Google rolls out Drive and Fit iOS home screen widgets with Calendar, Chrome coming soon

Back in September, Google introduced iPhone and iPad widgets for Photos, Search, and YouTube Music. In addition to Gmail yesterday, Google Drive and Fit widgets are now on the iOS home screen, with Calendar and Chrome also previewed today. 

The Google Drive widget — complete with the new Workspace-style icon — shares the same design and layout as Gmail. It starts with a bar to “Search in Drive” and has two shortcuts underneath for the “files you’re most likely to need.” The type (Docs, Sheets, Slides, etc.) is noted by an icon, and the full name follows.

Google Fit features the service’s signature daily progress dial for Heart Points and steps at the left, while a daily breakdown for the week is at the right. It puts “numbers front and center on your iOS device” and follows a big Home feed revamp to the service earlier this week that also introduced more sleep data.

Looking ahead, Google Calendar is adding an iOS home screen widget that shows your appointments. It will be available in the “coming weeks.” The day/date is noted at the left, while the list next to it features the title and time range or a count of how many are upcoming. This widget preserves your color coding and will show tasks in addition to events.

The next version of Chrome, which should be released in mid-January, will have a widget with the quick ability to open the address bar for a search or URL entry. This is followed by shortcuts to launch a new/incognito tab, voice search, or the QR code scanner. Smaller widgets will be available, with Google teasing an appearance from the offline dino. Chrome 88 beta is rolled out with these widgets data if you want to test early.