Joe Maring / Android Authority
Widgets were one of the reasons I was attracted to Android back in 2010. I was looking for my next mobile OS after the slow decline of Nokia’s Symbian, and Android appealed to me for many reasons, including its multitasking ability, full file system access, and home screen widgets.
The idea of having a customized dashboard in front of me each time I unlocked my phone was very appealing. I wanted to personalize this to show exactly what I wanted, and nothing else. My calendar, my music, the weather around me, the speed of my internet connection, and my phone’s RAM usage — all of these were so useful to me and were the cornerstones of my Android home screen for years.
Fast forward to 2026, though, and I’m a lot less of a widget fan than I was in 2010. As a matter of fact, widgets could disappear from Android tomorrow, and I wouldn’t miss them.
Do you use widgets on your Android home screen? 59 votes Yes, and I can't live without them. 44 % Yes, but I could do without them. 32 % No. 24 %
Android widgets are generally ugly and useless
Robert Triggs / Android Authority
For years now, widgets on Android have looked and felt accidental to me, rather than intentional. Even with the introduction of Material You and the whimsical shapes that adopted a very clear design language, Google’s own widgets still lacked consistency and, to be fair, usefulness. Why can’t I have a Maps widget to show the time it would take me to get back home, or one to display my nearby saved places? Or why isn’t there a Google Analytics real-time traffic widget, a Fitbit widget for my sleep, exercise, or Morning Brief, or a weather widget with the daily forecast instead of the hourly one? My colleague Zac already wrote about Google’s lack of widget care, and I agree with him. Even if the widget situation is better now than in the late 2010s, it’s not as good as it should’ve been after nearly two decades of Android widgetting.
I also have a big gripe with third-party developers — or with Google’s lack of strict parameters for them. Every app I use that provides me with essential everyday info also has a horridly designed widget. The local Parisian RATP or IDF Mobilité apps have ugly widgets for upcoming public transit that don’t use any kind of Material design, don’t fit with the rest of my home screen, often require manual and slow updating before they show me current times, and require several hoops to specify the exact station, train/bus, and direction I want to see. That’s why I can only realistically set them to display transit times from home to my most frequent places. If I’m out and about, there’s no way for me to see nearby public transit, which makes these widgets useless most of the time.
Google should've reined in Android widget design a long time ago, but after nearly two decades, we're still living in the Widget Wild West.
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