It’s fair to say that widgets have had a significant impact on how we use ouriPhones. A massive calendar widget thattakes up half your home screencan ensure that you never miss an appointment again. A water tracking widget can help you keep properly hydrated throughout the day. And that weather widget lets you know in an instant that it’s going to be another rainy day.
Widgetson the Machaven’t yet made quite the same impact, mostly due to the fact that they end up hidden away in your Notification Centre. All that is changing, however, with the introduction of interactive desktop widgets inmacOS Sonoma. Here’s how to add widgets on Mac.
How to add widgets on Mac
You’ve been able to use iOS-style widgets on Mac since the introduction of macOS Big Sur. However, up until now, those widgets have been relegated to the Notification Centre, which isn’t always ideal. It’s easy to forget they’re there, and you can’t see the information they contain at a glance.
InmacOS Sonoma, it’s now possible to add widgets to your desktop so that you can always keep an eye on them. In addition, widgets can now be interactive, allowing you to turn your lights on and off in the Home widget, for example, without having to launchthe Home app.
How to add widgets to the Notification Centre
Even if you’re not running macOS Sonoma, it’s still possible to add widgets to the Notification Centre.
How to add Notification Centre widgets to desktop
In macOS Sonoma, any widgets that are already in your Notification Centre can quickly be moved to your desktop. If you can’t wait until the official release to try out Apple’s new operating system, you caninstall the macOS Sonoma public betaright now.
How to add widgets directly to your desktop
It’s also possible to add widgets directly to your desktop without adding them to the Notification Centre first.
What widgets can I use on Mac?
Previously, the only real limit to the widgets you could use on Mac was the apps you had installed on your Mac, and whether those apps had their own widgets. In macOS Sonoma, the same thing still applies, but with significant difference; it’s now possible to install widgets for apps that you have on your iPhone, even if you don’t have those apps installed on your Mac. For example, if you have theGoogle Maps appinstalled on your iPhone, you should be able to add a Google Maps widget to your Mac desktop. This feature usesContinuity, so it will only work as long as your iPhone is near your Mac.
How to use iPhone widgets on Mac
In order to use your iPhone widgets on your Mac, you’ll need to ensure that the feature is enabled.
What native widgets can I use on Mac?
As well as widgets for apps you install on your iPhone or Mac, there are also widgets for the Apple apps already on your Mac. These include:
