11 Best iPhone Widgets for Boosting Productivity

Hey there! Feeling overwhelmed and unfocused lately? I totally get it – our phones can be major distractions. But with the right widgets, your iPhone can actually help you stay laser-focused and productive all day long.

As a productivity geek and iOS enthusiast, I‘ve tested just about every productivity widget out there. In this post, I‘ll share my 11 favorites for supercharging your focus, along with pro tips for making the most of them. Get ready to take your productivity to the next level!

Widgets 101: A Quick Intro

First things first – let‘s cover the basics of what iPhone widgets are and how they work.

Widgets are like mini apps that run directly on your homescreen. So instead of having to open an app to see info or use its tools, widgets display bite-sized glimpses and quick controls right up front.

For example, your calendar widget shows your next event while a news widget displays top headlines. With just a tap, you can open the full app for more details.

Widgets come in different sizes and layouts depending on the app. You can customize where they‘re located on your homescreen for quick access too.

Overall, widgets are designed to save you time and effort. Instead of constantly switching between apps, your most important info is visible right on your homescreen.

This makes them super helpful for staying organized and improving productivity. Now let‘s get into my top widget picks!

1. Notion – All-in-One Productivity Platform

Notion is my #1 productivity app, and its widgets are a must-have for any workflow. This incredibly flexible app lets you create databases, docs, wikis, lists – you name it.

I use Notion to organize everything from work projects to personal goals. Its widgets provide quick access to my most-needed pages right on my homescreen.

For example, I have a widget showing my daily to-do list. With one tap I can check tasks off without opening Notion. There‘s also my project dashboard widget and weekly planner widget.

Notion has 3 handy widget types:

• Open Notion: Quickly launch the app.

• Favorites: Display selected favorite pages.

• Recently Viewed: See your recently viewed Notion pages.

Pro Tip: Use Notion‘s linked databases to build a central productivity workspace. The widgets provide easy access to your most important pages.

I don‘t know how I‘d get anything done without Notion – its widgets keep me focused on the right tasks and projects every day. Definitely my #1 recommendation!

2. OmniFocus 3 – Task Management Maestro

For pure task management, nothing beats OmniFocus. This powerhouse app helps you tame projects, to-dos, and action items into an orderly workflow.

OmniFocus offers two killer widgets for iPhone productivity:

• Forecast Widget: Get a complete overview of your upcoming tasks and schedule for the next 7 days. This provides an awesome at-a-glance view of what‘s on deck each day.

• Perspective Widget: Quickly check action items from a chosen perspective like projects, flagged, or due soon. Helpful for pulling up context-specific tasks.

The widgets enable you to review tasks, check them off, and add new ones without opening the OmniFocus app. They‘re a slick way to keep your task list moving along.

Pro Tip: Use OmniFocus for dedicated task management and Notion for your productivity hub/dashboards. The two pair together perfectly!

If you need serious task-wrangling power, OmniFocus is a must. Its forecast widget keeps my daily to-do list top of mind for maximum productivity.

3. Streaks – Build Better Habits

Developing healthy habits requires motivation and consistency over time. That‘s where the fantastic app Streaks comes in.

Streaks helps you track progress on your habit goals with motivation tools and reminders. Its widget makes your current habit chains visible directly on your iPhone homescreen.

For example, I have a 7-day exercise streak tracked in the Streaks widget. With one tap I can quickly log a completed workout without opening the app.

Seeing those activity rings fill up keeps me motivated to maintain the streak. The visual reminders help build consistency.

Streaks is great for building all types of positive habits – like daily reading, journaling, or meditation. Don‘t break the chain!

Pro Tip: Use Streaks for core habit tracking. For one-off to-dos, OmniFocus is better. Streaks excels at motivation through streak building.

The Streaks widget helps me stick to key habits like fitness and reading every single day. Let it supercharge your habit game too!

4. Day One – Daily Journaling Motivation

Journaling has amazing benefits for mental health, focus, and mindfulness. The Day One app makes journaling simple by turning your entries into a private digital journal.

Day One offers several widgets to help motivate daily journaling:

• Daily Prompt: Get a new journal prompt every day for inspiration.

• On This Day: Look back on past entries from the same date. Great for perspective.

• Streak: Track consecutive days journaled to maintain a habit.

• Today: Quickly log mood, weather, music, etc.

The widgets provide little nudges to write consistently. I have the streak counter right on my home screen as a motivator.

Pro Tip: Use Day One‘s reminders to prompt evening journal sessions. Reflecting at the end of the day promotes mindfulness.

Journaling helps me clear my mind, reduce anxiety, and improve sleep. Day One‘s streak widget keeps me coming back daily.

5. Pocket – Read Smarter, Not Harder

Do you waste too much time scrolling through news and social media? Pocket helps you save content for reading later when you actually have time.

Pocket‘s widget recommends your saved reading list articles right on your iPhone homescreen. You can quickly preview to decide what‘s worth a full read.

This turns Pocket into a useful distraction blocker. Instead of going down rabbit holes, you can flag content for future reading.

Pro Tip: Install Pocket‘s browser extension to easily save articles mid-surf. The widget provides quick access later on.

Pocket‘s recommendations help me discover intriguing content I might have otherwise missed. Its widget helps me read smarter, boosting learning and focus.

6. Fantastical – Calendar on Steroids

Balancing a packed calendar is tough without the right tools. Fantastical provides next-level calendar abilities with colorful visuals, speedy entry, and widgets.

Fantastical‘s home screen widget gives you a complete overview of your day, week, or month. With one tap you can also quickly create events.

No more fumbling through calendar apps trying to view your schedule. Fantastical puts it front and center right on your iPhone.

Pro Tip: Use Fantastical‘s DayTicker configuration to see your full schedule at a glance. Tap to open details or add new events.

Fantastical‘s slick widgets help me effortlessly manage my (often hectic) calendar. My schedule is always a tap away to stay on top of appointments and meetings.

7. Paste – Clipboard Management Pro

Here‘s a common frustrating scenario – you copy or cut some important text or info but then can‘t find it again when needed. Enter Paste clipboard manager.

Paste saves everything you copy or cut for easy reuse later on. Its handy widget lets you quickly preview and access those clipboard snippets.

For example, say I copy a link or phone number for use later in the day. Paste‘s widget lets me retrieve it instantly instead of hunting around.

Pro Tip: Use Paste‘s iCloud sync so your clipboard is available on iPhone, iPad and Mac.

Paste eliminates productivity-killing searches for info I‘ve already copied. Its widget gives me clipboard superpowers!

8. Calm – Serenity Now

Let‘s be honest – it‘s hard to stay focused when feeling anxious or overwhelmed. That‘s why I highly recommend the Calm app and its handy widget.

Calm provides guided meditations, sleep stories, calming music, and more. It‘s my go-to for quick relaxation and reflection throughout the day.

The Calm widget suggests short audio exercises tailored to your current state. Start your morning grounded with a one-minute mindfulness session. Or ease anxiety before a meeting with a breathing exercise.

Pro Tip: Enable Calm‘s Daily Reminder feature to receive a widget notification for your scheduled mindfulness session.

We all need breaks throughout the workday for mental recharging. Calm‘s widget provides easy access to relaxing sessions that refocus my mind.

9. Headspace – Meditation Guru

Headspace is another super popular meditation app with stellar widgets. It offers themed mindfulness exercises and courses on focus, sleep, anxiety, etc.

The Headspace widget recommends custom exercises based on your needs that day – like a mid-day focus recharge or winding down before bed.

Tap the widget to start a session right from your homescreen. Headspace makes meditation effortlessly accessible when you need a mental reset.

Pro Tip: Follow Headspace‘s intro courses to learn meditation techniques. Then use the widget for daily practice.

Even just a few minutes of Headspace‘s mini meditations make a big productivity difference. I love having guided sessions handy through its widget.

10. Siri Shortcuts – Your Automation BFF

Siri Shortcuts lets you create custom voice commands to control apps, run workflows, and automate tasks. Its widget is key for putting those shortcuts front and center.

Just tap the widget and say your phrase to have Siri complete the linked task.

For productivity, you could make commands like:

• "Start focus time" – turns on Do Not Disturb and launches focus playlist

• "Add milk to my groceries" – adds milk to your grocery list

• "Any new emails?" – checks inbox and reads aloud new messages

Pro Tip: Check out the Shortcuts community for downloads of helpful workflows. The widget makes them easily accessible.

Let Siri handle boring busywork so you can stay focused on important tasks. The widget makes your custom shortcuts available with just a tap.

11. Sticky Widgets – Digital Sticky Notes

Sticky Widgets recreates that favorite old-school productivity tool – the Post-It note. With this app, you can stick customizable digital notes right on your iPhone homescreen.

Jot down reminders, to-dos, grocery lists, events, etc and they‘ll be visible at a glance whenever you unlock your phone.

Sticky Widgets combines the flexibility of paper notes with the convenience of digital. The widgets help keep your most important tasks and reminders in plain sight.

Pro Tip: Color code your Sticky Widgets categories like blue for work tasks, yellow for personal to-dos, etc.

I love putting sticky note widgets on my home screen for jotting quick reminders to myself. Give them a try for keeping things top of mind!

Maximize Your Productivity With Widgets

Phew, we covered a lot of ground! As you can see, widgets open up all sorts of productivity possibilities on iPhone.

The key is choosing ones that fit your personal workflow needs. Start with 2-3 widgets in problem areas – like motivation, task management, or habit building.

It may take some experimentation to find your perfect widget toolkit. But once you do, you‘ll be shocked how much they help you crush goals and focus each day.

Let me know if you have any other questions! I‘m always happy to provide more widget tips and tricks. Go out there and supercharge your productivity!