Skip to main content

How to add and use desktop widgets in macOS Sonoma

Apple's 15-inch MacBook Air on a desk, with macOS Sonoma running on its display.
Apple

Apple’s macOS Sonoma has brought a bunch of interesting new features for Mac users, and desktop widgets are among the most useful. As the name implies, you can now drag and drop widgets right onto your desktop, giving you quick access to to-do lists, local weather forecasts, smart home controls, and much more. Here, we’ll show you how to use them.

Recommended Videos

Difficulty

Easy

Duration

5 minutes

What You Need

  • macOS Sonoma

The best part of macOS Sonoma widgets is their interactivity. Now, there’s no need to open a widget in order to use its associated app. Instead, you can just tick off your reminders or play music right from your desktop, just by interacting with your widgets. It’s a great time-saver and works with a range of widgets, including those made by Apple and by third-party developers.

Widgets are now housed in the new widget gallery, which you can access by right-clicking your desktop and choosing Edit Widgets. You also don’t need to have the widget installed on your Mac for it to run, as it will be available if it’s on your iPhone (provided it’s running iOS 17 or later). Just make sure that both devices are using the same Apple ID and Wi-Fi network, and that the iPhone is near your Mac.

In this guide, we’ll show you how to place widgets on your desktop, how to interact with them, and how to change their settings in just a few clicks. Once you’ve mastered this feature, you’ll have a great new way to use macOS Sonoma to get things done.

Add widgets to the desktop

Step 1: To add a widget to your desktop, you first need to open the widget gallery by right-clicking your desktop and selecting Edit Widgets. Or open the Notification Center and choose Edit Widgets at the bottom of the window.

The widget gallery in macOS Sonoma.
Digital Trends

Step 2: This hides your open windows and brings up the widget gallery, which houses all your available widgets.

Step 3: To add a widget, pick an app name in the left-hand sidebar and drag a widget onto your desktop.

Step 4: You can place your first widget wherever you like. For subsequent widgets, you’ll see an alignment box appear as you move the second widget close to the first one. This helps you snap your widgets neatly together.

Dragging a widget onto the desktop in macOS Sonoma. An alignment grid is visible.
Digital Trends

Step 5: If there are any files or folders on a spot that you want to drag a widget onto, they will wrap around your widget as you place it on your desktop.

Step 6: In addition to the desktop, you can also move widgets from the widget gallery into the Notification Center.

Step 7: Once you’ve finished dragging widgets onto your desktop, choose the Done button in the widget gallery, or simply click your desktop or Dock.

Interact with your widgets

Step 1: Some widgets can be interacted with on your desktop without having to open the app they belong to.

Step 2: For example, place a widget from the Podcasts app onto your desktop. You’ll note that you can play and pause podcasts right from the widget, without having to open the Podcasts app to access these controls. Or try adding a Reminders widget -- and it’ll let you tick off your tasks from your desktop.

An interactive widget on the desktop in macOS Sonoma.
Digital Trends

Step 3: If you hit an area of the widget that is not interactive -- such as its background, for example -- the app itself will launch.

Step 4: If you select a noninteractive area of a widget whose app is installed on your iPhone but not on your Mac, you will see the message “Open [app name] on your iPhone to continue.”

Edit widget settings

Step 1: Once a widget is in place on your desktop, there are various ways you can tweak it to your needs.

Step 2: To resize a widget, right click it and choose a size from the context menu that appears.

The right-click menu on a desktop widget in macOS Sonoma, letting a user edit the widget's settings.
Digital Trends

Step 3: Similarly, to remove a widget, you just need to right-click it and select Remove Widget in the menu. Alternatively, you can open the widget gallery and click the - button in the widget’s top-left corner.

Step 4: Some widgets have settings that can be edited (although you can’t do this for every widget). For widgets that can be tweaked, right-click the widget, then select “Edit [app name].” This will bring up a settings window. For example, in the Weather app’s widget, you can change the location used for weather results.

Step 5: If you open the System Settings app and pick Desktop & Dock in the sidebar, you’ll see some more options under the Widgets heading. For example, you can change whether widgets fade out when you are using another app. Or you cab set widgets to disappear until you hide other windows and show your desktop. You can also disable iPhone widgets when you’re using your Mac.

The System Settings app in macOS Sonoma, with widget settings visible.
Digital Trends

Interactive widgets are a handy addition to macOS Sonoma and should save you plenty of time and clicks in the long run. Place a couple of your favorite widgets on your desktop and you’ll find it much easier to get things done than it has been in the past.

Alex Blake
Alex Blake has been working with Digital Trends since 2019, where he spends most of his time writing about Mac computers…
Apple’s M4 iMac brings next-gen power to your desktop
People using the Apple iMac with M4 chip.

Apple has brought its M4 chip to the iMac, making it the first Mac to get Apple’s latest silicon chip. The update also brings new colors and a significant performance improvement for the all-in-one desktop computer, and it comes a year after it received the previous-generation M3 chip. As with the previous M1 and M3 iMacs, the M4 model is compatible with Apple Intelligence.

It comes at the beginning of a week of product releases from Apple, with the company previously teasing that it had much more to reveal in the coming days. The updates could see the entire Mac lineup receive some variant of the M4 chip (including more powerful M4 Pro, M4 Max and M4 Ultra editions) over the coming months.

Read more
The M4 Mac launch is incoming, but not how you might expect
The 14-inch MacBook Pro with M3 Max chip seen from behind.

The past few months have been full of speculation, anticipation, and pretty wild rumors concerning the upcoming M4 Macs -- and now the predicted release date of November 1 is just a week or so away. Despite the lack of an event announcement, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman still believes the launch is "imminent," with an announcement reportedly coming on October 30.

According to him, Apple Stores are running very low on iMac, Mac mini, MacBook Pro, Magic Keyboard, Magic Mouse, and Magic Trackpad units -- and this usually happens when updates are about to be released.

Read more
Best Mac Mini deals: Save over $100 on an Apple desktop
Apple Mac Mini 2018

If you're in the Apple ecosystem and don't really want to deal with something like the MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, or even one of the full-sized Apple desktops, then you may want to consider the Apple Mac Mini. Not only is it compact enough that you can put it on your desk, a lot of the configurations are still relatively powerful and you don't loose much in terms of performance. That said, the downside is that they can be a little bit expensive, and while there aren't many options for new Mac Minis out there, we've included some of our favorite new and refurbished deals below.

Of course, if you don't find what you're looking for here, you could check out these other excellent Apple deals. Also, if you want a more traditional experience, take a look at these iMac deals and MacBook deals deals as well.
Apple education pricing for new Macs and iPads -- multiple price points

Read more