How to Edit Widgets on iPhone: A Complete Guide

Widgets are one of the most practical ways to personalize your iPhone experience. Whether you want quick access to your calendar, weather, fitness stats, or news headlines, widgets let you surface that information without opening a single app. But knowing how to add, move, resize, and remove them isn't always obvious — especially since Apple has expanded widget functionality significantly across recent iOS versions.

What iPhone Widgets Actually Are

A widget is a small, interactive panel that displays live or recent data from an app directly on your Home Screen or in your Today View. Unlike app icons, widgets aren't just shortcuts — they show content. A weather widget shows the current temperature. A battery widget shows charge levels across your devices. A calendar widget shows your next appointment.

Widgets come in three standard sizes:

On devices running iOS 16 and later, Apple also introduced Lock Screen widgets — smaller, icon-style widgets that sit above or below the clock on your Lock Screen. These are edited separately from Home Screen widgets.

How to Enter Widget Editing Mode

To edit any widget on your Home Screen, you first need to enter Jiggle Mode — the editing state where app icons and widgets wobble.

To enter Jiggle Mode:

• Long-press on any empty area of the Home Screen, or
• Long-press directly on an app icon or widget and tap Edit Home Screen from the menu

Once you're in Jiggle Mode, a "+" button appears in the top-left corner. This is your gateway to adding new widgets.

Adding a New Widget to Your Home Screen

1. Enter Jiggle Mode (see above)
2. Tap the "+" in the top-left corner
3. Browse or search for an app that supports widgets
4. Select a widget size by swiping through the preview cards
5. Tap Add Widget
6. Drag it to your preferred position on the screen

Not every app offers widgets — only those whose developers have built widget support using Apple's WidgetKit framework. First-party apps like Clock, Calendar, Photos, Maps, and Reminders all support widgets natively.

Editing an Existing Widget's Settings ✏️

Some widgets are configurable — meaning you can change what data they display without removing and re-adding them.

To edit a widget's content:

1. Long-press the widget
2. Tap Edit Widget from the pop-up menu
3. Adjust the available settings (this varies by app)
4. Tap anywhere outside the widget to save

For example, a Weather widget might let you change the displayed location. A Stocks widget might let you choose which ticker it tracks. A Notes widget might let you pin a specific folder.

Not all widgets offer this option. If Edit Widget doesn't appear in the long-press menu, that widget's content is set automatically by the app.

Moving and Resizing Widgets

To move a widget:

• Enter Jiggle Mode, then press and drag the widget to a new position

You can drag widgets between pages or into and out of Smart Stacks (stacks of multiple widgets occupying the same space, cycling through automatically or manually).

To resize a widget, you generally need to remove the existing one and add a new version at a different size — there's no drag-to-resize handle. Size is selected at the time of adding.

How to Remove a Widget

1. Long-press the widget
2. Tap Remove Widget
3. Confirm by tapping Remove

This doesn't uninstall the app — it only removes the widget from your Home Screen. You can re-add it anytime.

Editing Lock Screen Widgets (iOS 16+)

Lock Screen widgets work differently from Home Screen widgets. 🔒

To edit them:

1. Long-press your Lock Screen to enter Lock Screen customization mode
2. Tap Customize
3. Select the Lock Screen option (not Home Screen)
4. Tap the widget row above or below the clock
5. Add, remove, or swap widgets from the available options

Lock Screen widgets are smaller and more limited in scope — they typically show compact stats like battery percentage, activity rings, calendar dates, or weather conditions. Only apps that support the smaller accessory widget format appear here.

Smart Stacks and Widget Suggestions

A Smart Stack is a special widget type that holds multiple widgets in one slot and rotates through them. iOS uses on-device intelligence to surface the most relevant widget based on time of day, location, and usage patterns.

You can:

• Add widgets to a stack by dragging one on top of another
• Manually swipe through a stack at any time
• Edit a Smart Stack by long-pressing and selecting Edit Stack to reorder or remove items
• Toggle Smart Rotate and Widget Suggestions on or off within the stack settings

The Variables That Shape Your Widget Experience

How widget editing works in practice depends on several factors that vary from user to user:

• iOS version — Widget behavior, Lock Screen support, and available options differ between iOS 14, 15, 16, and 17+
• Device model — Older iPhones may lack certain display capabilities that affect widget rendering
• App support — Third-party widgets depend entirely on what individual developers choose to build
• Home Screen layout — How many pages you use, whether you rely on the App Library, and your use of Focus Modes all affect where and how widgets appear
• Focus Modes — Different Focus profiles (Work, Sleep, Personal) can display different Home Screen pages — and different widget sets

Someone with a heavily customized multi-page setup using Focus Modes will approach widget editing very differently from someone using a single default Home Screen page. The mechanics are the same, but the strategy — which widgets to use, where to place them, which sizes make sense — depends entirely on how you actually use your phone day to day.