When Apple started allowing widgets, alternative icons, and other theming tools, there was a wave of customization apps that hit the App Store. I saw social media blowing up with how people had skinned their phones to have a whole custom look. I didn’t get into it at first as I have a bit of a preference for Apple’s stock appearance and layout, but Widgy Widgets has caused me to reevaluate and give custom theming a chance.

My personal preference is to put a large, four by four Widgy Widget on my first Home Screen. Below that, I’ll put a small Smart Stack and four of my most-used apps. In the Widget Widget, I put stuff like the date, time, and weather but with a minimalistic ultra-thin font and copious white space. Widgy even has a streamlined method to replace the background of the widget with your Home Screen to give it a transparent look.

There are literally infinite widgets available, combining colors, graphics, and data points. The Widgy API is used by over 35K different services where you can pull in things like trending movie descriptions, recipes, cocktails ideas, and more. It’s insane.

What I love with Widgy is there is a respectable business model. The developer hasn’t gone allon on the current fad of subscriptions like many have, but instead stuck with a freemium model. The app is free to download and you can even use it, but if you want to unlock the fullsize widget, you have to shell out a fair one-time purchase fee. Then you own the app and will get all future updates, of which there has been many.

I’m still no pro at this and honestly, my description above could describe a few of the common theming apps out there. But the way you create apps, pull in information and make use of your phone, it feels more powerful and easier than any of the others. I love the look of my phone and am even contemplating swapping out some of my app icons. Perhaps even bring back the bird to the Twitter app!

But enough about other people's apps.

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