14 DAY TRIAL // Google was one of the first companies to announce widgets for iOS 16, and today, the company continues the rollout with new apps.
Gmail and Google News are now both supporting iOS 16 widgets, so make sure you download and install the latest versions from the App Store to get the new features.
Needless to say, the widgets come in different sizes, and in the case of Gmail, it also supports a single line widget similar to the one used by the Weather app on iPhone. With this mode, Gmail can display the number of new messages alongside the date.
Widgets in iOS 16
As more apps are adding support for iOS widgets, the only big problem is the limitations the feature comes with in the first place.
Users can’t add more than four standard widgets plus a single-line version at the top of the screen. Furthermore, Apple only allows only standard sizes, so in the case of Google News, for instance, the content you’re seeing is very limited.
“The Lock Screen gets reimagined, offering deeper personalization. Now users can add a depth effect to their Lock Screen photo, artfully displaying the photo subject in front of the time, and they can even customize the font and type style. New widgets on the Lock Screen make it easy to get helpful information at a glance like upcoming calendar events, battery levels, alarms, time zones, Activity ring progress, and more,” Apple said when it announced the latest version of the operating system.
Obviously, it’s just a matter of time until more apps are being updated with support for widgets, and Google too has several such updates currently in the queue. One of the apps to get widgets on iOS 16 is Google Maps, as Google has already confirmed that such a feature is already in the works.