Apple Supposedly Considering Interactive Widgets for iOS 17

Earlier today, an anonymous source who shared accurate information in the past revealed potential new features coming to the iPhone with iOS 17, including improvements to Search, the Dynamic Island, Control Center, and more. In addition, the source indicated that Apple is internally testing interactive widgets for the Home Screen and Today View, but they are unclear if this feature will make the final cut.

iOS 17 Widgets
"Active widgets are in testing, but not confirmed by any means," the source said in a tweet. If made available to the public, the source said the interactive widgets would include one-tap buttons, sliders, and other dynamic content. The source shared additional alleged details about iOS 17 in a MacRumors Forums post.

Introduced with iOS 14, Home Screen widgets currently offer very limited functionality, as noted in Apple's developer documentation. "Widgets present read-only information and don’t support interactive elements such as scrolling elements or switches," says Apple. These limitations could be related to battery life considerations.

Last year, the same source leaked accurate details about the Dynamic Island on the iPhone 14 Pro before the device was announced. However, given the source has yet to establish a long-term track record with Apple rumors, it remains to be seen if all of the latest details they have shared prove to be accurate this time around.

Apple is expected to announce iOS 17 during the WWDC 2023 keynote on June 5, and as usual, the first beta version should be made available to developers for testing later that day. The first public beta will likely be released in July.

Related Forums: iOS 17, iPadOS 17

Popular Stories

iOS 26

iOS 26.4 and iOS 27 Features Revealed in New Leak

Friday December 12, 2025 10:56 am PST by
Macworld's Filipe Espósito today revealed a handful of features that Apple is allegedly planning for iOS 26.4, iOS 27, and even iOS 28. The report said the features are referenced within the code for a leaked internal build of iOS 26 that is not meant to be seen by the public. However, it appears that Espósito and/or his sources managed to gain access to it, providing us with a sneak peek...
Apple Logo Top Half

Early iOS 26 Software Leak Uncovers Dozens of Upcoming Apple Features

Monday December 15, 2025 3:05 pm PST by
Software from an iPhone prototype running an early build of iOS 26 leaked last week, giving us a glimpse at future Apple devices and iOS features. We recapped device codenames in our prior article, and now we have a list of some of the most notable feature flags that were found in the software code. In some cases, it's obvious what the feature flags are referring to, while some are more...
apple beta 26 lineup

Apple Leak Confirms Work on Foldable iPhone, AirTag 2, and Dozens More Devices

Monday December 15, 2025 2:05 pm PST by
Last week, details about unreleased Apple devices and future iOS features were shared by Macworld. This week, we learned where the information came from, plus we have more findings from the leak. As it turns out, an Apple prototype device running an early build of iOS 26 was sold, and the person who bought it shared the software. The OS has a version number of 23A5234w, and the first...
Apple Foldable Thumb

Leak Reveals Foldable iPhone Details

Monday December 15, 2025 9:09 am PST by
The first foldable iPhone will feature a series of design and hardware firsts for Apple, according to details shared by the Weibo leaker known as Digital Chat Station. According to a new post, via machine translation, Apple is developing what the leaker describes as a "wide foldable" device, a term used to refer to a horizontally oriented, book-style foldable with a large internal display....
iOS 26

iOS 26.3 Beta 1 Features: What's New So Far

Monday December 15, 2025 4:23 pm PST by
Apple is testing iOS 26.3, the next version of iOS 26 that will launch around January. Since iOS 26.3's testing is happening over the holidays, it is a smaller update with fewer features than we've seen in prior betas. We've rounded up what's new so far, and we'll add to our list with subsequent betas if we come across any other features. Transfer to Android Apple is making it simpler...
iOS 26

Apple Releases iOS 26.2 With Alarms for Reminders, Lock Screen Changes, Enhanced Safety Alerts and More

Friday December 12, 2025 10:10 am PST by
Apple today released iOS 26.2, the second major update to the iOS 26 operating system that came out in September, iOS 26.2 comes a little over a month after iOS 26.1 launched. ‌iOS 26‌.2 is compatible with the ‌iPhone‌ 11 series and later, as well as the second-generation ‌iPhone‌ SE. The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones over-the-air by going to Settings >...
iOS 26

iOS 26.2 Coming Soon With These 8 New Features on Your iPhone

Thursday December 11, 2025 8:49 am PST by
Apple seeded the second iOS 26.2 Release Candidate to developers earlier this week, meaning the update will be released to the general public very soon. Apple confirmed iOS 26.2 would be released in December, but it did not provide a specific date. We expect the update to be released by early next week. iOS 26.2 includes a handful of new features and changes on the iPhone, such as a new...
airpods max 2024 colors

AirPods Max 2 Likely to Offer These 10 New Features

Monday December 15, 2025 7:41 am PST by
Apple released the AirPods Max on December 15, 2020, meaning the over-ear headphones launched five years ago today. While the AirPods Max were updated with a USB-C port and new color options last year, followed by support for lossless audio and ultra-low latency audio this year, the headphones lack some of the features that have been introduced for newer generations of the regular AirPods and the ...

Top Rated Comments

tgwaste Avatar
35 months ago
Man I wish they would just finally let us adjust the grid size.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
RaceLover Avatar
35 months ago
Wish they'd let us arrange icons wherever !
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
eicca Avatar
35 months ago
It would only be about eight years too late...
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CarAnalogy Avatar
35 months ago

Man I wish they would just finally let us adjust the grid size.
And just let me leave an icon where I put it instead of forcing me to play a sudoku puzzle to arrange my icons how I want them.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
redbeard331 Avatar
35 months ago
It’s about time, remember, the widgets used to be interactive, so this would just be returning functionality that we lost once you could put them on the Homescreen.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
t0rqx Avatar
35 months ago
Probably need the new 3nm A17 chipset for the interactive widgets to work on your iPhone.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)