Exclusive: Apple prepping support for third-party Control Center widgets in watchOS 26

Alongside the expected design overhauls coming to iOS 26 and the rest of Apple’s platforms at WWDC, 9to5Mac has learned that watchOS 26 is set to introduce one of the most requested Apple Watch usability features to date: third-party widgets in Control Center. For the first time, the Apple Watch Control Center will go beyond Apple’s own toggles and tiles. About time According to a reliable source, watchOS 26 will allow developers to plug their own widgets directly into the Control Center. This will let users surface relevant actions or data from third-party apps alongside Wi-Fi, Battery, and Focus Mode. And it gets better: our source tells us the layout will be fully customizable through the Watch app on iPhone, letting users add, remove, or reorder Control Center widgets far more easily than with the current on-watch method. 9to5Mac’s take This is a long-overdue and very welcome improvement to an area of watchOS that’s remained largely untouched for years. This change opens the ... Read full article.