Lock screen widgets soon to make a comeback for Android smartphones; here’s what you need to know

Widgets on your home screen were amongst some of the first yet most effective ways of personalising your Android smartphones, enabling you to quickly glance through any information you may need daily or generally making navigating around your phone easier. Now, up until Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, you could add and access widgets on your phone’s lock screen as well. Following Android 5.0 Lollipop, however, the feature was killed off and users had to resort to unlocking their devices to access widgets. Until now perhaps. Read on to find out more.

There were no indications that Google would ever bring lock screen widgets back to their devices until Apple introduced lock screen widgets for iPhones with iOS 16. Google, with Android 14, introduced customisable lock screen shortcuts and clock styles. It is expected then, that they may make it even more so, with Android 15. This could be done in two ways, according to an Android Authority report – either through the “At a Glance” or the new “communal space” feature. Android expert and developer Mishaal Rahman found code references in Android 14 QPR2 Beta 3 that relate to widget support on the lock screen. He also managed to access the communal space feature.

All you need to know about the communal space feature

The new communal space feature might not be accessible on the lock screen all the time, he says. Instead, a user may have to swipe from right to left to access the same. Here, one may be able to add and arrange multiple widgets, according to their preferences. This feature is largely similar to the ‘Today View’ feature on iPhone lock and home screens, which can be accessed by swiping left to right.

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In addition to this, while Google Calendar, Google Clock, and the Google Search app, all had widgets that could be added to the space, support for other apps was not provided natively. This is because the “Keyguard” widget category needs to be present for an app to show up as a widget, and most apps today don’t use it since lock screen widgets never were available after Android 5.0.

At a Glance: What it is and what it could do

Communal space seems to be a feature restricted to larger devices for now, as screenshots of the same were also shared in the aspect ratio as that of a Pixel tablet. In this scenario, Google may leverage At a Glance to bring widgets back to the lock screen for Android phones.

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For the unaware, the feature is currently available exclusively on Pixel devices and gives users quick access to important information such as the weather, air quality, or alerts for natural disasters, etc. in their area. It is based on Smartspace, an API that creates the various cards that you swipe through.

However, there is no official confirmation on whether third-party apps will also get support for the API, and whether Google will do the same to bring back lock screen widgets on Android phones.