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Android 15 lets you ‘Add’ widgets without dragging to the homescreen

The widget improvements in Android 15 Beta 2 continue with a simple “Add” button that saves you from having to manually drag them to your homescreen. 

Previously, tapping a widget would result in a system toast message: “Touch & hold to move a widget.”

Dragging a widget to your homescreen is still possible today, but Android 15 Beta 2 introduces an “Add” button upon tapping. If there’s no opening on your current homescreen, the widget is placed on the next available space. 

Beta 1 vs. 2

This is a more user-friendly approach and joins in-app prompts that developers can adopt to add a widget to your homescreen. 

Android 15 Beta 2 has a number of other widget enhancements, including how apps can now generate widget previews in the picker with your information instead of using placeholder content.

Meanwhile, the Widget Picker now has categories at the top like Essentials, Suggested for you, and News & magazines. There’s also a visual tweak where containers are leveraged by the app-based picker.

More on Android widgets:

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Avatar for Abner Li Abner Li

Editor-in-chief. Interested in the minutiae of Google and Alphabet. Tips/talk: abner@9to5g.com

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