Widgets Drive Retention Across Android Surfaces

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Android widget adoption correlates with retention. Gratitude reported 25% higher attention from users who added at least one widget. Starting later this year, mobile widgets appear on Android Auto, reaching over 250 million compatible cars. Widgets use dynamic theming to adapt across phone home screens and car dashboards. The same customizations follow the user when they connect their phone to a rental car. One-tap calling from a contacts widget works on the car display.

Remote Compose Replaces Proto Layout on Wear OS

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Frank introduced Wear Widgets, the new name for full-screen tiles on Wear OS. Two new card layouts, small and large, match the 2x1 and 2x2 mobile formats. The engine behind them is Remote Compose, a new Android Remote UI framework that replaces Proto Layout. Remote Compose renders animations and shape morphing without waking the app, saving battery. The API is backward compatible with Wear 4 and up. Samsung Galaxy Watch multi-info tiles now accept third-party widgets.

Jetpack Glance 2026 Adds Snap Scroll and Particle Effects

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Jetpack Glance 2026 adds snap scroll, particle effects, and expressive components. Snap scroll lets users swipe through vertically scrolling widgets page by page. Particle effects trigger on milestones. The library is backward compatible: devices on Android 15 and below render with remote views in XML, while Android 16 devices use Remote Compose. New canonical layouts include single entity in 2x2 and 2x1 formats for bite-sized info, plus a streak layout for tracking consecutive days. Resizing widgets produces smooth fade animations built into Remote Compose.

Widgets Expand to Cars, XR, and Desktop

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John demonstrated porting a Wear OS tile to a large-size Wear Widget. The Glance Wear widget service replaces the Tile service. Remote Compose components replace Proto Layout components with improved readability. Scrolling is not supported on Android Auto, so the platform defaults to the first item in a lazy column. Developers should put the most valuable content first. Looking ahead, widgets will support XR, AI glasses, and desktop. The Android show announced Create My Widget, a Gemini-powered feature for user personalization.

Notable Quotes

users who add at least one widget have 25% higher attention compared to those who don’t Audrey · ▶ Watch (1:45)

we are bringing mobile widgets to Android Auto Audrey · ▶ Watch (2:34)

we are officially renaming tiles to Wear Widgets Frank · ▶ Watch (4:47)

Remote Compose handles this expressiveness without triggering any app wake-ups, saving critical battery life Frank · ▶ Watch (6:12)

Key Takeaways

  • Widgets built with Jetpack Glance now run on phones, Wear OS, and Android Auto.
  • Remote Compose enables animations and interactions without waking the host app.
  • Jetpack Glance 2026 adds snap scroll, particle effects, and canonical layouts.