Expo + Expo Widgets

This gives you an iOS home-screen widget and a Live Activity (Lock Screen and Dynamic Island) through expo-widgets. The widget's layout is src/widgets/app-widget.tsx: a React component marked with the 'widget' directive and built from @expo/ui/swift-ui views, which Expo compiles into a real WidgetKit extension. The app feeds it through src/lib/widgets.ts, which implements the shim - widgets.update({ title, value, subtitle, symbol }) hands a new snapshot to the widget, and does nothing in Expo Go, on Android and on web. The weather demo pushes the current temperature to it every time a forecast loads. The Live Activity is src/widgets/app-activity.tsx, driven by widgets.activity.start / update / end; the weather demo's Show on Lock Screen button starts it and every forecast refresh updates it.

When to pick Expo Widgets

Pick Expo Widgets when a glance is worth a Home Screen slot: it adds an iOS widget extension built with @expo/ui SwiftUI components, written in TypeScript in src/widgets/app-widget.tsx, in small and medium sizes, plus a Live Activity for the Lock Screen and the Dynamic Island (widgets.activity.start()). It needs a dev build.

At a glance

Runs in Expo Go

No - needs a development build

Files added

4

npm packages

1

Keys to paste

None

Included in

Starter and Pro

Tests included

1

Set it up

bun run setup --widgets expo-widgets

Setup copies the module in, installs SDK-matched versions and removes the options you did not pick. Then bun run doctor lists every key still missing, with a link to where you get it. The step-by-step guide is in the Expo Widgets docs.

Wiring it by hand instead? Read the guide: Expo widgets on iOS: a working setup.

Questions

Get it

Expo Widgets ships in Starter and Pro: one payment, lifetime updates. See pricing or browse every module.