Google has now rolled out all of the promised Lock Screen widgets for its iPhone apps, including the Google app, Gmail, Google Maps, Chrome, Google News, and Google Drive.
The rollout was completed today with two Lock Screen widgets for Maps, following five widgets for the Google app that were released on Wednesday. In version 233.0 of the Google app, the widgets include the following descriptions, with two widget sizes for Search:
Search: Access Google Search from your Lock Screen
Voice Search: Ask a question, hum a song or search for content with your voice
Lens: Search with your camera or any image
Lens shortcuts: Easily access your favorite Lens feature. Translate, shop, or solve homework with your camera.
Version 6.40 of Google Maps adds widgets for Search and Frequent Trips, with the latter displaying the location, estimated time of arrival, and traffic conditions:
Frequent Trips: Get directions and an estimated time of arrival for your frequent trips.
Search: Search in Google Maps for restaurants, petrol stations, and more.
Equivalent widgets can be found in Google News, Gmail, Drive, and Chrome. Once the apps are updated on your device, launch the new versions first before trying to add the widgets, otherwise they won't appear in the Lock Screen editor.
Google today updated its Chrome browser with support for vertical tabs, which are displayed in a sidebar instead of at the top of the browser.
The tab layout can be changed by right clicking on any Chrome window and choosing the "Show Tabs Vertically" option. Sidebar tabs feature full page titles and make it simple to organize tab groups.
Google has also added a new full-page interface...
Tuesday April 14, 2026 10:00 am PDT by Juli Clover
Chrome has been updated today with a Skills library that's designed to let Chrome users turn AI tasks into repeatable skills that can be used on any website.
Useful prompts you create for Gemini in Chrome can be saved as a Skill that can be accessed later with a single click. If you're shopping for skincare and ask Gemini about the ingredients in a product, for example, you can save the...
Wednesday April 15, 2026 10:46 am PDT by Juli Clover
Google is bringing Gemini to the Mac with a new native macOS app that's available starting today. Gemini for Mac can be activated with a keyboard shortcut, and it has built-in tools for generating images, analyzing what's on your screen, reviewing files, and more.
Gemini is the last of the three major AI services to have a dedicated Mac app, because OpenAI and Anthropic have had Mac apps for ...
I wish apple allocated more space to widgets . Since they hide notifications by default anyway,why not allow the widgets to get further to the bottom ?
I wish apple allocated more space to widgets . Since they hide notifications by default anyway,why not allow the widgets to get further to the bottom ?
Yeah, it would be nice to be able to use more widgets. If Apple wants to keep it to one row to make it the "clean" look, maybe at least let have pages for widgets (like the Home Screen) or stacks (like widgets on the home/today screen) that we can swipe through. Swiping would be done just in the widget area so we don't affect access to the camera or today screens.
Looks cool but I realized quickly that I do not spent much time on the Lockscreen and therefore I have deactivated all my widgets again. I guess it makes more sense on an iPhone 14 Pro with an Always On screen or if you do not have an Apple Watch.
If I did use them, I hope Apple will allow more customisations on iOS 17. Maybe a carusel to easily flip between MORE widgets? I also find the limited arrangement of the widgets somewhat ugly, especially when you only have one widget enabled. I wish it could be placed in the center.
I wish apple allocated more space to widgets . Since they hide notifications by default anyway,why not allow the widgets to get further to the bottom ?
Agreed. Since we have the option for stackable notifications at the bottom; Wish you could either toggle on more rows, or change grid size to allow larger widgets.