How to add widgets to your Mac desktop, and useful ones

Add a widget to the desktop

1. Control-click the wallpaper (an empty part of the desktop) and choose Edit Widgets.
2. In the widget gallery, search for a widget, or click a category in the sidebar to see what an app offers.
3. Click a widget to have macOS place it, or drag it to the spot you want. Many widgets come in several sizes; the gallery shows each one, and you can change the size later.
4. Click Done at the bottom-right corner of the gallery.

Widgets sit on the desktop, behind your windows. Apple's tip: "If your desktop widgets are hidden by other windows, click the wallpaper to move the open windows away so you can see the widgets." If you'd rather clicking the wallpaper didn't do that, set Click wallpaper to reveal desktop in Desktop & Dock settings to Only in Stage Manager (Apple, Add and customize widgets on Mac).

Add widgets to Notification Center

Widgets can also live in Notification Center, out of the way until you open it:

1. Click the date and time in the menu bar to open Notification Center (or swipe left with two fingers from the right edge of the trackpad).
2. Click Edit Widgets at the bottom.
3. Click a widget, or drag it to the upper-right corner of the screen. Drag widgets up or down to reorder them, then click Done.

Resize, edit, move or remove a widget

Control-click any widget for its options:

• Size: choose a different size from the menu.
• What it shows: choose Edit [widget name], where the widget offers it; for example, which list a Reminders widget shows. If there's no Edit item, the widget has no options.
• Remove: choose Remove Widget. In Notification Center you can also hold Option while the pointer is over a widget and click its remove button.
• Move: drag it to another spot on the desktop, or up or down in Notification Center.

Use your iPhone's widgets on your Mac

A Mac can show widgets from apps on your iPhone, even apps that aren't on the Mac. Apple's requirements: your iPhone uses iOS 17 or later, both are signed in to the same Apple Account, and the iPhone is near the Mac or on the same Wi-Fi network.

Turn it on in System Settings › Desktop & Dock, under Widgets. The setting is called Use iPhone widgets on macOS 15, and iPhone Widgets on macOS 26 and 27 (Apple, Desktop & Dock settings). The iPhone's widgets then appear in the widget gallery. If clicking one says "Open [app name] on your iPhone to continue", the app isn't installed on the Mac, and you'll need the iPhone to use it.

How widgets look on macOS 15, 26 and 27

System Settings › Desktop & Dock has the widget switches on every version: Show Widgets On Desktop and In Stage Manager. The look changed with macOS 26:

On macOS 26 and 27, "Always" dims widgets to monochrome all the time, and "Never" keeps them in full colour. Apple's macOS 26 notes describe the Clear option as a "new, all-clear glass look" (Apple, macOS Tahoe features).

Useful widgets worth keeping

A widget earns its place when it saves you opening an app several times a day. Some that do, starting with Apple's own:

• Calendar and Reminders. Your next events, or a list you can tick off. Since macOS 14, Apple says widgets are interactive, "allowing users to check off reminders, play or pause media, access home controls" from the desktop (Apple Newsroom).
• Weather. The forecast, without opening an app.
• Batteries. In the gallery's Batteries category. On macOS 27 its description reads "View the status of your Mac and connected Bluetooth accessories", so AirPods, keyboards and mice show alongside the Mac. How to check accessory batteries on Mac has the other ways to see them.
• Home. Home controls are among the things Apple says widgets can do from the desktop, if you use the Home app.
• Your iPhone's widgets, for apps that only exist on the phone.

Widgets don't run all the time. Apple's developer documentation says a widget's extension "is not continually active", and that macOS gives each widget a daily budget that "typically includes from 40 to 70 refreshes" for one you look at often (Apple Developer, Keeping a widget up to date). So widgets are designed to be light on the battery. A busy app behind one can still cost you, and that shows up in Activity Monitor as the app, not the widget.

How Tend helps

Tend 1.3 adds three widgets, each in small and medium sizes, for the desktop or Notification Center. Clicking one opens that page in Tend.

• Battery: charge, time left, battery health and cycle count. The medium size adds the Mac's current draw in watts. On a Mac without a battery it shows the whole Mac's power instead.
• Top Energy: the three apps using the most energy right now, in estimated watts.
• Thermals: the hottest CPU core's temperature and the thermal state, which says how hard macOS is working to keep the Mac cool. With Tend Pro, the medium size adds the other sensors and the fans.

The Battery and Top Energy widgets are free, as is the CPU temperature in Thermals. They show the latest reading Tend saved while running, with a note saying how long ago that was. If you want the temperature reading explained, how to check your Mac's temperature on Apple silicon covers what's normal.

Questions

Related guides

Sources

• Apple, Add and customize widgets on Mac (macOS 15, 26 and 27)
• Apple, Change Desktop & Dock settings on Mac (macOS 15, 26 and 27) and Change Appearance settings (macOS 26 and 27)
• Apple, macOS Tahoe: all new features, September 2025
• Apple Newsroom, macOS Sonoma brings new capabilities for elevating productivity and creativity, June 2023
• Apple Developer, Keeping a widget up to date
• Apple, Beats User Guide, Add a battery widget on Mac; the Batteries widget's description read from macOS 27.0.1
• Tend 1.3 release notes (changelog)

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