Widgets are small, interactive application shortcuts that display certain data and allow you to perform actions without opening the application. The weather widget, for example, displays data for the current temperature or next week’s forecast, and you can tap it to open the app. Widgets for clock, email, lists, and more are great for viewing information without needing to use an app.
While most Android phones only allow home screen widgets, you can get them on the lock screen of Samsung Galaxy phones. Here’s how to configure them.
Samsung devices running One UI 3.0 or higher have the option to lock screen widgets in settings. While it doesn’t allow you to use all the home screen widgets on the lock screen, it does have a few useful ones for music, alarms, weather, Digital Wellbeing app and today’s schedule. Here’s how to use them on your lock screen:
- Open the Settings app on your phone, scroll down and tap the Lock screen option.
- In the Lock screen menu, tap Widgets.
- On the Widgets page, enable the widgets you want on your lock screen or always-on display (AOD). If you plan to use multiple widgets, you can also rearrange their position by tapping Reorganize and move them up or down as needed.
- On the lock screen, access widgets by tapping the clock after enabling them in the Widgets menu.
Samsung phones have a lot of good widgets, but you can only use a few of them on the lock screen. If you want more widgets or want to use them on a non-Samsung phone, you can use a third-party app called Lockscreen Widgets.
The app allows you to use all your home screen widgets on your lock screen. Along with that, you can also add custom widgets from apps like KWGT. The Lockscreen Widgets app is compatible with any phone or tablet running Android 5.1 or higher and costs $1.49 from the Google Play Store.
Step 1: Grant permissions
To use the application, you must provide it with the necessary permissions. After opening the app, three swipes to the left will take you to the accessibility page. Now press MORE INFORMATIONand you can see a dialog showing information about why the app needs this permission.
Press on To agree to open the Accessibility menu in your phone settings. Select Lock screen widgets in the list to grant permission. While authorizing it, your phone will show you what data the app will access with that permission, so only give it if you’re ok with it.
Now repeat the process for notification and storage permissions and then you are ready to start using the app.
Step 2: Add your widgets
Once you’ve given all permissions, the app will take you to its home screen, where you can add widgets.
- Switch to the Enabled switch, then touch Add widget and choose the one you want on the lock screen. Repeat the process if you need to add more.
- Press the Insight button to see how it will look on the lock screen.
- On the lock screen, press and hold the widget with two fingers to enter or exit personalization mode, and swipe to switch between them.
- In personalization mode, long press the Navigation icon to drag and drop the widget anywhere on the lock screen. The option to align widgets horizontally or vertically is present to the left and right of the navigation icon. Additionally, you can adjust its size by dragging the sliders on the widget frame.
- In personalization mode, you can hide widgets by pressing the Visibility at the top left and add more widgets by tapping the icon More icon in the upper right.
- If you want to remove a lock screen widget, long press it with one finger. It will show the delete icon in the upper right corner.
Step 3: Adjust the settings
In the app, if you access the lock screen widget Settingsyou can change the following options:
- Appearance: You can change the background color, enable or disable background blur and its level, adjust the corner radius of the widget as well as the frame of the widget, and lastly, use Hidden Modewhich tries to draw your wallpaper as the background of the widget
- Arrangement: In this section you can adjust the number of rows and columns per page and lock the widget frame. But remember, if you do this, you won’t be able to move or change their size.
- Visibility: This section contains settings to hide widgets during specific operations, such as when a notification appears on the lock screen, when you pull down the notification panel, when you enter the PIN/pattern/password or when the device is in landscape mode.
- Behaviour: You can enable or disable widget animation, adjust animation duration, change page indicator behavior, etc., in this section.
- Interaction: Here you can enable touch protection which will ignore taps on the widget when your phone’s proximity sensor is covered. This section also has an option to prompt to unlock the device and clear the notification if a widget launches an app.
Besides all these widgets and lock screen customizations, the app also has an option for a widget drawer. You can enable it by toggling the Enabled in the Widget Drawer menu, then add widgets like you did for the lock screen.
After enabling the widget drawer, you will see a slider at the top right of your screen. Dragging this slider will display all widgets in the drawer. Like the lock screen widgets, the drawer has plenty of customization options in its Settings menu to help you configure it correctly.
The Lockscreen Widgets app is not free, but once you use it, you’ll know it’s worth it. It offers a lot more features than you get with the built-in option on Samsung phones. With the app, you can start using all your home screen widgets on the lock screen.
And if you prefer lock screen customization, our guide on how to use videos as wallpaper on the lock screen might interest you.