How to add a clock widget to your iPhone Home Screen
A clock widget puts the time on your Home Screen in any style you like — analog, digital, flip, retro — without unlocking anything. Here's how to add one on iOS 26 and 27, which widgets Apple ships, how third-party faces work, and what to do when a widget misbehaves.
Add a clock widget: the steps
- Press and hold an empty spot on the Home Screen until the icons start to jiggle.
- Tap Edit in the top-left corner, then Add Widget. (On iOS 17 it's a plain + button.)
- In the search field type clock. You'll see Apple's Clock widgets and any clock apps you've installed.
- Tap the app, swipe through the sizes — small, medium, large — and tap Add Widget.
- Drag the widget where you want it and tap Done.
That's it. The widget keeps the time on its own; you never have to open the app again unless you want to change the face.
Apple's own clock widgets
The built-in Clock app ships two widgets:
- World Clock — analog dials for one city (small) or four cities (medium). Tap and hold the widget → Edit Widget to pick the cities.
- City — a digital time for one city, with the offset from your local time.
Both are clean and reliable, and both look the same on every iPhone. If that's all you need, you're done. If you want a different face — a flip clock, a Nixie tube, a big analog dial — that's what third-party clock apps are for.
Third-party clock faces
Any clock app that offers widgets shows up in the same gallery under its own name once it's installed. Install the app, open it once, then repeat the steps above and search for the app's name instead of "clock". Most apps let you pick the face and its options — colour, 12/24-hour, date, time zone — either inside the app or via Edit Widget on the Home Screen.
Resize, stack and rotate widgets
- Resize — press and hold the widget, let go, then drag the handle at its corner to switch between small, medium and large. Available since iOS 18.
- Stack — drag one widget on top of another of the same size. Swipe up and down on the stack to flip between them. Great for a clock plus weather plus calendar in one slot.
- Smart Rotate — press and hold a stack → Edit Stack → turn on Smart Rotate, and iOS shows whichever widget it thinks you need right now. Turn it off if you want the clock to stay on top.
Clear, Tinted, Dark: the looks since iOS 26
Liquid Glass — iOS 26 and later — adds a Clear appearance to the Home Screen alongside Light, Dark and Tinted. Press and hold the Home Screen → Edit → Customize to choose. Two things to know:
- Tinted recolours icons and widgets in one hue. A hand-drawn clock face will lose its colours in this mode — switch to Light, Dark or Clear to get them back.
- Clear makes icons translucent; widgets keep their own backgrounds, so a clock face stays readable over any wallpaper.
Home Screen vs Lock Screen widgets
These are two different systems. Home Screen widgets come in three sizes and can show a full face. Lock Screen widgets are the tiny monochrome ones under the time, added from Customize → Lock Screen, and only some apps offer them. If what you actually want is to restyle the big Lock Screen clock, see how to change the Lock Screen clock. If you want a clock while charging, see StandBy.
Widget not showing or not updating?
- The app isn't in the gallery. Open the app once after installing it; iOS registers widgets on first launch. Then search by the app's name.
- The widget is blank or says "unable to load". Remove it and add it again. If the app needs a newer iOS than you have, the gallery may show the widget but never render it.
- The time is wrong or frozen. Widgets update on a timeline the app schedules; a clock should tick every minute. If it stops, open the app once — that refreshes the timeline. Low Power Mode can delay updates by a minute or two.
- Still stuck. Restart the iPhone. Widgets are drawn by a separate system process, and a restart resets it.
Questions
Does the iPhone have a built-in clock widget?
Yes. The Clock app offers a World Clock widget with analog dials for one or four cities, and a City widget with a digital time. Search for "Clock" in the widget gallery. For other looks you need a third-party clock app.
Why doesn't my clock widget show seconds?
iOS redraws Home Screen widgets about once a minute to save battery, so widgets show hours and minutes only. A sweeping second hand is only possible inside the app, in a fullscreen mode.
Do clock widgets drain the battery?
No. Because iOS refreshes widgets about once a minute, a clock widget uses a tiny amount of power — well under one percent per day even for an analog face.
Can I put a clock widget on the Lock Screen?
Lock Screen widgets are a separate, smaller kind. Press and hold the Lock Screen, tap Customize, then tap the area under the time to add them. Apple's Clock app offers a few; not every third-party clock app supports Lock Screen widgets yet.
My widget says the app isn't installed or shows a blank tile — what now?
Open the app once, then go back to the Home Screen. If it's still blank, remove the widget and add it again, and make sure you're on the iOS version the app requires. A restart clears the rest.
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