Apple could finally make widgets interactive in iOS 16, allowing you to control music playback, toggle your flashlight, adjust display brightness, and lots more right from your Home screen.
The new widgets are codenamed “InfoShack” internally, according to a sketchy new rumor that promises more details are on the way.
iOS 16 could make widgets more useful
Home screen widgets have been a staple feature for Android since its inception, but Apple didn’t get around to bringing them to iPhone and iPad until iOS 14 in 2020. Even then, it did a rather half-hearted job of it.
While it’s great to see certain information on your Home screen alongside your app icons, iPhone and iPad widgets aren’t interactive. That means they can’t offer buttons that do useful things — you have to open up an app.
That could change in iOS 16, according to a rather questionable rumor from Twitter tipster @LeaksApplePro. “Be prepared for interactive widgets!” they said. “Apple is now working on these “big widgets” internally named InfoShack.”
The tweet was accompanied by a screenshot, above, which shows a number of widgets that appear to be interactive. There’s one for Music that has playback controls, a stopwatch, a flashlight toggle, and more.
But is it real?
@LeaksApplePro promises to provide more information soon, but they also warn that “there is a lot of work to do so there could be changes to this during the coming months.”
But is there any truth in this at all? While interactive widgets seem like a logical upgrade for iOS 16, it’s the screenshot above that has us questioning this rumor’s accuracy. A few things just don’t look right.
For instance, the Remote icon looks nothing like Apple’s actual Siri Remote — or the Remote icon in iOS 15. The flashlight and display brightness icons have also changed, and the font used to display weather conditions is thinner.
It’s possible Apple could be planning subtle design changes like this for iOS 16, so maybe that doesn’t mean much. But it seems unlikely it would change the Remote icon to something that doesn’t look like an Apple TV remote.
With that said, it’s probably best to take this rumor with a pinch of salt for now — at least until there’s a bit more evidence to back it up.
