They’re Both Widget Apps. That’s About It.

Widgetsmith and 24QW both live on your home screen. Both show up as widgets. But they’re solving completely different problems.

Widgetsmith is a utility. It shows you the weather, your calendar, your step count. It’s a tool for organizing information. A very good one, actually.

24QW is a collectible. You don’t choose your widget. You pull it from a blindbox. Tap, open, discover. The widget you get is a surprise, and that’s the whole point.

One app wants to be useful. The other wants to be wanted.

What Widgetsmith Does Well

Credit where it’s due. Widgetsmith basically invented the custom widget category on iOS. David Smith shipped it in 2020 and it took off immediately. The app has a 4.6 rating on the App Store and millions of downloads.

It’s packed with features. Weather with air quality and tide data. Calendar and reminder integration. Apple Music widgets. Photo albums. Time zone converters. Activity charts. You can filter widgets by type, size, or theme. There’s a search tool to find what you need fast.

The free version covers the basics. The premium subscription ($20/year) unlocks more fonts, themes, and photo options.

For people who want functional widgets that match their aesthetic, Widgetsmith delivers. It’s mature software with years of iteration behind it.

Where Widgetsmith Falls Short

It’s not all smooth. Users report widgets disappearing after updates. Color customization is limited, and background, border, and font colors clash more often than they should. Photo selection is weirdly random instead of letting you pick exactly what you want.

The bigger issue is conceptual. Widgetsmith treats widgets as information displays you style to your taste. You configure them. You set them up. It’s productive, but it’s also kind of a chore. Nobody gets excited about setting up a weather widget for the third time.

And once your home screen looks the way you want it, you’re done. There’s no reason to come back.

What 24QW Does Differently

24QW doesn’t give you a configuration screen. It gives you a blindbox.

Every widget is a design object. Something made to look at, not to inform you about tomorrow’s forecast. You collect them. Some are common, some are rare. The pull is the experience.

This isn’t a productivity play. It’s closer to collecting vinyl figures or trading cards than it is to setting up a dashboard. Your home screen becomes a display case. The widgets you show off say something about your taste and your luck.

The future roadmap goes further into collectibles territory. Trading between users. An ecosystem of wallpapers, icons, and accessories. Think of it less as an app competing with Widgetsmith and more as a platform competing with blind box brands.

Different Categories, Different Audiences

Here’s the honest comparison. If you need a widget that shows your next meeting in a nice font, get Widgetsmith. It’s been doing that for five years and it’s great at it.

If you want your home screen to feel like something you collected rather than something you configured, that’s 24QW.

Widgetsmith users are decorating a functional space. 24QW users are building a collection. Some people will want both. But they’re not really competing for the same spot on your phone.

The Real Competition

Widgetsmith competes with other widget utilities. Color Widgets, ScreenKit, the built-in iOS widgets that keep getting better every year.

24QW competes with the things you spend money on because they look cool and feel good to own. Pop Mart figures on your desk. A pin on your jacket. Stickers on your laptop. It just happens to live on your phone.

That’s the gap. Most widget apps are fighting over who displays your calendar best. 24QW skipped that fight entirely.