

For example, select a text layer and use Content to change its words, or Text to change its font, size, and color.

Tap the title at the top to name your widget. Tap Save to keep your edits.

Add it to your Home Screen#

1. 1

   Touch and hold your Home Screen

   Tap Edit → Add Widget.

2. 2

   Find the app

   Choose the app in the widget picker, select a size, and add the widget.

3. 3

   Choose your saved design

   Touch and hold the widget, tap Edit Widget, and choose your design under Content.

Start from a blank widget#

In Library, tap Create Widget Visually. You can also open the New Widget menu and choose Create Visually. Use Add to put text, data, pictures, or other layers on the canvas.

What to try next#

Add your step count, change the type, or add a calendar. If you are still seeing example values, check Sample data and access.