Aesthetic Widgets for iPhone
Twelve coordinated themes, four type styles and eight widget types, all made on the device. This page is about the look: which theme goes with which wallpaper, and what "aesthetic" actually means once you have to read the thing every day.
Free on the App Store · the free version shows ads and adds a small watermark · Wallby Pro removes both
A theme is three decisions, made together
Most widget apps hand you a color picker and let you build something unreadable. In Wallby a theme is a background, a text color chosen against that background, and a font design, and they ship as one unit.
Cream theme
Midnight theme
Sage theme
Mono theme
Blush theme
Ocean theme
Those six are free. The six below come with Wallby Pro.
Aurora theme
Sunset theme
Noir Gold theme
Cotton Sky theme
Matcha theme
Grape Soda theme
The four type styles
Rounded and Modern
Rounded is the soft system face used by Midnight, Sage, Blush, Ocean, Aurora, Cotton Sky, Matcha and Grape Soda. Modern is the plain system face for a flatter look.
Serif and Mono
Serif carries Cream, Sunset and Noir Gold and suits a quote or a date. Mono is the fixed width face behind the Mono theme and reads well for a clock or a countdown.
Matching a widget theme to a wallpaper
Both catalogues are in the same app, which makes a coherent screen a two minute job rather than a hunt across two downloads. These pairs use the real names in Wallby.
Light and warm
Cream widgets on the Paper wallpaper, or Blush widgets on Peach. Serif type, low contrast, easy on a bright screen.
Dark and quiet
Midnight widgets on Ink or Dusk, or Mono widgets on Dotted. The clock stays legible at night without lighting up the whole screen.
Green and calm
Sage widgets on Mint. A quote widget in Sage on a Mint background is about as gentle as a Home Screen gets.
Deep and saturated
Ocean widgets on Plum Glow, or the Pro pairing of Noir Gold on Nebula. Best with one large widget rather than six small ones.
All thirteen wallpapers are on the wallpaper maker page.
Eight widget types to style
Every type below takes any theme, and none of them is locked behind the subscription.
| Widget | What it shows | Good in |
|---|---|---|
| Clock | Live time in Digital, Stacked or Minimal style | All Home Screen sizes, Lock Rectangular |
| Date | Today, in a large numeral with the month | All sizes and all three Lock shapes |
| Countdown | Days left or days since, with a D day badge | All sizes and all three Lock shapes |
| Quote | One of twenty bundled lines, rotating daily | All Home Screen sizes, Lock Rectangular, Lock Inline |
| Photo | A photo you pick, kept on the device | All Home Screen sizes |
| Battery | Charge as a ring and a percentage | All sizes and all three Lock shapes |
| Calendar | The current month with today marked | All Home Screen sizes, Lock Rectangular |
| Monogram | Your initials, set in the theme font | All Home Screen sizes, Lock Circular |
The Lock Screen column is not arbitrary. iOS renders those slots in a single tinted style, so Wallby offers only the content that survives it. The detail is on Lock Screen widgets for iPhone.
Once it looks right, here is how it gets onto the screen
- Save the design in Wallby and give it a name you will recognise, for example "Bali countdown" or "Night clock".
- Touch and hold the Home Screen, tap Edit, then the plus button.
- Search for Wallby and add the size you want.
- Touch and hold the placed widget, tap Edit Widget, and choose your design by name.
iOS adds widgets from its own gallery. No app can drop one onto your screen for you, and Wallby does not pretend otherwise. The steps above take about ten seconds.
Questions about themes
Which themes are free?
Six of the twelve: Cream, Midnight, Sage, Mono, Blush and Ocean. They are a complete set rather than a teaser, so a free Home Screen can still be coherent. The other six, Aurora, Sunset, Noir Gold, Cotton Sky, Matcha and Grape Soda, come with Wallby Pro.
Can I change the font on a widget?
The font travels with the theme. Each of the twelve themes uses one of four type designs, Rounded, Modern, Serif or Mono, chosen to suit its colors. Cream is Serif, Mono is monospaced, and most of the rest are Rounded.
Do my widgets carry a watermark?
In the free version, yes: a small Wallby mark. Wallby Pro removes it from both widgets and wallpapers.
Why does the widget picker show my widgets by name?
Because every design you save gets a name you choose. When you touch and hold a placed widget and tap Edit Widget, you pick your design from that list, which is a great deal easier than scrolling through several identical entries.
Pick a theme and build one widget
Free, iOS 17.0 or later. Six themes and eight widget types without paying anything.