Notification Center

Apple Watch: new details about battery life, apps, features and more emerge

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

Apple has managed to improve the battery life of the Apple Watch to support 5 hours of heavy application use, reports 9to5Mac. Ahead of Monday's event, the site has heard this and other previously unknown details from sources who have hands-on experience with the wearable.

The improvement in battery life should ensure that the Watch will last a full day with mixed heavy and passive use. However, the site makes it clear that users will still need to charge the device every night, as the battery is not strong enough to last a full second day without renewal.

Breaking brings an RSS feed reader widget to Notification Center on iOS and OS X

Lory Gil ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

If you are a news junkie, you probably have all sorts of alerts set up to let you know the moment a story breaks. Wouldn’t it be nice if your RSS feeds were available right in the Today view of Notification Center?

Breaking – News in your Today tab populates your favorite news feeds in Notification Center for iOS and OS X, so you access stories you want to read without having to open a special app for it. All of your news is right in front of you, available with one swipe or click.

This widget adds a phone dialer to Notification Center

Lory Gil ∙ Updated May 17, 2018

There are dozens of apps out there that offer a streamlined interface so you can find contacts and make phone calls quickly and easily, but how many can you count will put a widget on your Lock screen so you can make phone calls in Notification Center?

YoBu is a Notification Center extension that allows you to search for contacts by name or number, and then call them right from the Today view on your Lock screen.

1SecMoney review: record income and expenses right from Notification Center

Lory Gil ∙ Updated May 17, 2018

How people keep track of finances is a personal preference. Some like complex, feature rich programs that allow them to connect and follow all of their income and expenses meticulously. Others are happy with simplicity.

1SecMoney is a simple finance-tracking app that lets you add daily additions and subtractions for your bank and credit card accounts. You can also input items directly from Notification Center using the Today widget. We’ve got a hands-on app review of 1SecMoney for you today.

Cheatsheet: a widget for all those little things you can’t remember

Sébastien Page ∙ February 5, 2015

Your license plate, your driver license number, your hotel room number, the combination of your locker at the gym. All these are little things that we sometimes need to have quick access to but not necessarily remember. This is where an app like Cheatsheet comes in handy. Simply write things down in Cheatsheet and refer to them at any time directly from the widget in the Today tab of Notification Center.

NC brings a Twitter widget to Notification Center

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated February 5, 2018

Up until a few months ago, if you wanted to have a Twitter widget in Notification Center, you would have had to go the jailbreak way and find a tweak that would allow you to do just that. But since the release of iOS 8, and Apple opening up its mobile operating software for developers to create extensions, we've seen some really neat apps and widgets taking advantage of the new possibilities. NC is one of those.

NC is a new app that lets you add a Twitter widget to the Today tab of Notification Center, and from our usage of the app for the last few days, we can say it works as advertised.

TodayRemote is a widget with iTunes playback controls

Lory Gil ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

With Apple’s Remote app, you can access your computer’s iTunes playback controls so you don’t have to get off the couch to switch songs. But, unlocking your iPhone, opening the app, and selecting your device is still just way too much work.

TodayRemote lets you control playback of iTunes right from the Lock screen of your iPhone. You’ll never have to work for your music again.

This widget lets you play Minesweeper directly from Notification Center

Sébastien Page ∙ January 22, 2015

Minesweeper Widget Edition is a new app launching in the App Store today that, as you might have guessed, brings a playable Minesweeper widget to the Today tab of Notification Center. Developed by the same guy who made Overglide, another playable Notification Center widget, Minesweeper Widget Edition promises to offer short and quick gaming to make your wait in line at the grocery store ever so enjoyable.

Thermos lets you control your Nest from Notification Center on iPhone and iPad

Sébastien Page ∙ January 20, 2015

Thermos for iPhone and iPad is the first application to let you control your Nest thermostat directly from your iPhone or iPad's Notification Center. Already available for Mac (read our review), Thermos has now made its way to iOS with a Notification Center widget that allows Nest user to adjust the temperature of the thermostat, as well as setting it to Away, or turning it off altogether.

Spotify4Me, the Spotify Notification Center widget for Mac

Lory Gil ∙ Updated January 28, 2019

Ever since Apple updated iOS and OS X with the ability to add extensions to Notification Center, I’ve been all about the widgets. On my Mac, I’ve got weather widgets, to-do lists, countdowns, and package trackers. I love them. I want more.

Spotify4Me is a Notification Center extension that adds song skip and volume controls to your Today View. It may not do much, but what it does, it does right.

The best Notification Center widgets of 2014

Lory Gil ∙ Updated October 14, 2018

When Apple first revealed that iOS users would be able to access information from the Lock screen in iOS 8, I wasn’t that excited. I’ve never had a problem just unlocking my iPhone and opening the app I want to get information from. However, once Notification Center extensions became available, I was hooked. Now, I’ve got to-do lists, weather forecasts, news updates, and all kinds of widgets sitting on my Today view.

Everyone at iDB is excited about widgets, so it was pretty easy to come up with a big list of nominations. However, it was hard to narrow it down to the best one. With much hair pulling involved, we came to a final vote. The list below reveals our winner for best Notification Center widget, as well as the runner-ups. Since the feature has only existed for a few months, we are not going to name any “best ever” widget this year.

DockPhone lets you easily place phone calls from your Mac

Sébastien Page ∙ December 22, 2014

DockPhone is a new app that lets you dial and call any number directly from your Mac. Based on FaceTime's capabilities, and taking advantage of the new Continuity feature found on OS X Yosemite, DockPhone lets you make calls via your iPhone cellular connection right from the Mac, effectively adding a simple feature that users would have expected Apple to ship with Yosemite in the first place.