Why Are My iPhone Widgets Black? Dark Mode and Blank Widget Fixes

Widgets turn black when the Home Screen uses the Dark or Auto look, or when a widget has not loaded. How to tell which one it is and fix it.

iPhone widgets usually turn black because the Home Screen is set to the Dark appearance, or to Auto, which switches to dark at night. Change it in the Home Screen’s Customize menu. If one widget is a plain dark box with no content, it has not loaded yet, and removing and adding it again usually fixes it.

Switch the Home Screen back to a light look

Touch and hold the Home Screen background until the apps jiggle.
Tap Edit, then Customize.
Choose Default for the standard look. If you use Clear or Tinted, pick Light instead of Dark or Auto.
Tap outside the menu to save.

Apple’s customization guide for iOS 27 ↗ says the Dark option shows icons and widgets with a dark appearance, and that Auto uses dark at night and light during the day. So if your widgets go black every evening, Auto is doing what it is set to do. Our guide to changing app icons walks through every style in this menu.

A dark box with nothing inside

When a widget appears for the first time, iOS shows a placeholder, a generic version without real content, until the app provides data. Apple’s WidgetKit documentation ↗ describes this, and adds that a widget can also show as a placeholder when sensitive information is hidden on the Lock Screen. If it never fills in:

Open the app that owns the widget, and sign in if it asks you to.
Update the app in the App Store. A widget that stopped working after an iOS update may need a newer version of its app.
Remove the widget and add it again with Apple’s Add Widget steps ↗.
Turn off Low Power Mode, which reduces background activity, according to Apple’s Low Power Mode page ↗.
Restart your iPhone if several widgets are blank at once.

When the app itself uses a black design

Some third-party widgets follow the system’s dark appearance or are simply designed with a black background. If only one app’s widget is black and still shows its content, look for a color or theme option in Edit Widget or in the app’s settings. If there is none, that is the look the developer chose.

If your widgets are not black but show old information, follow our widget not updating checklist. For a widget that blends into the wallpaper on purpose, see how transparent widgets work on iOS 27.

Frequently asked questions

Why do my iPhone widgets turn black at night?

The Home Screen is set to Auto in the Customize menu, which uses a dark appearance at night. Choose Default, or Light for the Clear and Tinted styles, to keep widgets light.

How do I make my widgets white again?

Touch and hold the Home Screen, tap Edit, then Customize, and pick Default. If you use Clear or Tinted, choose Light instead of Dark or Auto.

Why is one widget just a blank black box?

It is showing a placeholder because the app has not provided content yet. Open the app, update it, then remove the widget and add it again.

Why are my widgets black after updating to iOS 27?

Check the Customize menu first, since a Dark or Auto setting darkens every widget. If only some widgets are blank, update those apps and add the widgets again.