Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority
long story short
- We can now report that lock screen widgets are returning, but only for tablets running Android 15.
- Earlier this year, we broke the news that Google was working on bringing back Android’s long-lost lock screen widget functionality.
- At the time, it was unclear whether the feature would be available on all devices or just tablets.
One of the best ways to customize your Android phone or tablet is to add widgets to your home screen. Android widgets have been around for a long time, but in most operating systems you could only place them on your home screen. Android once allowed you to add widgets to the lock screen, but it’s been almost a decade since the operating system allowed you to do so. However, the upcoming Android 15 update will let you add widgets to the lock screen, but there’s a major catch.
Earlier this year, I revealed that Google was working on bringing back lock screen widget support in Android 15. I base this assertion on the existence of a new “public space” – an area that can be accessed by swiping in from the right side of the screen. lock screen. This common space allows me to add widgets from selected apps that still use the old API made for Android’s old lock screen widget functionality. That, coupled with the fact that public spaces can be accessed from the lock screen, leads me to believe that this work is indeed related to the restored lock screen widget functionality.
However, I warned at the end of my last post that Google might limit lock screen widgets to tablet devices like the Pixel tablet. That’s because there’s code tying the new lock screen widget support to Android’s hub mode, which is a set of settings specific to dockable tablets. With the release of Android 15 beta 1 earlier today, I can now confirm that Android 15’s lock screen widget feature is tablet-specific.
While digging into the first Android 15 beta, I discovered strings related to the new switch that will appear in Settings > Hub Mode On devices like Pixel tablets. A switch will allow users to “show widgets on the lock screen” even “without unlocking the tablet.” Meanwhile, another toggle button gives users the option to “Allow any widget on the lock screen.”The latter is interesting because the previously mentioned public spaces only support adding old widgets KEYGUARD Category is enabled. After some modifications, I was able to display these new toggles in Android’s hub mode settings as shown below.
Behind the scenes, this feature is called Browsable Center, which makes sense since you’re not actually placing the widget directly on the lock screen. Instead, you swipe to open a new page where you can add widgets. Unfortunately, I can’t properly demonstrate the new lock screen widget functionality because I can’t get it to work completely. However, I was able to manually launch a page where I could add lock screen widgets, which gave me an idea of how the “Allow any widget on lock screen” toggle affects widget availability.
When “Allow any widget on lock screen” is disabled, I can add the following widgets:
- Battery
- calendar
- bell
- drive
- Fitbit
- Google News
- photo
- Pixel Weather
When “Allow any widget on lock screen” is enabled, I can add these widgets in addition to the previous widgets:
- Chrome alloy
- Contact information
- digital health
- Google TV
- Google reserves
- translate
- YouTube Music
While it’s a shame that lock screen widgets in Android 15 may be limited to tablets, there is a silver lining. I’ve previously reported that Google might use the overview view on the lock screen to display widgets on smartphones. While I don’t have any new details about this work, I’m hoping it will show up in the upcoming Android 15 beta soon.