Android 16 QPR2 Lock Screen Widgets: How-To

Android tablets have had lock screen widgets for a while, but phones lost them years ago. Android 16 QPR2 brings them back, and properly this time, with swipeable pages of widgets a flick away from your main lock screen. Glance at the weather, your calendar, or smart-home controls without unlocking. Here is how to turn them on and arrange your hub.

Key takeaways

• Lock screen widgets return to phones in Android 16 QPR2 via a swipeable hub mode.
• Widgets live on pages to the left of the main lock screen, with up to three per page.
• You enable them under Display and touch > Lock display > Lock screen > Widgets on lock screen.
• It joins a broad QPR2 feature set including expanded dark mode and custom icon shapes.

What lock screen widgets do

The feature adds swipeable widget pages to your lock screen. Home-screen widgets you already know can be pinned to these pages, sitting just to the side of the main lock screen interface. Each page holds up to three widgets, and you can add more pages with a swipe, so you can build a small dashboard of glanceable information, weather, calendar, music, or smart-home toggles, that you reach without ever unlocking the phone.

It is a clean revival of something Android removed long ago. Lock screen widgets first appeared back in Android 4.2 in 2012, then Google pulled them in Android 5.0, judging them clutter and a minor security exposure. They quietly returned for tablets and the Pixel Tablet's hub mode in recent years, and QPR2 finally extends that polished version to phones. On a phone it turns the lock screen from a static clock into a quick information hub you reach without authenticating.

The implementation matters here. Rather than cramming widgets onto the main lock screen and crowding the clock and notifications, Google put them on separate swipeable pages to the side. That keeps the default lock screen clean while giving power users a dashboard one flick away, a sensible compromise that addresses the clutter complaint that killed the feature the first time.

How to enable lock screen widgets

Turning the feature on takes a single toggle, after which the hub becomes accessible by swiping.

1. Open Settings and go to Display and touch.
2. Tap Lock display, then Lock screen.
3. Select Widgets on lock screen.
4. Flip the toggle to on.
5. From the lock screen, swipe left from the main view to reach the widget pages.

Once enabled, you get a dedicated interface for adding, removing, and rearranging widgets across pages, so you can curate exactly what shows up and in what order.

Arranging your hub

With the feature on, building your hub is straightforward. Add widgets to a page until you hit the three-per-page limit, then start a new page for more. You can rearrange widgets within a page and reorder which pages come first, so your most-used information sits closest to the main lock screen and a single swipe away.

Not every widget earns a spot on the lock screen. The best ones are glanceable (readable in under a second) and update on their own. Here is a sensible starting hub:

Widget	Why it earns a spot	Page placement
Weather	One-glance check you do constantly	First page
Calendar / next event	Keeps your day visible without unlocking	First page
Music / media controls	Skip tracks without unlocking	First page
Smart-home toggles	Lights or thermostat from the lock screen	Second page
Clock / world clock	Useful when traveling	Second page
Fitness or step count	Passive glance, low priority	Second page

The rest of QPR2

Lock screen widgets are the marquee addition, but Android 16 QPR2 brings a substantial list alongside them: an expanded dark mode, custom app icon shapes, a notification summarising tool, enhanced HDR brightness controls, forced icon colour theming, time-zone change notifications, a 90:10 split-screen multitasking mode, a toggle to reduce system blur, and support for graphical desktop Linux apps. It is one of the meatier quarterly drops in a while. We covered another standout in our look at the QPR2 desktop mode and universal cursor, and if you are catching up, the June 2026 feature drop rounds out what landed this cycle. For more lock-screen and notification tuning, see our guide to Android 16 notification cooldown.

What to do right now

To set up a useful lock screen hub in a couple of minutes:

• Confirm you are on Android 16 QPR2 (Settings > About phone > Android version); update if not.
• Go to Display and touch > Lock display > Lock screen > Widgets on lock screen and toggle it on.
• Swipe left from the lock screen to open the widget pages.
• Add weather, calendar, and media controls to the first page (three-widget limit).
• Push smart-home and fitness widgets to a second page.
• Skip anything that leaks private info on a screen others can see, or keep it off page one.

Frequently asked questions

How many widgets can I add per page?

Up to three per page. You can create additional pages and swipe between them for more widgets.

Where do the widget pages appear?

On swipeable pages directly to the left of your main lock screen. Swipe left from the lock screen to reach them.

Is this available on all phones?

It debuted on Pixel phones with Android 16 QPR2. Other manufacturers get it as they roll out the update and depending on whether their build includes it.

Can I use my existing home-screen widgets?

Yes. Home-screen widgets can be pinned to the lock screen pages, so you reuse widgets you already have. Some apps offer widgets specifically sized for the lock screen, but standard home-screen widgets work too.

Do lock screen widgets drain the battery?

Barely. Most widgets update on a slow schedule or only when you swipe to view them, so the impact is negligible. The exception is a widget that refreshes constantly, such as a live transit or stock ticker; if you are battery-conscious, keep those off your hub or push them to a second page you view less often.

Is it a security risk to show widgets without unlocking?

It can be, depending on what the widget reveals. Anything that surfaces message previews, calendar event titles, or notes is visible to whoever can see your screen. The feature itself is fine; just avoid putting sensitive widgets on the lock screen, the same caution you would apply to lock screen notification previews.

The bottom line

Lock screen widgets are a small change with a big everyday payoff: useful information a swipe away, no unlock required. Enabling them is one toggle under Lock screen settings, and the per-page interface makes curating your hub easy. Combined with the rest of QPR2's additions, it is a genuinely worthwhile update for anyone who glances at their phone dozens of times a day.