Step-by-step guide
How to Add Widgets to Your iPhone Home Screen
Follow Apple’s current widget steps, choose a size and arrange your first Home Screen widget, with an Aquarium Widgets example.
To add a widget to your iPhone Home Screen, touch and hold an empty area, tap Edit, choose Add Widget, select an app and size, then tap Add Widget. Drag it where you want and tap Done. These steps follow Apple’s current widget guide ↗; labels may differ on older iOS versions.
Before you open the widget gallery
Install the app that provides the widget and open it to set up anything the widget needs. A weather widget may need a location; a photo widget needs pictures. For Aquarium Widgets, create or choose a tank and fish in the app first. The widget is then a view of that setup on the Home Screen.
Add it in five steps
- Go to the Home Screen page where the widget should live.
- Touch and hold an empty area until the apps jiggle.
- Tap Edit, then Add Widget.
- Search for the app, swipe through the available widget sizes and tap Add Widget.
- Move the widget into place and tap Done.
Not every app offers every size. Apple notes that widgets can have different configurations, too: touch and hold a widget and look for Edit Widget when you need to change what it displays. Some apps put more design options inside the app itself.
Example: add a fish tank with a clock
In Aquarium Widgets, choose a tank, turn on the clock if you want one and adjust its appearance. Then search for Aquarium Widgets in the Home Screen widget gallery and pick an available size. The new clock and calendar controls are visible in the app editor; the App Store listing ↗ has current download requirements.
If the app is missing from the gallery or the widget looks empty, use our troubleshooting checklist. If the layout feels crowded, see which widget size to choose.