GoKawiilTushar Mehta / Android Authority
Android is going through one of its biggest transformations lately, and piggybacking on that change are widgets. They are quickly becoming a glanceable source of even more information right on your home screen with multi-page widgets and a more uniform layout for fitness and productivity apps. They are very much becoming more capable and useful than their past selves, and all these changes are quite welcome.
But I’d be lying if I said widgets on Android are now realizing their full potential after these changes. They still leave a lot of room for improvement, and I think the following are the areas Google needs to prioritize.
Which Android brand currently has the best widget experience? 16 votes Google 25 % Samsung 31 % Nothing 25 % Other Android brands 19 %
Widgets need to be truly AI-native
Adamya Sharma / Android Authority
It’s not like Android didn’t already have contextual intelligence within widgets. Pixel’s At a Glance is a prominent example of this. But that’s yesterday’s news compared to the deep Gemini integrations and the kind of smart work Android is doing these days, and none of that has truly reached widgets themselves yet. They continue to behave like static mini apps instead of a more adaptive system.
It’s about time Android used its AI wizardry to surface the widgets you’d need in the moment or proactively based on your location or time. Maybe it could go even further with predictive behavior to surface temporary widgets along the lines of Magic Cue. With Gemini using Personal Intelligence to its benefit, I’d expect the broader Android operating system to also become more aware of your routine needs.
Actual lock screen widgets
Joe Maring / Android Authority
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