15% of readers have more than 5 (!) widgets on their home screen

Not everyone is a big fan of it: the new, circular display of widgets in Android 12. Widgets are extremely useful and many readers know that: 15 percent even put more than 5 widgets on their home screen.

Widgets

Widgets are a kind of micro version of the apps on your phone and they often show a specific piece of information in miniature on your home screen. Think of the weather forecast or a loyalty card from a supermarket. Very practical, but fair is fair: sometimes they take up a lot of space on your home screen.

That’s why we asked the readers this week: do you use widgets on your home screen and how much? The answers to this vary widely. Almost everyone uses widgets: only 18 percent say they don’t use them, which means that about 82 percent do have widgets on their home screen. 24 percent have one, 20 percent have two.

A full home screen

That is still modest, because 15 percent have three, 8 percent have four and a good 15 percent have five widgets puzzled together on his or her home screen. Unfortunately we were not able to request additional screenshots, because we are curious what that looks like for everyone. Fortunately, some readers have expanded in their response to the poll.

Rick Schippers says: “On my main screen I have a rainfall radar, weather online and clock widget. The clock widget is because it allows me to quickly click through to my alarms. The other two, of course, for the weather in the coming hours and days.” What seems? It also depends on your definition of “home screen” how you answer the question.

Multiple pages

If you see the home screen as only the one screen on which your phone opens, then of course you have much less space for widgets than if you also count the pages next to it (which you see by swiping). It turns out that many people have a few widgets on one page and a few widgets on the other. mvanleden for example: “Similar setup here too. Main screen very clean with only Google’s At a glance widget for date, upcoming appointment and the weather. Sheet 2: Buienradar chart and PostNL and Sheet 3: Current yield of especially solar panels.”

Although that sounds quite clear and tidy, Karel-Willem certainly does not agree: “I am a big widget fan. Just kidding; horrible. You quickly make a mess of such a home screen. A clock is up to that point, but that’s where it ends for me. And a separate page with a widget for your smart-home or something.” In short, as the clock ticks at home, it ticks nowhere.

rain radar

Bland, but widgets turn out to be a more personal choice than you might initially think. I wonder whether people also leave the Buienradar on their home screen in the summer, but after the disappointing summer months of 2021, the answer may be too obvious. We’ll be back with you next week with another poll, see you then!