Elon Musk’s X Launches Home and Lock Screen Widgets for iPhone and iPad Users

Elon Musk–owned social media platform X has introduced long-anticipated widgets for iPhone and iPad users, giving them faster access to news updates, notifications, messages, and AI tools directly from their Home Screen and Lock Screen. The rollout represents a significant expansion of X's iOS capabilities, arriving years after the feature was previewed initially but never delivered.

A Home Screen widget for Twitter was briefly shown during Apple's WWDC 2020 presentation for iOS 14, but the feature never reached the public. Since then, the platform has undergone significant transformations — from leadership changes to Musk's acquisition, the rebrand from Twitter to X, and the integration of AI features, including the Grok chatbot.

X Widgets for iOS: What's Available Now

With this update, X is beginning modestly on the Home Screen. Users currently have access to a single widget, "X News Highlights," which surfaces trending headlines from across the platform. Selecting any headline opens the full story inside the X app. The widget is available in small, medium, and large sizes to accommodate different Home Screen layouts.

More Options Arrive on the Lock Screen

X offers more variety on the Lock Screen. Users can add widgets for:

• X Notifications — showing the number of unread alerts
• X Messages — displaying new or pending direct messages
• Grok AI widgets — one for launching a direct chat with Grok and another for initiating voice-based interactions

These Lock Screen widgets are available in both compact and expanded formats, giving users greater flexibility in how they surface frequently used features.

Redesigned Notifications Page in Development

Beyond widgets, X is also working on an updated notifications interface for iOS. Screenshots shared by users reveal a more visually oriented layout. However, X's head of product, Nikita Bier, clarified that the redesign is still a work in progress, suggesting that a refreshed notifications experience will arrive in a later release.