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Concept shows how Apple could enhance the widget experience on iPadOS

Apple introduced a new home screen for iPhone users with iOS 14, which includes widgets that can be placed around icons for the first time. However, the same experience is not available on iPad. While Apple is unlikely to change this by the final release of iPadOS 14, designer Parker Ortolani has created a concept that shows how Apple could enhance the widget experience on iPadOS.

Currently on iPadOS 14, users can only add widgets in a specific area of the first home screen page. Although these widgets are the same as iOS 14, they can’t be added and organized together to the apps icons.

This limitation frustrated some iPad users as the new widgets are now more capable than ever, and that’s why Ortolani imagines a different home screen for the next version of iPadOS.

The concept features a modular home screen where users can place apps and widgets anywhere, even with empty spaces. The “Widget Tray” can be moved around to make reorganization easier and more intuitive, and iPad users would also get App Library by swiping from the bottom of the screen.

Another aspect shown in Parker’s concept is a new “Pro Menu” where users can quickly access the system settings, similar to the Apple menu on macOS. Control Center would also look more like the macOS Big Sur version instead of filling the entire iPad screen.

While I can understand why Apple didn’t offer the full widget experience on iPadOS 14, probably due to the complexity of the iPad as it works in portrait and landscape mode, I’d really like to see something like this concept next year.

What’s your opinion on the concept? Do you think iPad should have widgets available anywhere on the home screen? Let us know in the comments below.

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Avatar for Filipe Espósito Filipe Espósito

Filipe Espósito is a Brazilian tech Journalist who started covering Apple news on iHelp BR with some exclusive scoops — including the reveal of the new Apple Watch Series 5 models in titanium and ceramic. He joined 9to5Mac to share even more tech news around the world.