- To add widgets to your iPad's home screen, you just need to tap and hold your finger on a blank part of the home screen, then tap the plus sign icon.
- Once you've added a widget to your iPad's home screen, you can rearrange, customize, or remove it at any time.
- There are a variety of widgets available for your iPad with the new iPadOS 14 update, including breaking news headlines, your daily calendar, and more.
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For several years, the iPad has had a screen called "Today View," which lets you view and use all sorts of widgets. But starting with iPadOS 14, you can now move those widgets to your home screen.
When your iPad is in landscape mode, Today View now lives on the left side of your home screen's first page. If the iPad is in portrait mode, you can see the Today View and its widgets by swiping to the right.
Through the Today View, iPadOS 14 now lets you add widgets to your home screen. Here's how.
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How to add widgets to your iPad's home screen
Before anything, hold your iPhone in landscape mode.
1. Make sure you're on the home screen – swipe until you're on the first, right-most screen.
2. Tap and hold any blank spot on the home screen until the app icons and folders start to jiggle.
3. Tap the plus sign at the top-left of the screen, above the Today View. You should see the list of widgets pop up to the right of the Today View.
4. To pin a widget to the top of the Today View, drag it from the widget pop-up to the gray square at the top of the Today View. To add more, tap the plus sign again to re-open the widgets pop-up and repeat.
5. To add a widget to the bottom of the Today View, tap the widget you want and then tap "Add Widget." Note that you have a choice of what size you want the widget to be when you do it this way. It's not permanently stuck at the bottom — see the next section to find out how to rearrange widgets.
6. When you're finished adding widgets, tap "Done" in the upper-right corner of the screen.
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How to remove or rearrange widgets on the iPad's home screen
Once you've added some widgets, they're easy to rearrange — and even delete, if you want to get rid of them.
1. Tap and hold any blank spot on the home page until the app icons and folders start to jiggle.
2. To move a widget around in the Today View, just hold your finger on it, and then drag it to the position where you want it. Sometimes widgets can be a little finicky, so drag carefully, and know that you might need to try again if it doesn't go where you expect.
3. To delete a widget from the Today View, tap the minus sign at the top left of the widget and then tap "Remove." It'll still be in the widgets pop-up, so you can always add it back again later.
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How to customize a widget
Some widgets can be modified after you add them to the Today View. To do that, tap and hold a widget until the pop-up menu appears. Depending upon the widget, you will see various options.
Generally, the only options will be to "Edit Home Screen" (which simply lets you move them around) or "Remove Widget," which deletes it.
But some widgets, like Weather, have an "Edit Widget" menu option. In the case of Weather, for example, you can specify what cities you want to see the weather in.
There's also a special kind of widget called a Smart Stack. A Smart Stack is just a collection of different widgets that share the same space, and you can flip through them with a swipe. You'll see a menu option called "Edit Stack" for Smart Stacks. If you choose this, you can rearrange and remove widgets from the stack.
For more details, read our article, "How to add a smart stack to your iPhone's home screen with iOS 14, and get a revolving window of useful apps."
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Freelance Writer
Dave Johnson is a technology journalist who writes about consumer tech and how the industry is transforming the speculative world of science fiction into modern-day real life. Dave grew up in New Jersey before entering the Air Force to operate satellites, teach space operations, and do space launch planning. He then spent eight years as a content lead on the Windows team at Microsoft. As a photographer, Dave has photographed wolves in their natural environment; he's also a scuba instructor and co-host of several podcasts. Dave is the author of more than two dozen books and has contributed to many sites and publications including CNET, Forbes, PC World, How To Geek, and Insider.
