When you are outside traveling in the crowded public train or bus, it becomes a struggle to take the smartphone out from your bag or pocket, swipe it to unlock the screen and check for new email messages, map location or missed calls etc. This is why the widgets that can be added to the lockscreen are very useful. If you add a widget belonging to an app on the lockscreen itself, then you do not have to unlock the screen and launch the app – all you have to do is take the phone out from pocket, press the power button and check the app widgets right there on the screen. For example, you can add the messaging app widget on the lock screen and it will show you all the text messages right on the lockscreen, adding to the convenience of using your smartphone in crowded public places.
In order to add a widget on the lockscreen of your Android smartphone, first you have to enable the adding of the widgets on the lockscreen. Only then you can proceed to adding the widgets. You can follow these simple steps to do this:
- Open the system settings in Android . On the settings screen, touch the Security option.
- In the Security settings screen, touch the Enable Widgets option and turn it on. This will enable adding of the widgets on the lockscreen.
- Lock your Android device by pressing the power button on the side. When the screen becomes dark, press the power button again. You would see the locked screen.
- Do not unlock the phone, but swipe the screen from the left to the right. It will display a large plus sign. Touch this plus sign and select one of widgets belonging to the various apps installed on your phone. If you do not see any interesting widgets in the list, then perhaps you have to install some cool widgets from the Google Play Store.
- As soon as you select the widget, it will be added to the lockscreen. You can treat it like just any other widgets in Android, for example, you can long touch the widget and move it to a different place on the lockscreen and more.
Adding widgets on the lockscreen adds to the convenience of using your smartphone in public places where you do not have enough time to properly use the phone. But at the same time, it can also expose your personal information through the widgets – for example, if you add email widget on the lockscreen then anybody can check your email messages (not complete email messages, but only the subject) without having to unlock the phone. So before you add a widget to the Android lockscreen, make sure that widget is not going to expose some sensitive information inadvertently.