Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you probably know what an app is. However, if you look on the app list of your Android smartphone, you have probably noticed that there is a secondary tab labeled “widgets” which contains all kinds of weird little boxes and things. But, what IS a widget?
As one of my less tech-savvy coworkers once explained,widgets are, “Those things that aren’t apps.” While I suppose that is technically correct, there is a little more to it than that. If you have an Android and you aren’t using widgets, then you’re definitely missing out.
As the name suggests, widgets come in all shapes and sizes with varying functionalities. But, at their core widgets are almost like little shortcuts or app previews which you can place on the various screens of your smartphone to help maximize productivity. They oftentimes will display important information like emails, Facebook statuses or notes without the need to actually launch the app.
A lot of basic Android applications will have widgets including the calendar, email, weather and most Google apps like Drive or maps. Many times, apps that you download will also include relevant widgets and there are tons of additional widgets that can be downloaded from the Google Play store to do just about anything. Check out our list of the
7 best Android Widgets for some ideas on must-have widgets for your smartphone!
So, do you use widgets? What widgets do you use the most? I think the clock and Google Now widgets are probably my favorites. Share your thoughts or additional questions with me in the comments!]]>
