Widgets have been part of Android since day one, and they remain one of the platform's most useful features.
These tiny applets that you can place on your home screen are ideal for quick, at-a-glance information like weather updates. Sometimes they have buttons for controlling music or your phone's flashlight.
But with so many apps offering widgets, how can you be sure you aren't missing out? Here's our pick of the best Android widgets every user should have.
1. Best Today Widget: Google At a Glance
Want to keep your home screen uncluttered but still like to have a handy summary of your agenda for the day? You've already got the best widget; you just might not have noticed it.
At a Glance is part of the Google app installed on every Android phone. It's a single row, full-width widget that updates throughout the day to show bits of information like traffic or your next appointment. If there's nothing special happening, it becomes a nice date and weather widget.
If you prefer a bit more customization, then take a look at Another Widget. It's inspired by At a Glance---and is almost identical in looks---but offers a tad more functionality.
2. Best Weather Widget: Overdrop Weather
Overdrop is a relative newcomer to Android's ever-expanding weather app genre. It's one of the best-looking and offers accurate minute-by-minute forecasts from DarkSky and other services.
It also has a heavy focus on widgets. You get 25 free widgets, plus a further 29 if you upgrade through an in-app purchase. They cover pretty much every style you could think of.
If Overdrop doesn't work out for you, take a look at our guide to more of the best weather widgets for Android. You're sure to find something you'll love there.
3. Best Clock and Alarm Widget: Chronus
Every home screen needs a great-looking clock widget. Chronus gives you half a dozen of them. It offers a choice of digital and analog clocks, with added agenda view, weather, stocks, or a news feed. It even has a widget that's compatible with Google Fit, putting your daily steps onto your home screen.
You can customize every part of the look and feel of your Chronus widgets. And by downloading some third-party extensions from the Play Store, you can make it even more useful. Once you get your head around how to customize Chronus widgets, they become some of the coolest widgets for Android.
4. Best Notes Widgets: Google Keep & Samsung Notes
You'll find lots of excellent note-taking apps with widgets in the Play Store. But you can't really beat Google Keep.
It offers two widgets. One is a simple shortcuts bar that lets you create a basic note, list, voice memo, handwritten note, or photo note. The other allows you to pin notes to your home screen. It's ideal for shopping lists or anything else you need to remember while you're out and about.
5. Best Calendar Widget: Month
Month is a beautiful collection of calendar widgets, with over 80 themes to fit in seamlessly with whatever wallpaper, icon set, or launcher you use. There's something for everyone.
You can choose a classy, transparent, full-page Month view or go for a more functional Agenda view suitable for busy professionals. It's fully compatible with Google Calendar as well.
