Featured Articles
Article in App of the Week category.
Home Widget Solves the Problem Apple Created
Due to Apple’s emphasis on privacy and security, controlling your Apple Home, previously HomeKit, devices can be a bit annoying at times. If not using…
Due to Apple’s emphasis on privacy and security, controlling your Apple Home, previously HomeKit, devices can be a bit annoying at times. If not using Siri, you’d have to open the Home app, find the device, and make your changes. What we really needed, were widgets.
For a while, Apple did have widgets but they’d do nothing more than launch the accompanying app. They weren’t interactive in any way and therefore, basically useless for Apple Home controls. That is until iOS 17. Apple finally delivered these interactive widgets and its own series of HomeKit controls for your Home Screen and Lock Screen. These were lackluster though, with minimal options.
With that prelude out of the way, that’s when Home Widget comes into play. Home Widget takes advantage of the new iOS 17 frameworks to deliver a wide array of customizable widgets to control your home in a fast and easy way. The widgets come in multiple sizes and give you control on many different accessory types such as your garage door, locks, lights, thermostats, and more.
The app uses a ton of custom iconography making it easier to tell when kind of accessory you’re controlling. For lights especially when it’s important to identify different ones. You could have a table lamp, wall sconces, ceiling lights, or a multitude of others.
Some accessories may require additional interactions which the app also is able to handle. For example, when locking a door, a confirmation will appear in the app. When tapping a camera, it will open full screen before going back to the Home Screen. Shades will present a slider that you can use to set the position. And lights have a brightness bar and a color picker with several color options to choose from.
Many of these work on the Lock Screen too which is extra impressive. For example, when opening the garage door, it will change the icon to a split view with an x and a checkmark for you to confirm the action. Then the icon you choose will switch to an hour glass while the command is sent. All without having to open an app.
Clement Marty has done an outstanding job with Home Widgets, using these native developer tools for both HomeKit and iOS to bring functionality that frankly, should have been built in. There’s multiple sizes and layouts for widgets, tons of graphics, custom text, customizable background colors, transparencies, fonts, and more. If you have a HomeKit home, this app is a must-have.
But enough about other people's apps.
