Widgets You Certainly Care About are Changing in iOS 17.2

This week, Apple released the first developer beta of iOS 17.2, which was quickly followed by a public beta today. In addition to at least three new tentpole features, the latest update adds several other interesting changes, including some updates to widgets for some key first-party apps.

The big new changes in iOS 17.2 are Apple’s new Journal app, Collaborative Playlists in Apple Music, and iMessage Contact Key Verification. The first two of these have been on the table for iOS 17 from the beginning, while the new iMessage security feature has been pending since last December.

However, the update also brings some powerful new widgets for the Weather app, especially for those who like to mix and match smaller widgets without taking up too much screen real estate.

In case you missed it, iOS 17 added several exciting changes in Weather, including a new section for phases of the moon, plus more detailed wind information and statistical data for things like average weather conditions, daily comparisons, and access to yesterday’s weather.

Now, Apple is taking that a step further in iOS 17.2 with a collection of three new small weather widgets to provide at-a-glance information without needing to take up unnecessary screen real estate.

1. Details provides a condensed summary of the current temperature and daily high and low with a small icon representing the overall conditions at the top, followed by the change of precipitation, UV index, wind speed and direction, and air quality index (where available).
2. Daily Forecast is effectively a small version of the medium- and large-sized Forecast widgets, providing a condensed four-day outlook. Apple has named this one “Daily Forecast” to avoid conflicting with the small “Forecast” widget, which still provides a shorter-term outlook for the current day. These names could change by the time iOS 17.2 is released.
3. Sunrise/Sunset, as the name suggests, shows the sunrise and sunset times for the current day in your current location.
   

Like other weather widgets, Details and Daily Forecast display information for your current location by default, but you can customize them to show any location in the world by tapping and holding on the widget and choosing the Edit Widget option from the pop-up menu. You can even add multiple copies of the same widget to provide an at-a-glance view of conditions in several of your favorite cities.

Unfortunately, the Sunrise/Sunset widget can’t be customized in the same way. It only shows the times for your current location. It’s basically identical to the Sunrise/Sunset tile in the Weather app, and the title also follows the next event — “Sunrise” at night or “Sunset” during the day. This tile will appear for other locations you’ve configured within the Weather app, but for now, there doesn’t appear to be any way to get that information as a widget.

Lastly, Apple is also adding a new digital version of the Clock widget, which is a refreshing change for those who aren’t fans of the analog look. While there are still several analog styles, only a single “Clock Digital” widget exists right now, digitally showing the hour and minute in the center with a second counter ticking around the outside.

Sadly, like its analog counterparts, Clock Digital doesn’t appear to offer any customization. It also doesn’t follow Dark Mode — it’s always bright white — and there’s no city version at this point, so if you want to keep track of the time somewhere else, you’ll need to stick with the analog clock widget or use a third-party app.