Android phones are getting lock screen widgets this year

Google has announced that lock screen widgets are coming to Android 16 phones later this year. Widgets have been available on the lock screen of the Pixel Tablet since last year, but Google is now bringing them to phones and more tablets.

All widgets will support the lock screen by default, though app developers will have the option to disable support if they prefer. Certain widget actions — such as triggering an app — will still require you to authenticate with a fingerprint, pin, or face unlock before they’ll function.

The upcoming change was announced on the Android Developers Blog, where the company confirmed that lock screen widgets will be added to the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) in the first quarterly update following the release of Android 16, due in late summer. Android 16 itself is still in beta, and is due to release in June.

While the lock screen widgets for phones aren’t yet enabled in the latest Android 16 beta, Android Authority’s Mishaal Rahman managed to activate the functionality early. He found that while Pixel Tablet users can access lock screen widgets by swiping right from the home screen, the present implementation for phones is only available through Android’s screensaver mode, which requires the phone to be charging or docked. However, in its blog post Google notes that the mechanism to trigger the widget interface is customizable by hardware manufacturers, so we may see different approaches once the update arrives.

The other difference from the Pixel Tablet implementation comes down to screen size. Instead of a two-row grid of widgets, Rahman’s video shows widgets stacked vertically, with only space for a couple on the screen at once, so you’ll have to swipe through screens to access them all.