This is how widgets increase the use of your mobile app!

Widgets: the gamechanger for mobile apps.

Widgets are compact, self-contained applications that are embedded in larger software environments to deliver specific functionality. They are designed to give users instant access to information and display interactive elements on the home screen of a mobile device.

A well-known example is a weather widget that displays real-time weather updates, including current temperature, weather forecasts and often even additional details such as wind force and humidity. Another common widget is the news feed widget, which displays recent news items or updates from various sources, keeping users up to date with the latest news such as football results at a glance. Widgets enhance the user experience by making relevant information instantly available without users having to open the app, promoting efficiency and convenience.Content at your fingertips.

A widget acts as an extension of your app, allowing you to use them only when the corresponding app is installed on your phone. Unlike an app, which often contains a wide range of content and functionalities, widgets offer a streamlined experience by presenting specific pieces of content to the user in a more convenient way.

Here are 5 benefits of widgets:

Specific content is presented in an accessible way.
Direct access to content without opening the app.
Easily view relevant information.
Provides an enhanced user experience.
They lead to an increased flow of app traffic.

The handy thing about widgets is that you can set them up in the background of your phone, so you always have an overview of your favourite content without having to open the app. Moreover, you can navigate from the widget directly to the corresponding app. This seamless integration contributes to an enhanced user experience, allowing users to quickly and effortlessly receive relevant information and interact with content in an intuitive and engaging way. Widgets lower the barrier for users to use their favourite features, allowing them to work more efficiently and enjoy their mobile experience more. It also leads to increased app usage, as users can quickly access the app from the widget to get more information.

The world of widgets.

Widgets come in all shapes and sizes, ranging from simple text boxes to complex multimedia elements. Some common examples are:

News feeds: widgets that display the latest stock prices, football results and news stories or headlines from reputable news sources, giving users quick access to up-to-date information.
Weather widgets: these widgets display up-to-date weather information in a specific location, allowing users to quickly see what the weather is like without having to open a separate app or website.
Social media widgets: these widgets display the latest updates from social media platforms such as X, Facebook or Instagram, allowing users to keep up to date with recent activity from their favourite accounts.
Calendar widgets: these widgets display calendar appointments and reminders, allowing users to manage their schedule without opening a separate calendar app.

Technology behind widgets in mobile apps.

Within Cube, we develop hybrid apps using the React Native- or Flutter-framework. A framework acts as a shell around the code, which is then loaded within an Android or iOS application. This means we only have to write the code once, which promotes efficiency and consistency in the development process.

Unfortunately, when implementing widgets, this process does not work in the same way. This is because a widget has to be written Native, meaning it has to be developed separately for both Android and iOS. The good news is that this is built with your app and thus runs alongside your React Native code.

With Widgets, you have less freedom than you are used to with apps. You can refresh a widget only a limited number of times a day when the app is inactive, such as every 30 minutes. The system eventually decides autonomously when to activate the widget in the background to retrieve the latest data. When the app is active, you can send a signal to the widget at any time to refresh the data.

The ultimate purpose of the widget is to retrieve and display data from the server. When you need to log into the app, the widget should eventually know whether you are logged in or not. Because the widget is added to your app as an extension, it can use the same storage that your app also uses. This means you can use the same token to retrieve data from the server, ensuring consistency between the app and the widget.

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