New concept video shows how great an iPad with Home screen widgets could be
- okt
- 02
What you need to know
- Apple's iOS 14 release brought Home screen widgets to iPhone.
- But iPadOS 14 didn't get the same feature for iPad.
- This concept video shows that was a mistake.
Free the widgets, Apple!
When Apple released iOS 14 a couple of weeks ago it brought Home screen widgets to iPhone's Home screen for the first time. The world rejoiced and life was good. But for reasons unknown, iPad didn't get the same love. Instead, they live on the Today sidebar and that sucks.
How much does it suck? See for yourself by watching Matt Birchler's concept video showing how awesome it could be.
Amazingly, as Birchler points out, iPadOS 14 seems to already be set up for Home screen widgets because app icons are ready to receive them.
Fun fact, did you know that depending on your iPad size, mode, and orientation, your icons will be either 38, 46, 58, 62, 64, 68, 76, 88, 96, 102, 118, or 137 points apart in the UI? It's true! This idea that the icon grid is in any way fixed and can not change is not backed up by how the home screen already works. My solution actually reduces the variance in spacing that we have today, somewhat ironically making the grid more consistent than it is today.
So how cool would Home screen widgets on iPad be? Very cool, that's how much. Observe as Birchler even explains how it would work. Developers need not fret, too, with the good news being that they likely wouldn't need to do much work to make their widgets work.
Are you watching, Apple?