First look: Widgets escape Notification Center, arrive on lock & home screens in iOS 10
After laying the groundwork with widgets in Notification Center with iOS 8, Apple's forthcoming iOS 10 update will make widgets more accessible and useful, by making them available not only on a a device's lock screen, but also on the home screen's Siri search.
In the first beta of iOS 10, user-configurable widgets can be accessed from the home screen by swiping from the left. With this change, the iconic "slide to unlock" is officially dead: Apple's lock screen on iOS 10 now says "Press home to unlock."
Providing users with some location awareness on screen, the time and date move to the right side of the screen while widgets are displayed below. On an iPhone, this is a single column of widgets that can be completely customized by the user.
Apple's own built-in widgets include the Weather app, "Up Next" from Calendar, Siri App Suggestions, the Apple News app, and Maps Destinations.
Because the new lock screen uses the same widgets that were already created for Notification Center, developers testing iOS 10 will have a number of lock screen widgets already available to test.
Essentially, with iOS 10, Apple has taken the "Today" screen from the Notification Center and moved it to the lock screen. It's also available by swiping from the left on the home screen, where Siri Search debuted in iOS 9.
As with Siri Search, some widgets feature a "Show More" button, allowing detail to be expanded. iOS 10 remembers a user's preference and will continue to show expanded widgets.
Even while scrolling down the displayed widgets, a search bar remains constantly visible at the top of the screen, both from the lock screen and the home screen.
Scrolling all the way to the bottom, users are presented with a circular "Edit" button. Tapping this takes them to an "Add Widgets" screen, where native and compatible third-party apps can be added or removed from the widgets display. Installed apps with widget components are automatically found under the "More Widgets" subsection.
Once widgets are added, they can be reordered by dragging the three horizontal lines to the right. This works the same as it did in the Notification Center.
By moving widgets to the lock and home screens, Apple has removed the Today view from Notification Center in iOS 10 beta 1, but only on the iPhone. iPad users who install the first beta of iOS 10 can still access widgets via Notification Center if the device is unlocked, though this remains glitchy in the first beta and sometimes the widgets are not accessible. On the iPhone, Notification Center only displays missed notifications for the time being.
iOS 10 also takes advantage of the additional screen real estate found on the iPad, offering two rows of widgets displayed at once. Users can customize both the left and right column displays when adding or removing widgets.
As with iOS 10 on the iPhone, iPad users must also now press the home button to unlock their device.
Finally, iOS 10 has also changed the camera quick access function from the lock screen. Now, users can swipe toward the left anywhere on an iPhone or iPad display to pull over the Camera app from the right side of the screen. Previously, this required swiping upward from the bottom right corner.
iOS 10 is currently available to test in beta form for registered developers. Members of Apple's public beta program will be able to install iOS 10 starting in July, and it will launch to the general public as a free, final update this fall, likely in late September.
In the first beta of iOS 10, user-configurable widgets can be accessed from the home screen by swiping from the left. With this change, the iconic "slide to unlock" is officially dead: Apple's lock screen on iOS 10 now says "Press home to unlock."
Providing users with some location awareness on screen, the time and date move to the right side of the screen while widgets are displayed below. On an iPhone, this is a single column of widgets that can be completely customized by the user.
Apple's own built-in widgets include the Weather app, "Up Next" from Calendar, Siri App Suggestions, the Apple News app, and Maps Destinations.
Because the new lock screen uses the same widgets that were already created for Notification Center, developers testing iOS 10 will have a number of lock screen widgets already available to test.
Essentially, with iOS 10, Apple has taken the "Today" screen from the Notification Center and moved it to the lock screen. It's also available by swiping from the left on the home screen, where Siri Search debuted in iOS 9.
As with Siri Search, some widgets feature a "Show More" button, allowing detail to be expanded. iOS 10 remembers a user's preference and will continue to show expanded widgets.
Even while scrolling down the displayed widgets, a search bar remains constantly visible at the top of the screen, both from the lock screen and the home screen.
Scrolling all the way to the bottom, users are presented with a circular "Edit" button. Tapping this takes them to an "Add Widgets" screen, where native and compatible third-party apps can be added or removed from the widgets display. Installed apps with widget components are automatically found under the "More Widgets" subsection.
Once widgets are added, they can be reordered by dragging the three horizontal lines to the right. This works the same as it did in the Notification Center.
By moving widgets to the lock and home screens, Apple has removed the Today view from Notification Center in iOS 10 beta 1, but only on the iPhone. iPad users who install the first beta of iOS 10 can still access widgets via Notification Center if the device is unlocked, though this remains glitchy in the first beta and sometimes the widgets are not accessible. On the iPhone, Notification Center only displays missed notifications for the time being.
iOS 10 also takes advantage of the additional screen real estate found on the iPad, offering two rows of widgets displayed at once. Users can customize both the left and right column displays when adding or removing widgets.
As with iOS 10 on the iPhone, iPad users must also now press the home button to unlock their device.
Finally, iOS 10 has also changed the camera quick access function from the lock screen. Now, users can swipe toward the left anywhere on an iPhone or iPad display to pull over the Camera app from the right side of the screen. Previously, this required swiping upward from the bottom right corner.
iOS 10 is currently available to test in beta form for registered developers. Members of Apple's public beta program will be able to install iOS 10 starting in July, and it will launch to the general public as a free, final update this fall, likely in late September.
Comments
Everything you just said could be levied at the swipe-from-bottom control center, and that's turned out just fine.
It's okay for a few features to be for “power users”.
In the moment when it transitions from lock screen to home screen, iOS should make its initial on-screen appearance as 1/2 of the search page plus 1/2 of the home page. Then within milliseconds, both screens should smoothly slide to the left -- leaving only the home screen. This would be completed nearly instantaneously at a moment of inactivity, so the user would be reminded of the search screen's key features at zero time cost. Later when a user becomes intimite with the feature, it could be turned off under Settings.
Casual users would also appreciate having brief Help videos linked to every option in Settings. Make iOS obvious to everyone.