Many new smartphone users find themselves confused about the role of widgets and apps in personalizing their smartphone and making it easier to use. This can lead to frustration, as these types of program are not interchangeable.
As a result, many an excited new owner has missed the opportunity to make their devices more efficient by enhancing their apps with widgets or even tried and failed to use a widget without an associated app. Fortunately, understanding the difference between the two utilities is relatively simple, and can go a long way in ensuring you get the most out of your new smartphone.
Apps
“App” is short for “computer application,” and refers to a fully developed standalone program designed to be run on smartphones. Apps can be used for productivity, functionality, convenience or entertainment, and are most commonly available on app markets such as Apple’s App Store or Google Play.
When an app icon is selected, the smartphone opens the full program and puts all other processes into the background, and once the app is open, the user has full access to the full range of operations within the app. There are free apps as well as premium apps, and each one expands the range of capabilities a smartphone has.
Widget
Widgets are another type of mobile computer program, and their main purpose is to make apps easier to use as well as enable multitasking. Widgets are extensions of apps, and give users access to the most frequently used functions of an app to reduce the need to open the full program. Widgets are almost always free, but usually cannot be used without the main app.
Widgets typically take the form of small displays located on the home screen that show information related to the app, such as a news feed for a social media utility or the current date from a calendar app. They can also enable quick access to app controls such as setting an alarm or controlling the current song during music playback. Clicking on a widget can display more information or open the full app, depending on the settings preferred by the user.
Apps unlock the potential of smartphones by adding new capabilities while widgets make apps simplerto use. In combination, these programs make smartphones more like a part of their users than a generic machine by tailoring its features and functionality to their specific needs.
