How To Use Widgets On Android

Android allows users to customize their phone’s multiple homescreens with fun and time-saving widgets. Most manufacturers include their own widgets, but there’s also plenty of compelling options in the Android market. For example, Pandora’s widget makes it easy to control your music, while The Weather Channel lets you peek at the latest conditions. There’s also the very useful Buzzbox for scanning news headlines from multiple sources and Picture Dial for dialing by face instead of number.

Step by Step

  1. Press and hold on any homescreen on your Android phone.
  2. Select Widget under the Add to Home menu.
  3. Choose a widget that you would like to install. (Note that you’ll likely need to install an application first in order to gain access to its associated widget).

Quick Tip: In some cases you’ll be asked to choose the size of the widget, such as 2x2 or 4x4. Go with a smaller size if you want to fit more than one widget on a given homescreen.

Mark Spoonauer
Editor-in-Chief
Responsible for the editorial vision for Laptopmag.com, Mark Spoonauer has been Editor in Chief of LAPTOP since 2003 and has covered technology for nearly 15 years. Mark speaks at key tech industry events and makes regular media appearances on CNBC, Fox and CNN. Mark was previously reviews editor at Mobile Computing, and his work has appeared in Wired, Popular Science and Inc.