My Favourite iOS 14 App Widgets

Ever since I installed the new iOS update on my iPhone, I’ve been playing around with all the widgets and optimising it to make my iPhone an even more powerful tool in my everyday life. Although I still do use a bullet journal, most of my planning happens digitally and widgets have made this process just that little bit easier. In this post, I wanted to share some of my favourite tips and tricks for setting up your phone to allow you to be more productive and to have a more aesthetically pleasing set-up!

Calendar

I use the native Apple Calendar app on my iPhone and MacBook Air. Although I do use Google Calendar (which I then sync with my Apple Calendar to have access to the same calendar in both places), I prefer to use the Apple Calendar on my devices. With the new widget, I can see all of my upcoming events without leaving the home screen!

Things

Things 3 is my to-do list app of choice. It is very pricey, especially if you want to use the app on your iPhone, iPad and MacBook. However, I prefer a one-time upfront payment, rather than subscription based ones, and personally, I find that the app is worth the price! It works seamlessly with all of my Apple Devices and the widget is gorgeous. I’ve set up a smart stack so that I can swipe through a few of my most used lists, including ‘Today’ and ‘Revision’. I’ve also created a separate widget that allows me to quickly input a new task into the Inbox!

Reminders

This is a perfect, free alternative to Things 3. Many people use the Reminders app on their phone not only to create reminders, but also to create lists such as daily task lists. With the new widgets feature, you can set one up that displays a given list on your homepage! It’s the perfect way to be reminded of your reminders (lol) and not forget any of those important tasks.

Mindful Affirmations

I haven’t yet installed this widget, but when my friend introduced me to it, I knew it would quickly become one of my all time favourites. I absolutely love the design and colour scheme of the app. It can be adjusted to show a variety of affirmations and/or quotes that are tailored to your personal goals e.g. stress & anxiety, motivation & productivity or everyday joy.

Day One Journal

I’ve been using Day One on and off as my journal for a few years now, but recently I have been using it everyday to have a record of all of the memories from my years of medical school. Although I love the feel of writing in a physical journal, switching to Day one has been one of the best decisions I ever made because I have become more consistent with recording things and it’s so much easier to include photos/videos/audio. Another feature I love is the ‘On This Day’ feature – it shows you the entries you made on that particular day last year or even 10 years ago (if you’ve been using it that long)! The free version of the app has fairly limited features, but is more than enough to do some simple journalling and you can get a feel for the app to decide if you want to pay for the upgrade!

SCREEN TIME

This widget is a must-have for anyone trying to cut down or limit the amount of time they spend on their phone. I’ve set up a small widget that shows me how much time I’ve spent on my phone that day. Seeing the number gives me a constant reminded to put my phone down and spend less time looking at my screens!

Wikipedia

This is a widget I wasn’t expecting to love as much as I do, but it’s perfect for anyone that has a never-ending curiosity about everything. The widget gives you three options: ‘Picture of the day’, ‘On this day’ and ‘Top Read’. My favourite one is the ‘Top Read’ widget, but I’m also loving the ‘Picture of the Day’ one recently!

Other Apps

I also came across these two amazing video about how to customise your phone to be even more aesthetic!

What do you think of the new iOS 14 update? Which features are your favourite?