FamilyLog on Your Home Screen and on Your Wrist — The Desk Widget and Apple Watch Support
FamilyLog now has a new home screen widget called Desk, along with Apple Watch support. Both features exist for the same reason: so you can see what today holds without opening the app. Here is a look at each of them.
We put a small desk on your home screen
Until now, FamilyLog widgets were split by role — one for the calendar, one for tasks, and so on. If you wanted to see everything, you had to place several of them, and we heard from you that your home screen was filling up with widgets.
The new Desk widget brings all four together: calendar, tasks, notes and household budget. Tap one of the items listed down the left side and only the right side changes. Think of it as a single window whose contents swap out, the way they do on a computer screen.
Switching never opens the app. You stay right on the home screen and move from today’s schedule to the shopping list to how much you have spent this month, all with one finger.
The four views
Calendar — this month’s calendar, with a colored dot on every day that has something scheduled. Tap a date and that day’s events appear below. The selected date is shared with the other calendar widgets, so moving the date in one moves the other to match. Leave it alone for a while and it returns to today on its own.
Tasks — sorted with the nearest due date first. Tap the circle on the left to complete a task on the spot, so crossing off “buy milk” no longer means opening the app.
Notes — the four most recently updated notes, listed at the top. Tap a title and the body opens below it. It suits the notes you come back to again and again, like a shopping list or a packing list.
Household budget — this month’s income, spending and balance, followed by your most recent entries. The numbers are made to match the budget screen in the app. Recurring income and expenses such as a monthly salary, the carryover from last month, your chosen start date for the budget month, and even the adjustment when payday falls on a weekend or holiday — all of it is calculated exactly as the app does it.
The icon colors follow your theme
The icons down the left are drawn in the color of the theme you have set in the app. Change the theme and the widget changes with it. Colors that would sink into a dark background are automatically lightened, so every theme stays readable. Dark mode is supported too.
How to add it
- iPhone — press and hold the home screen, then Edit → Add Widget → FamilyLog → “FamilyLog (Desk)”. Large size only.
- Android — press and hold the home screen, then Widgets → FamilyLog → “FamilyLog (Desk)”. It uses a 4×4 space.
One thing to note. On iPhone, switching views and tapping dates requires iOS 17 or later. On iOS 16 the calendar is always shown; we disable tapping on the items there rather than show buttons that do nothing. Android has no such limitation.
The Desk widget is available from version 5.35.0.
Your next event, at a glance on Apple Watch
School runs, lessons, doctor’s appointments. The moment you want to check what is coming next is usually the moment both your hands are full. With FamilyLog on your Apple Watch, today’s schedule is a flick of the wrist away.
See today’s schedule in a list
Open the app on your Watch and today’s events are listed with their times. All-day events are marked as such. Pull down on the screen to refresh.
Put your next event on the watch face
Complications — the small readouts you place on a watch face — are now supported. They show the event coming up next and how many are left that day. You can see it just by glancing at the face, without opening the app.
Four shapes are supported — inline, circular, rectangular and corner — so you can pick one that fits the face you use. The display changes automatically as the day moves along. Once the nine o’clock event is over, it moves on to the eleven o’clock one. There is no waiting for a refresh.
It works even when your iPhone is not nearby
Just once, at the start, the Watch talks to FamilyLog on your iPhone to sign in. After that it fetches your schedule on its own. You can leave your iPhone at home and still check today’s plans from your Watch.
If the sign-in prompt stays on screen, open FamilyLog on your iPhone and then tap “Retry” on the Watch. Note also that the display language on the Watch follows the language set in the app, not the language of the Apple Watch itself, so it matches FamilyLog on your iPhone.
Getting started
- An Apple Watch running watchOS 10 or later is required.
- Open the Watch app on your iPhone and install FamilyLog (if automatic install is on, it may already be there).
- To add it to a watch face, press and hold the face, tap Edit, select a complication slot, and choose FamilyLog from the list.
Apple Watch support is available from version 5.33.0. For now, the Watch shows your schedule (calendar) only.
The home screen, and the wrist
Your family’s plans, the things to do, and where the money goes — all on this one panel on your home screen. And once you are out the door, your next event on your wrist. Both features are here to take one step out of your day. We hope you enjoy them.