Habit Tracker Widgets: How They Work and What to Check

This guide explains how those widgets work on iPhone and on Android, gives you five things to check in any habit widget, and shows how to add one. It is the starting point of our series on habits and routines, so it also points to the guides on what to do when you break a streak and how long a habit takes to form.

What a habit widget is

A widget is a small, live view of an app that sits on your Home Screen (and, on some phones, your Lock Screen). For a habit tracker it usually shows today’s habits and whether each one is done. The point is to remove one step: finding and opening the app.

There are two kinds worth telling apart:

• A display widget only shows your streak or progress. You still open the app to check in.
• A check-in widget lets you mark a habit done right there with one tap.

For a habit you want to do every day, the check-in kind makes the routine shortest, because it becomes: see the widget, do the thing, tap.

iPhone widgets

On iPhone you can place widgets on the Home Screen and, with iOS 16 or later, on the Lock Screen, according to Apple’s guide to widgets. When you add a Home Screen widget you choose its size from the sizes the app offers.

Tapping to act, rather than just look, is a newer ability. Apple’s design guidelines for widgets explain that widgets can include buttons and toggles that offer app functionality without launching the app. It gives the example of a reminders widget where you mark a task as completed with a toggle. The same page says that on a locked device these controls are inactive until the person unlocks it. Apple’s own example code checks for iOS 17 before adding a button, so plan on iOS 17 or later for one-tap widgets.

In practice, that gives you three things to expect on iPhone:

• Widgets in several sizes on the Home Screen.
• Compact widgets on the Lock Screen (iOS 16 or later).
• One-tap check-ins from a widget (iOS 17 or later), after you unlock the phone.

Spareday follows this pattern. Its iPhone Home Screen widgets come in two sizes, with Lock Screen widgets as a circle, a rectangle and a single line, and it needs iOS 17.0 or later.

Android widgets

Android also supports Home screen widgets. Google’s help page describes the process: touch and hold an empty space on a Home screen, tap Widgets, pick an app and drag a widget into place. If a widget is resizable, you touch and hold it, lift your finger and drag the dots on its outline to resize it. The page also warns that some steps only work on Android 14 and up, so your screens may differ slightly.

The sizes and what a widget can show are set by the app, not by the phone. A list widget can show several habits at once; a small square widget usually shows one streak. In Spareday’s case, Android gets a 4x2 list widget and a 2x2 streak widget, and tapping a habit in the widget checks it in. Spareday runs on Android 7.0 or later.

Here is how the two platforms compare in the parts that matter for a habit widget:

Five things to check in any habit widget

Before you move your habits into any tracker, spend five minutes on these.

1. Does it check in with one tap? A widget that only displays a streak still sends you into the app. Try it on a throwaway habit.
2. Which sizes does it offer on your platform? A small widget for one habit, a larger one for a list. On iPhone, ask whether it also has Lock Screen widgets, so your habits are in view whenever you wake the phone.
3. What does a missed day do? A tracker may reset the streak to zero when you miss a day, or it may let you skip a day or use a spare one. Look for the rule before you start, because it decides how the tracker feels on a bad week. Spareday gives each habit 3 spare days a month, and you can also skip a day or fill in a day you forgot, up to 366 days back.
4. Is the widget free or paid? An app may keep widgets in a paid tier. Spareday’s widgets are free for everyone, and the free version keeps up to 5 habits. A paid Pro version adds unlimited habits, extra themes and widget looks, more reminders, more share-card designs and Insights.
5. Where does the data live? On your phone, or in an account in the cloud? That decides whether the widget works offline, whether you need to sign in, and how you move to a new phone. Spareday needs no account, keeps habits and history on your device, and lets you export a backup file or a CSV.

For the account question in more depth, see our guide to what you keep and lose with a habit tracker that has no account.

How to add a widget

On iPhone, for the Home Screen:

1. Touch and hold an empty area or a widget until the apps jiggle.
2. Tap Edit in the top-left corner, then Add Widget.
3. Choose the widget, pick a size and tap Add Widget, then Done.

For the Lock Screen on iOS 16 or later: touch and hold the Lock Screen, tap Customise, tap Add Widgets, choose your widgets and tap Done. These steps come from Apple’s support page; button names vary a little by region and iOS version.

On Android: touch and hold an empty space on a Home screen, tap Widgets, find the app, then drag the widget into place. The steps are on Google’s help page.

Spareday also has a Settings screen called Add a widget that shows the steps for your phone.

When a widget is not enough

A widget is a shortcut, not the whole tracker. Open the app when you want to:

• See the bigger picture. Spareday’s year view and statistics, such as current and longest streak, completion rate and totals, live inside the app.
• Fix a mistake. If you forgot to tap yesterday, you fix it in the app’s history, not on the widget.
• Set reminders. Reminders are a separate feature from widgets. A nudge at the right time can matter as much as the widget.
• Back up or move your data. Export and import happen in the app.

Also know that a widget may not refresh instantly. Your phone’s operating system decides when a widget redraws. According to Spareday’s support page, Android widgets refresh about every 30 minutes, and tapping a habit in the widget updates it at once. On iPhone, a check-in made in a Home Screen widget shows in your other widgets and in the app after you open Spareday once. If a widget still looks wrong, remove it and add it again. For how we think about what belongs on a widget in the first place, see our notes on designing home screen widgets people actually use.

Spareday is our habit tracker built around widgets. The Store page lists its widgets for each platform and shows where you can get it.

Questions people ask

Is there a free habit tracker widget for iPhone?

It depends on the app. Widgets can sit in the free version or in a paid tier, so check before you set up your habits. In Spareday, every widget is free, and the free version keeps up to 5 habits, so you can try the whole routine first.

Which habit trackers have an Android widget?

The quickest check is on your phone: touch and hold an empty space, tap Widgets and look for the app’s name. You will see which widgets it offers and in what sizes. Spareday has a 4x2 list widget and a 2x2 streak widget on Android.

Can a widget check in a habit with one tap?

It can, if the app supports it. On iPhone, interactive widgets need iOS 17 or later, and Apple notes that on a locked device the controls are inactive until you unlock it. In Spareday, you tap a habit in the widget to check it in.

Do habit widgets work offline?

It depends on where the app keeps your data. If your habits and history are on your phone, the widget can draw and update them without a connection. In Spareday, habits, widgets, reminders and statistics work offline, and a connection is only needed to buy or restore Pro.

Choosing with a clear head

Pick the tracker whose widget you will actually tap, and make sure a missed day does not erase your history. Start with one habit, put the widget where you see it every day and judge it after a week. If it is still on your Home Screen after that, it is doing its job.