How to add a quote widget to your iPhone Lock Screen

Add the widget under the clock

These steps work for any app with Lock Screen widgets. Your iPhone needs to recognise you first, so look at it or rest a finger on the sensor before you start.

1. Lock your iPhone and wake the screen.
2. Touch and hold the Lock Screen until Customize appears at the bottom.
3. Tap Customize, then choose Lock Screen.
4. Tap the widget area under the clock.
5. Scroll the list to the app you want and tap it.
6. Tap the rectangular widget to add it, close the list, then tap Done.

If the app isn't in the list

Open the app once and try again. iOS usually needs an app to have been opened before its widgets turn up. If the area under the clock is already full, remove a widget by tapping the minus sign on it, since the rectangular shape needs room for two small ones.

Why quotes get cut off under the clock

The rectangular Lock Screen widget holds about three rows of small text. That's a tight limit. A quote written for a poster or an Instagram square won't fit, and apps that ignore this end up showing the first half of a sentence and a row of dots, which is a poor way to read Seneca.

Quill keeps its lock-screen lines at 62 characters or fewer, so they fit without being cut. Longer historic lines stay in the app and on the Home Screen widgets, where there's space. If you're writing your own, 62 characters is a good target too.

Use the slim widget above the clock

There's a second spot, the single row above the time. While you're customising, tap the date and pick an inline widget. It's one short row of text with no room for a source, so it suits a few words you already know by heart. The inline row and the rectangular widget can both run at once.

Add one to the Home Screen

Home Screen widgets have much more room. Quill's come in small, medium and large, and the large one also names the source of a line.

1. Touch and hold an empty spot on the Home Screen until the icons start to jiggle.
2. Tap Edit in the corner, then Add Widget.
3. Find the app, swipe across to the size you want, and tap Add Widget.
4. Drag it into place and tap Done.

Choose what each widget shows

Each Quill widget has its own settings, so the one on your Lock Screen can follow Gym & Training while a Home Screen one reads Stoic lines. On the Lock Screen, go back into Customize and tap the widget. On the Home Screen, touch and hold the widget and choose Edit Widget. You pick the category and how often it changes there. Free widgets change daily and follow one category. Pro widgets change up to hourly and can mix several.

Why a new line can arrive a little late

Apps don't control the exact moment a widget refreshes. They give iOS a schedule, and iOS decides when to carry it out, taking things like battery into account. An hourly line might turn up at ten past, and that's normal. Quill's medium and large Home Screen widgets have a button for the next line, and one to keep the line you're looking at, so you can move on without waiting.