I never cared about Mac desktop widgets until I found this app
I never liked macOS widgets, until I found an app with better looking, more customizable widgets than Apple's own. Here's the full breakdown.
In 2023, Apple introduced desktop widgets to Mac users with the release of macOS Sonoma. The author tried several apps promising similar functionality but was disappointed by their appearance and limited availability. After extensive testing, they discovered BetterMacWidgets, which offered over 20 widgets that blended seamlessly into a Mac desktop environment.
BetterMacWidgets provides customizable widgets such as Now Playing, showcasing album artwork and track controls, System Stats for real-time hardware monitoring, and Weather widgets displaying location-specific forecasts with live animations. The app also includes Reminders and Sticky Note widgets for productivity, and Photos widget for displaying a slideshow of chosen photos. For a more visually appealing experience, users can opt for the Starfield widget featuring a customizable starry sky.
The app allows users to drag and drop widgets onto an invisible grid, snapping them into place with a neat and organized layout. Widgets come in various sizes, ranging from a small 1x1 square to a larger 4x3 tile, ensuring optimal visibility without cluttering the desktop. BetterMacWidgets offers up to six sizes for each widget, including a small 1x1 square to a bigger 4x3 tile.
One of the standout features of BetterMacWidgets is its extensive customization options. Users can choose from 20 built-in themes, with three free options (Midnight, Graphite, and Ocean) and additional themes available through a Pro subscription. The app also allows users to customize widget appearance by adjusting opacity levels for a frosted glass effect or removing the tile background altogether for a cleaner look.
BetterMacWidgets enables users to create multiple widget setups, known as profiles, which can be saved and switched between with ease. The Smart Switching feature automatically activates a preset profile based on predefined conditions such as time of day, foreground app, or connected display. This ensures that the user always has the ideal widget configuration at their fingertips.
The combination of practical widgets like System Stats and Now Playing, along with the sleek and customizable design, has made BetterMacWidgets the preferred choice for the author. This third-party app has finally made widgets an integral part of the Mac desktop experience, providing both functionality and visual appeal.
Written by urgent.news from Digital Trends's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
