By letting you see key info from your favorite apps at a glance, widgets make checking the weather, upcoming appointments, urgent tasks, and more incredibly quick. And in macOS Sonoma, widgets are even more powerful and flexible.
Here are three ways widgets can do more in Sonoma—and the best apps to see it all in action.
Adorn your desktop
You can now put widgets right on your desktop to make them even easier to access. And when you open an app or window, your widgets automatically fade into the background so you can concentrate on the task at hand.
To add a widget, Control-click anywhere on the desktop and choose Edit Widgets. Click a widget to add it to an open space on your desktop, or drag it to place it in a specific spot. You can rearrange widgets at any time by dragging them.
Interact with widgets
You can now perform actions right on some widgets. Mark a task as complete, play a song, turn on a light, or run a shortcut—right on the desktop or in Notification Center. No need to open an app!
Add widgets from iPhone
With Continuity, you can use widgets for your favorite iPhone apps on your Mac. See live sports scores, turn on your car’s A/C, confirm a flight arrival, and more.
Widgets for iPhone apps automatically appear in the widget gallery on Mac. They’ll update when your iPhone is nearby or on the same Wi-Fi network.

Try these Mac apps that offer interactive widgets:

Things 3
Organize your life

Fantastical - Calendar
Reminders & Todo List

WaterMinder - Water Tracker
Daily Hydration Drink Reminder

Mercury Weather
Local Forecasts & Live Widgets

Lockera Widgets
Essential Desktop widgets

LookUp Dictionary: Learn Daily
Learn with word of the day

Dice by PCalc
The Best Random Numbers

OmniFocus 4
Accomplish More Every Day

Agenda - Notes meets Calendar
Organize your days

TickTick:To-Do List, Calendar
Task remind, Planner, Habit

Structured - Daily Planner
Visual Calendar & To-Do List

Streaks
The habit-forming to-do list

Kahoot! Play & Create Quizzes
Learn at school, home or work

Cardhop - Contacts
The contacts app you'll love

Tyme 3 - Time Tracking
Worked Hours & Timesheet

Kanban Board, To Do - Doneit
Daily planner, task tracker

CardPointers for Credit Cards
Earn more points & cashback

GoodTask
To Do List, Tasks & Reminders

Awesome Habits: Habit Tracker
Simple habit & goal tracker

lire
Full-text RSS Reader

Rocket Homes Real Estate
Modern Home Search, Buy & Sell

Planny • Daily Planner
To do list, Focus, Teamwork

Triode - Internet Radio
Listen everywhere.

Controller for HomeKit
Your Smart Home Companion

Calory: Daily Calorie Counter
Macro Tracker • Food Diary

Money Coach My Budget Planner
Expense Tracker, Bill Manager

Noted: Record, AI-Transcribe
Take meeting notes and audio

Time’s Up! — Visual Timer
Focus timer & countdown clock

2Do
Checklist. Goals. Habit. Notes

Taskheat — milestone tracker
Task roadmap, goals & progress

SchoolOrganizer
Makes your school life easier

Movie Tracker: What to watch
TV Show finder & ratings

Get Sauce:Reverse Image Search
12 Different Search Engines

WilliWidgets
Customizable Widget Creator

Expenses: Spending Tracker
Spend Better, Live Better

GoodLinks
Save links, read later.

Travel Planner Guide: Tripsy
Trip Itinerary Plan Organizer
These Mac apps have widgets that are especially convenient on the desktop:

Weathergraph weather widget
Wind,rain,snow forecast&alert

BusyCal: Calendar & Reminders
To Do List. Planner. Schedule

Time Zone Pro
World clock for your contacts

Day One
Your journal for life

Paku for PurpleAir
Real-time Air Quality Widgets

Book Tracker - Reading log
TBR planner and bookshelf list

Weather mini
Your weather cards

iStatistica
Advanced system monitor

News Explorer
Your one-stop news center

MindNode – Mind Map & Outline
Mind Mapping, Brainstorm Ideas

FreeSpace
Utilities

MenuBar Stats
Advanced System Monitoring

Bear: Markdown Notes
Write naturally