iOS 27 Brings a Major Widget Overhaul to Your iPhone Home Screen
Apple's iOS 27 is shaping up to be one of the most visually transformative iPhone updates in years. Among its many new features, the update introduces a comprehensive refresh of the Home Screen widget experience, adding more than 15 brand-new widgets that give users greater flexibility, more information at a glance, and a dramatically more personalized lock screen and Home Screen layout. Whether you're a longtime widget enthusiast or someone who has never touched the feature, iOS 27 makes a compelling case for rethinking how you organize your iPhone's most important screen.
Why iOS 27 Widgets Matter More Than Ever
Widgets have been a core part of the iPhone experience since Apple revamped the Home Screen in iOS 14. Over the years, Apple has steadily expanded widget support, allowing third-party developers and its own apps to surface timely, relevant information directly on the Home Screen without requiring users to open an app. With iOS 27, Apple takes another significant leap forward by not only introducing new widget types but also expanding the available size categories.
The most notable addition is the new extra-large widget format. This oversized widget tier is clearly designed with the rumored iPhone Ultra in mind, Apple's upcoming top-tier model expected to feature a significantly larger display footprint than any current iPhone. The extra-large widgets allow apps to present richer content, more complex data visualizations, and broader interactive controls than was ever possible with the standard small, medium, and large sizes. For users who value productivity and information density, this is a game-changing development.
A Sneak Peek at the iPhone Ultra Connection
iOS 27 contains multiple hints pointing toward the forthcoming iPhone Ultra, and the new widget infrastructure is among the most telling. Apple rarely introduces UI elements of this scale without hardware to match them. The extra-large widget canvas would look disproportionate on current iPhone models but would feel right at home on a device boasting the expanded real estate that the iPhone Ultra is expected to provide.
This approach is consistent with how Apple has handled previous hardware launches. Feature groundwork is laid in software updates ahead of time, so that when new devices arrive, they feel immediately native and polished rather than hurriedly assembled. iOS 27's widget expansion appears to be following exactly that playbook.
The Full List of New Widgets in iOS 27
Apple has introduced more than 15 new widgets across a range of its built-in apps in iOS 27. While the complete official list continues to be documented as developers and users explore the update, the following categories represent the major new additions confirmed so far:
- Shortcuts Widgets: The Shortcuts app receives a prominent upgrade, including an extra-large widget format that allows users to display and trigger a larger collection of automations directly from the Home Screen. Power users who rely heavily on Shortcuts will find this particularly valuable for streamlining their daily workflows.
- Expanded System App Widgets: Core Apple apps including Calendar, Reminders, Notes, and Weather have received updated widget options that take advantage of the new size tiers, offering more detailed previews and richer content layouts.
- Health and Fitness Widgets: The Health app gains new widget options that make it easier to track daily activity rings, sleep trends, and health metrics without opening the app, keeping vital wellness data front and center throughout your day.
- Photos Widgets: The redesigned Photos app in iOS 27 also receives fresh widget treatments, letting users showcase curated memories, featured photos, or dynamic albums in larger, more visually striking formats on the Home Screen.
- Maps and Travel Widgets: Location-aware widgets have been expanded to surface commute times, nearby points of interest, and saved routes more prominently, making them more useful for users who rely on Apple Maps for daily navigation.
- News and Media Widgets: Apple News and related media apps benefit from new widget designs that present headlines, top stories, and personalized content feeds in a cleaner, more readable layout across multiple size options.
- Smart Home Widgets: The Home app receives updated widgets that reflect the growing importance of HomeKit and Matter-enabled smart home ecosystems, giving users quicker access to lighting, thermostat controls, and device statuses.
How Extra-Large Widgets Change the Home Screen Experience
The introduction of the extra-large widget size is perhaps the single biggest structural change to the iPhone Home Screen in recent memory. Until now, the large widget occupied a two-by-two grid space, which offered decent real estate but still felt constrained for apps that had a lot of information to display. The extra-large format pushes well beyond that boundary, enabling a level of content richness that approaches what iPad users have long enjoyed.
For apps like Shortcuts, this means being able to display significantly more automation buttons in a single glance. For productivity tools, it could mean a full task list or calendar agenda without ever leaving the Home Screen. For media and news apps, it opens the door to truly immersive content previews that feel less like a widget and more like a live content panel.
Getting Ready for iOS 27 Widgets
If you want to make the most of the new widget options when iOS 27 arrives on your device, it's worth taking some time now to think about your Home Screen layout and which information you access most frequently throughout the day. Identifying the apps you return to most often is the first step toward building a widget-powered Home Screen that genuinely saves you time.
Developers are also expected to update their apps to support the new widget sizes and formats, so the selection will only grow richer as the ecosystem catches up with Apple's expanded framework. Keeping your apps updated after iOS 27 launches will ensure you have access to the latest widget offerings from your favorite third-party tools.
The Bottom Line on iOS 27's Widget Revolution
iOS 27 represents a meaningful evolution of the iPhone Home Screen experience. With more than 15 new widgets, a brand-new extra-large size category, and clear ties to the upcoming iPhone Ultra hardware, Apple is signaling that the Home Screen is still a place where major innovation is possible. Whether you upgrade to the iPhone Ultra or simply update your existing device, the expanded widget library in iOS 27 gives every iPhone user more ways to personalize, prioritize, and power through their day directly from the Home Screen.