Learn how to add widgets to your iPad Lock Screen in both landscape and portrait mode to access essential information without unlocking your device.
Places where you can add widgets on your iPad
You can add app widgets to these five spots:
- Home Screen
- Today View (accessed by swiping right on the Lock Screen or the first Home Screen page)
- Below the clock on the Lock Screen in portrait orientation
- Left side area of the Lock Screen in landscape orientation
- Above the clock on the iPad Lock Screen in either orientation
We have dedicated tutorials covering how to add widgets to iOS Home Screen and Today View. Therefore, in this tutorial, we’ll share how to add it to the three spots on the Lock Screen.
Separate sets of widgets for iPad in landscape and portrait orientations
The iPhone Lock Screen is always in portrait orientation; thus, one set of widgets does the job. The Lock Screen on an iPad can be rotated to both portrait and landscape orientations. For that reason, you can add two sets of widgets.
Just like the iPhone, you can add up to four small widgets, two big widgets, or one big and two small widgets to your iPad Lock Screen in portrait orientation.
But when your iPad is in landscape orientation, you have the whole left side area at your disposal, so you can add multiple widgets until the left edge of the screen is full.
Add widgets to your iPad Lock Screen
1) Open the Settings app and tap Wallpaper. From here, tap the Lock Screen thumbnail to customize it, or tap Add New Wallpaper and pick one from the next screen.
Alternatively, you can unlock your iPad and swipe down from the top of the screen to open the Notification Center. Then, touch and hold anywhere on the screen, and tap Customize > Lock Screen.
You can also wake up your iPad display with a tap and unlock it using Face ID or Touch ID, but don’t swipe up for the Home Screen. Instead, touch & hold the Lock Screen and tap Customize > Lock Screen.
2) After following one of the methods in Step 1, you’ll get the option to customize the Lock Screen.
If your iPad is in landscape orientation, tap Add Widget on the left side of the screen. If it’s in portrait orientation, tap Add Widget under the time indicator.
3) Select the widgets from the Suggestions section or tap an app name on the left side and pick one of their widgets. You can repeat this process to add as many widgets as possible in the allotted widget space.
4) Once you’ve added the widgets in one orientation, you can rotate your iPad to the other orientation. Now, tap Add Widgets and put some widgets here.
5) Finally, you can tap the day, month, and date area on top of the current time and pick a widget for this spot. Note that the day and date can’t be removed from here.
6) With all customizations done to your liking, tap X in the Search Widgets box if it’s still visible on the screen. If not, just tap Done directly, and hit the Lock Screen tile to exit the editing screen.
Now, you’ll see all your added widgets on the iPad Lock Screen. Rotating it in another orientation will show the second set of widgets.
Additionally, these widgets are visible when you pull down from the top of the screen to access the Notification Center.
Use Lock Screen widgets on iPad
Widgets are mainly designed to give you quick information at a glance. For instance, the Batteries widget on the Lock Screen can display the remaining charge of your Apple Pencil or AirPods, and the World Clock widget can tell you the time in different cities.
iPadOS also has interactive Home Screen widgets, which means you can interact with them without opening the app. For example, you can tap the play button on the Music app widget, and it will start playing that song without taking you to the Music app.
However, the widgets on the Lock Screen are not interactive, so tapping one will launch that respective app. For instance, if you tap the temperature widget, it will take you to the Weather app. Similarly, tapping the events widget will open up the Calendar app and so on.
Some widgets, like Batteries, are non-interactive, and tapping them will do nothing.
Remove widgets from your iPad Lock Screen
1) Follow step 1 mentioned above to get to the Lock Screen customization screen.
2) Tap one of the added widgets.
3) Hit the minus button (-) or the X icon for the widget you want to remove. You can repeat this to get rid of all added widgets.
4) Now, tap X, that’s next to the Search Widgets box.
5) Finally, select Done, followed by the Lock Screen tile to exit the widget screen.
More Lock Screen and widget tips: