Posted by Tyler Beneke – Product Manager, and Lucas Silva – Software Engineer
Widgets are now available on your Pixel Tablet lock screens! Lock screen widgets empower users to create a personalized, always-on experience. Whether you want to easily manage smart home devices like lights and thermostats, or build dashboards for quick access and control of vital information, this blog post will answer your key questions about lock screen widgets on Android. Read on to discover when, where, how, and why they’ll be on a lock screen near you.
Q: When will lock screen widgets be available?
A: Lock screen widgets will be available in AOSP for tablets and mobile starting with the release after Android 16 (QPR1). This update is scheduled to be pushed to AOSP in late Summer 2025. Lock screen widgets are already available on Pixel Tablets.
Q: Are there any specific requirements for widgets to be allowed on the lock screen?
A: No, widgets allowed on the lock screen have the same requirements as any other widgets. Widgets on the lock screen should follow the same quality guidelines as home screen widgets including quality, sizing, and configuration. If a widget launches an activity from the lock screen, users must authenticate to launch the activity, or the activity should declare android:showWhenLocked=”true” in its manifest entry.
Q: How can I test my widget on the lock screen?
A: Currently, lock screen widgets can be tested on Pixel Tablet devices. You can enable lock screen widgets and add your widget.
Q: Which widgets can be displayed in this experience?
A: All widgets are compatible with the lock screen widget experience. To prioritize user choice and customization, we’ve made all widgets available. For the best experience, please make sure your widget supports dynamic color and dynamic resizing. Lock screen widgets are sized to approximately 4 cells wide by 3 cells tall on the launcher, but exact dimensions vary by device.
Q: Can my widget opt-out of the experience?
A:Important: Apps can choose to restrict the use of their widgets on the lock screen using an opt-out API. To opt-out, use the widget category “not_keyguard” in your appwidget info xml file. Place this file in an xml-36 resource folder to ensure backwards compatibility.
Q: Are there any CDD requirements specifically for lock screen widgets?
A: No, there are no specific CDD requirements solely for lock screen widgets. However, it’s crucial to ensure that any widgets and screensavers that integrate with the framework adhere to the standard CDD requirements for those features.
Q: Will lock screen widgets be enabled on existing devices?
A: Yes, lock screen widgets were launched on the Pixel Tablet in 2024 Other device manufacturers may update their devices as well once the feature is available in AOSP.
Q: Does the device need to be docked to use lock screen widgets?
A: The mechanism that triggers the lock screen widget experience is customizable by the OEM. For example, OEMs can choose to use charging or docking status as triggers. Third-party OEMs will need to implement their own posture detection if desired.
Q: Can OEMs set their own default widgets?
A: Yes! Hardware providers can pre-set and automatically display default widgets.
Q: Can OEMs customize the user interface for lock screen widgets?
A: Customization of the lock screen widget user interface by OEMs is not supported in the initial release. All lock screen widgets will have the same developer experience on all devices.
Lock screen widgets are poised to give your users new ways to interact with your app on their devices. Today you can leverage your existing widget designs and experiences on the lock screen with Pixel Tablets. To learn more about building widgets, please check out our resources on developer.android.com
This blog post is part of our series: Spotlight Week on Widgets, where we provide resources—blog posts, videos, sample code, and more—all designed to help you design and create widgets. You can read more in the overview of Spotlight Week: Widgets, which will be updated throughout the week.
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