Add widgets to your home screen

Step 1. In Settings › Widgets, tap Widget setup guide

Tap Settings at the right end of the tab bar at the bottom, then tap Widgets in the list. The My widget card is at the top.

Tap Widget setup guide further down the same screen to preview the available widgets and see how to add them to your home screen. Tap View detailed steps to see what each widget shows.

You can also open the same sheet by tapping ‘See how to add widgets’ on the ‘Getting started’ card on the calendar's main screen, or See how to add widgets in the prompt that appears after you save your first anniversary.

Step 2. Touch and hold an empty spot on the home screen, then pick a DayRipple widget

The widget sheet says ‘Touch and hold the Home Screen → + → search DayRipple’. Touch and hold an empty spot on the home screen, tap the plus (+) that appears, and find DayRipple in the widget list. Pick the widget and size you want and add it to your home screen. Menu names and layouts vary a little by phone model and system version.

Standard widgets are view-only. Tapping a widget opens the app, and tapping the circle at the end of a to-do doesn't check it off. You can check off to-dos only in My widget.

The Show planner items in standard widgets switch in Settings › Widgets is on by default. While it's on, your planner items also show in the widgets for today's events, upcoming events and the monthly calendar. These are the widgets.

Step 4. Add My widget to the home screen to show the last widget you made in that size

On iPhone, touch and hold an empty spot on the home screen, tap +, and pick My widget in the widget list. There's one for each size, and when you add it, the last widget you made in that size appears. To switch to a different widget, touch and hold the widget on the home screen, then choose ‘Edit Widget’.

On Android, tap the Add to home screen button to the right of a widget in the My widget list, and that widget is added to the home screen right away. If a system confirmation appears, tap ‘Add’. This button appears only when your phone's home screen app (launcher) supports it. To change a widget you've already added, touch and hold it on the home screen, then tap ‘Settings’ or the pencil icon.

Anyone can make widgets, but showing one on the home screen requires the lifetime pass. Without it, the widget shows a lock card. Tap the card to open the app and the lifetime pass payment screen.

Step 5. Check off to-dos in My widget

In the Today, Upcoming and Planner blocks, tap the check circle at the end of a to-do, and it's struck through in the widget right away. Tap it again to uncheck it.

What you check off in a widget shows in that widget right away. It appears in the app and on your other devices the next time you open the app, so to see it on another device, open the app once on that device.

To-dos in the This week and This month blocks show only as chips and can't be checked off in the widget.

Step 6. Touch and hold the lock screen and pick the ‘Lock Screen’ widget

On an iPhone with iOS 17 or later, you can put the ‘Lock Screen’ widget on the lock screen to see one of these: D-day, today's to-dos or your next event. It comes in two shapes, circular and rectangular, and you can use it for free without the lifetime pass.

Touch and hold the lock screen, pick a widget spot in ‘Customize’, then find ‘Lock Screen’. You set ‘Show’ when you add the widget. To change it later, touch and hold the widget.

The circular shape sums up the D-day count, the number completed or the start time as a number or a ring, and the rectangular shape shows a title and details in a few lines. Tapping the widget opens the app, and you can't check things off in the lock screen widget. The featured D-day lock screen widget (inline or rectangular) is still there too, and it's separate from the ‘Day counter updates’ card that appears on the lock screen as your featured anniversary gets close.

Step 7. Tap Refresh if widgets aren't updating to reload it

If a widget looks outdated or empty, tap Refresh if widgets aren't updating in Settings › Widgets. When ‘Widget data refreshed.’ appears, the widget has been updated.

Refresh widgets in the ⋯ menu at the top right of the calendar screen does the same thing. If a widget says ‘Open the app to refresh this widget’, open the app once.