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What is an iPad Widget?

                                And How Do I Install One?
                                              st
                                By Bill Crowe, 1  Vice President, Sarasota Technology User’s Group, FL
                                March 2017 issue, Sarasota Monitor
                                www.thestug.org
          Widgets are small apps that run on a device’s in-     a popular alternative to traditional typing (or tap-
          terface, such as a clock or a widget that tells you the  ping, as we do on our tablets). An Android key-
          current weather. While widgets have been popular      board alternative, Swype lets you draw words in-
          on Android and Windows RT tablets for a while now,  stead of tap them out, which ultimately leads to
          they haven’t made their way to the iPad... until now.   faster and more accurate typing. (It’s also amazing
          The iOS 8 update brought “Extensibility” to the iPad.  how quickly you can get used to the idea). For in-
          Extensibility is a cool feature that allows a snippet of   formation on installing third-party keyboards, we’ll
          an app to run within another app. This allows widg-   have to wait until third-party keyboards arrive in the
          ets to run on the iPad via the Notification Center.   App Store. Several have already been confirmed,
          You’ll be able to customize the notification center to   including Swype.
          show widgets and choose which widgets to show in
          the notification center. You can also choose to ac-   What Other Ways Can I Use a Widget?
          cess the notification center while the iPad is locked,
          so you can see your widget without typing in your     Because extensibility is the ability for an app to run
          passcode.                                             within another app, widgets can expand almost any
                                                                app. For example, you can use the Pinterest app
          How do I Install a Widget on My iPad?                 as a widget by installing it into Safari as an addi-
                                                                tional way to share web pages. You can also use
          Widgets can be installed into the Notification Center   photo editing apps like Litely inside of the iPad’s
          by opening notifications by sliding your finger down,   Photos app, which gives you a single place to edit
          careful to start at the very top of the screen, and   a photo and use features from other photo-editing
          then tapping the ‘Edit’ button located at the end of   apps.
          your active notifications. The edit screen is split into
          those widgets that will display in the Notification   How to Reorder Widgets on the iPad Notifica-
          Center and those that are installed on the device but  tion Center
          not currently showing with the other notifications. To
          install a widget, simply tap the green button with the   Now that you have added a few widgets to the
          plus sign next to it. To remove a widget, tap the red   iPad’s Notification Center, it might occur to you that
          button with the minus sign and then tap the remove    widgets further down the page would be more use-
          button that appears to the right of the widget. Yes,   ful towards the top. For example, the Yahoo
          it’s that simple. Once the widget is installed, it will be  Weather widget makes a great replacement for the
          displayed when you open the Notification Center.      default weather widget, but it won’t do you as much
                                                                good if it is at the bottom of the list. You can easily
          Will There Be a Separate ‘Widget’ Store?              reorder widgets in the Notification Center by drag-
                                                                ging a widget and dropping it in the order you want
          The way Apple has implemented widgets is by al-       it to appear.
          lowing an app to display a custom interface within
          another app. This means a widget is just an app that         •  First, you need to be in edit mode. You
          allows part of itself to be shown in another app,                can enter edit mode by scrolling down
          which in this case is the notification center. Sound             to the bottom of the Notification Center
          confusing? It’s not. If you want to see sports scores            and tapping the edit button.
          in your notification center, you can simply download         •  Next, tap the three horizontal lines next
          a sports app like ScoreCenter from the app store.                to the widget, and without removing
          The app will need to support becoming a widget in                your finger from the screen, drag it up
          the notification center, but you don’t need to install a         or down the list.
          special version of the app. Once installed, you can
          configure which apps to show in the notification cen-  This makes a great way of customizing the Notifi-
          ter through the iPad’s notification settings.         cation Center and quickly getting at the information
                                                                or widgets you want to see most. Unfortunately,
          Can I Use a Widget to Replace the On-Screen           Apple doesn’t allow a widget to go above the To-
          Keyboard?                                             day Summary and Traffic Conditions or below the
                                                                Tomorrow Summary.
          Another exciting benefit of Extensibility is the ability
          to use third-party keyboards. Swype has long been     Source and Compliments lifewire.com


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