Summary
- Android is potentially bringing back lock screen widgets in Android 15 after removing the feature in earlier versions.
- A new “communal” space feature on the lock screen allows users to add widgets, but there are limitations and UI problems in its current form.
- Google’s At a Glance widget may soon support third-party widgets, potentially allowing for more customization on the home screen and lock screen.
Widgets were a big factor in Android earning its reputation of being more customizable than iOS, but recently, Apple’s operating system has surpassed Google’s in this regard. Android has supported home screen widgets since its very first public release, 1.5 Cupcake, in 2009. iOS 14 added equivalent functionality in 2020, when widgets escaped the Today view and made their first appearance on the actual home screen. But two years later, Apple built on this system and opened widgets to the lock screen with iOS 16. Meanwhile, Google rested on its laurels after having removed lock screen widget functionality with Android 5.0 Lollipop in 2015. Nearly a decade later, it appears the feature is almost ready to make its comeback.
Reporting for Android Authority, Mishaal Rahman has identified two in-development features that have the potential to bring lock screen widget functionality to Android 15. The first, a so-called “communal” space, seems to function like a widget drawer that can be opened by sliding inward from the right edge of the lock screen. Rahman was able to activate this feature on the latest Android 14 QPR2 Beta 3 build, but there were some limitations.
First, the UI is far from finished. Rahman was greeted by an awkward gray bar on the right side of the screen upon activating the functionality. This bar could be expanded by swiping inward, revealing a pencil icon that allowed him to add widgets. But that’s when he noticed the second limitation: the lock screen panel would only accept widgets that had declared the WIDGET_CATEGORY_KEYGUARD constant. This is an old system implemented when Android 4.2 Jelly Bean first added lock screen widget support that has been left around even though the overarching feature was deprecated in Android 5.0, so not many apps support it.
Whether that limitation sticks around or not remains to be seen, but in the meantime, a few Google apps still support the old Jelly Bean KEYGUARD constant, so Rahman was able to add widgets from Google Clock and Google Finance to the panel. This revealed even more UI problems where the lock screen itself overlapped the widget panel, but the ones that were added were functional.
So it’s pretty safe to say that we won’t be seeing this feature in Android 14, as we had speculated when we first spotted evidence of a new lock screen widget system in development, but considering the feature is functional, an Android 15 debut seems likely. Another place to temper your expectations here may be with form factors: the name “communal,” along with other clues in the code, like a mention of a “common surface,” seem to indicate the feature might primarily be intended for large-screen devices that support Google’s new hub mode, such as the Pixel Tablet.
But Rahman identified another in-development feature that could enable lock screen widgets on phones, even if the “communal” implementation relies on hub mode and doesn’t come to smaller devices. Google’s At a Glance widget on Pixel phones is built into the home screen and lock screen, so it’s not a widget in the traditional sense. Instead, the company refers to it as a Smartspace that injects information from various sources into an area of your screen. One of those sources could soon be other widgets.
Despite its various sources of info, At a Glance doesn’t support RemoteViews, the system Android uses to allow apps to pass data along to the home screen for use in widgets. However, Rahman uncovered evidence that Google is working on adding RemoteViews support to the feature. This isn’t a guarantee of any potential lock screen widget functionality, but it’s possible Google may use the new capabilities to enable At a Glance to show information from third-party widgets on your home screen and lock screen.
If that At a Glance functionality sounds interesting, you don’t have to wait — Kieron Quinn’s Smartspacer app can work with Google’s existing semi-widget to bring all sorts of new data to your home screen and lock screen.
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