Google’s lock screen widgets are making the jump from Android tablets to phones

Widgets have been a part of Android for as long as you’ve been able to buy Android smartphones in stores — I distinctly remember playing around with the widgets on a T-Mobile G1 at a mall back in early 2009. Despite their near-constant presence, widgets have gone through plenty of changes over the years, and that goes double for lock screen widgets. After disappearing from Android more than a decade ago, we finally saw lock screen widgets reappear for the first time last fall, and now, we know when they’re coming back to the smartphone in your pocket.

On the Android Developers Blog today, Google published an FAQ chock full of some pretty interesting tidbits surrounding modern Android widgets (via 9to5Google). In answering the very first question on this blog post, the company confirmed that, after arriving on the Pixel Tablet last fall, lock screen widgets will be made available in AOSP for all tablets and smartphones with Android 16 QPR1. Thanks to AP’s EIC James Peckham’s interview with Android head Sameer Samat, we know Android 16 is set to arrive in June, putting its first quarterly update on track for September.

But not without a few conditions

Naturally, not every Android OEM will need to adopt lock screen widgets. While Google points to the Pixel Tablet as an example of an existing device gaining this functionality, it’s up to other brands to adopt the feature from AOSP once it’s live later this year. The same is true for the “mechanism” that automatically activates widgets on the lock screen, with Google pointing to docked experiences as one way to customize how these widgets appear for the end user.

Other tidbits from the FAQ: OEMs can pick their own default widgets if they so choose; all current widgets will be available on the lock screen, though apps can opt out of being offered here if developers want to restrict access; and the UI for picking lock screen widgets cannot be customized by OEMs at launch. I’m curious if that last one results in companies like Samsung, which prefer to have a completely unique Android experience, choosing to skip out on adopting it for future One UI builds.

Mishaal Rahman at Android Authority was able to get an early version of these lock screen widgets up and running. In his video demo, Mishaal says they’re triggered through Android’s screen saver, which activates when a phone is docked or on a charger. Screen savers are a pretty niche feature — to my knowledge, they’re enabled by default on Android but only when docked and charging. I wouldn’t be shocked to see Google change this activation mechanism in the six months remaining before launch, especially since today’s FAQ, as laid out above, specifically says OEMs — of which Google technically is — can customize this feature.

Or, perhaps, Google does intend for this feature to be primarily interacted with through moments when the phone is docked, and I’m curious to see how that could potentially play into the broader adoption of Qi2 support on Android. After all, if you’re going to push people to invest in docks, what better way to do so than through an already-existing marketplace of magnet-friendly accessories? No matter what the final version looks like, this hands-on does give us an early look at this tool in development, and it looks pretty far along.

No matter what the final build looks like, you can probably bet on your Pixel getting lock screen widgets back in the not-so-distant future. Personally, I’m pretty excited, even if I’m not a dedicated widgets fan myself. The lock screen feels like the right space for these tools, but only time will tell if they actually manage to catch on with regular users. Either way, our long, national widget-less nightmare is just about over.