While most Android phones only allow home screen widgets, you can get them on the lock screen on Samsung Galaxy phones. Here’s how to set them up.
How to Enable Lock Screen Widgets on Your Samsung Phone
Samsung devices running One UI 3.0 or above have the option for lock screen widgets in the settings. Though it doesn’t allow you to use all the home screen widgets on the lock screen, it does have some useful ones for music, alarms, the weather, the Digital Wellbeing app, and today’s schedule. Here’s how to use them on your lock screen:
Open the Settings app on your phone, scroll down, and tap on the Lock screen option. In the Lock screen menu, tap on Widgets. On the Widgets page, toggle on the widgets you want on your lock screen or the always-on display (AOD). If you’re planning to use more than one widget, you can also re-arrange their position by tapping Reorder and moving them up or down, according to your need. On the lock screen, access the widgets by tapping on the clock after you’ve enabled them from the Widgets menu.
How to Access More Lock Screen Widgets (and Get Them on Any Android Phone)
Samsung phones have lots of good widgets, but you can only use a select few on the lock screen. If you want more widgets—or if you want to use them on a non-Samsung phone—you can use a third-party app called Lockscreen Widgets.
The app allows you to use all your home screen widgets on your lock screen. Along with that, you can also add custom widgets from apps like KWGT. The Lockscreen Widgets app is compatible with any phone or tablet running Android 5.1 or above and comes for $1.49 on the Google Play Store.
Step 1: Grant the Permissions
To use the app, you must provide it with the necessary permissions. After opening the app, three left swipes will land you on the accessibility page. Now, tap on MORE INFO, and you can see a dialogue box displaying information on why the app needs that permission.
Tap on Grant to open the Accessibility menu in your phone’s settings. Select Lockscreen Widgets in the list to grant the permission. While allowing it, your phone will show you what data the app will access with this permission, so only give it if you’re okay with that.
Now repeat the process for the Notification and Storage permissions, then you’re ready to start using the app.
Step 2: Add Your Widgets
Once you’ve given all the permissions, the app will take you to its home screen, where you can add widgets.
Toggle on the Enabled switch, then tap Add Widget and choose the one you want on the lock screen. Repeat the process if you need to add more than one. Tap the Preview button to see how it will look on the lock screen. On the lock screen, tap and hold the widget with two fingers to enter or exit the customization mode, and swipe to switch between them. In the customization mode, tap and hold the Navigation icon to drag and place the widget anywhere on the lock screen. The option to align widgets horizontally or vertically is present on the left and right of the navigation icon. Furthermore, you can adjust its size by dragging the sliders on the widget’s frame. While in customization mode, you can hide widgets by tapping on the Visibility icon at the top left and add more widgets by tapping on the Plus icon at the top right. If you want to remove a lock screen widget, long press it with a single finger. It’ll show the remove icon in the top right corner.
Step 3: Adjust the Settings
In the app, if you go to the lock screen widget’s Settings, you can tweak the following options:
Appearance: You can change the background color, enable or disable background blur and its level, adjust the corner radius of the widget as well as the widget’s frame, and lastly, use Masked Mode, which attempts to draw your wallpaper as the widget’s background Layout: In this section, you can adjust the number of rows and columns per page and lock the widget frame. But remember, if you do that, you won’t be able to move or modify their size. Visibility: This section has settings to hide widgets on specific operations, like when a notification pops up on the lock screen, when you pull down the notification shade, when you’re entering the PIN/pattern/password, or when the device is in landscape mode. Behavior: You can enable or disable the widget’s animation, adjust the animation’s duration, change the page indicator behavior, etc. , in this section. Interaction: Here, you can enable touch protection which will ignore the taps on the widget when your phone’s proximity sensor is covered. This section also has an option to prompt unlocking the device and clearing notification if a widget is launching any app.
Along with all these lock screen widgets and customization, the app also has an option for a widget drawer. You can enable it by toggling on the Enabled option under the Widget Drawer menu and then add widgets as you did for the lock screen.
After enabling the widget drawer, you’ll see a slider on the top right of your screen. Swiping that slider will display all the widgets in the drawer. Like the lock screen widgets, the drawer has many customization options in its Settings menu to help you configure it properly.
Set Up and Use Lock Screen Widgets
The Lockscreen Widgets app isn’t free, but once you use it, you’ll know it’s worth the money. It offers a lot more features than you get with the built-in option on Samsung phones. With the app, you can start using all your home screen widgets on the lock screen.
And if you’re more into lock screen customization, our guide on using videos as wallpaper on the lock screen might interest you.
