Android may have been the king of widgets for a very long time, beating Apple to the punch by several years, but the same can't be said about offering them on the lock screen. Lock screen widgets were available until Android 5, at which point they were unceremoniously removed with no word on when they would come back.

iOS, meanwhile, added the feature back in 2022 with iOS 16, prompting many an Android user to ask when the feature would make a comeback on Google-powered phones — myself included. Google eventually restored lock screen widgets on Android 16 last year, a move that I'd completely forgotten about by the time it reached my Pixel 10 Pro.

I have since fixed that glaring oversight and have been getting to grips with lock screen widgets on Android, and my mind naturally started drawing comparisons to iOS.

While similar, both platforms treat lock screen widgets very differently. So which of them actually does a better job?

On Android, the easiest way to set up lockscreen widgets is to lock your phone, then swipe from the right side of the screen. You'll see a large box informing you that lock screen widgets are available, and you need to tap the Add widgets button to continue.

From there the setup is almost identical to that of adding home screen widgets. Select the app of your choice and choose one of the widget designs on offer.

On iOS, you will need to press and hold on your lock screen, then tap the Customize option when the lock screen editor shows up.

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