How to Install a Widget on Samsung Phones

How to install a widget on Samsung phones

A Samsung phone sits on a table with the home screen open displaying the weather.
by Jennifer Karner
Jen Karner is a freelance tech writer and expert on VR and Android phones. Her work has appeared on AndroidCentral, iMore, WindowsCentral and others.
Updated September 04, 2018

When it comes to customizing the way that your phone looks, Samsung Galaxy phones on Android give you plenty of options with widgets you can install on your home screen. You can add widgets that display your new emails, alter the way that icons look, and make your screen look just the way you want them to.

Whether you're just getting started with a Samsung Android phone and want to know how to trick it out, or you've never put a widget on your phone before, we have the details you need! 

01
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What is a Widget, And Why Do I Need One?

A weather widget with numbers and a cloudy icon is displayed over a gradient background.

Your first question might be, exactly what is a widget? When you look at the home screen of your phone and see the weather for your area or the time displayed in the middle of the screen you are looking at a widget. 

If you want to personalize what displays on your screen or make sure you're only getting the info you need at a glance, a widget is how to do it. It's also what you'll end up needing if you decide to install a theme down the line. 

Widgets can serve a variety of different purposes and can range in size. This means they can be as small as 1x1 on your screen, or as large as 4x6. Oftentimes a single widget will be available in several sizes, letting you decide how much of the screen you want to fill. 

You aren't limited to the widgets on your phone either. Many specific widgets like 1Weather, or Calendar are available on the Play Store as standalone apps. When installing a theme you can also expect to download the specific app for a particular widget. 

There are dozens of different widgets available out there, and some of them may not play nicely together. Finding the perfect one for what you need it do may take time, but it's out there somewhere. 

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How to Add a New Widget

A variety of widget icons are displayed on a gradient background.

When it comes time to install a new widget on your home screen. it's a pretty simple process. You'll have to open up the widget screen, and then choose both the specific app and the size you want to install on your screen.

  1. Touch and hold on the home screen until it opens the menu. (You can also touch and hold an empty space on the screen to open the menu.)
  2. Tap the widget button at the bottom of the screen. 
  3. Tap the widget you want to install. 
  4. Touch and hold the widget size you want to install. 
  5. Drag and drop the widget where you want it to appear on your screen. 
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How to Delete a Widget

The weather is displayed with an icon over the Samsung Home screen.

Widgets allow you to customize the way your screen looks. If you've changed up the background, or decide you don't want a widget displaying, it's easy to get rid of. 

It's entirely possible that you'll want to tweak exactly how a widget looks and where it sits on your screen. You can move a widget at any time by touch the widget and then dragging it to where you want it to stay. 

  1. Touch and hold the widget that you want to delete. 
  2. Tap remove.