iOS 27: full-page widgets for Weather, Music and News, with an eye on the foldable

The iOS 27 beta introduces new full-page widgets for apps like Weather, Music, and News, designed for expanded displays. They already work on standard iPhones, but the design logic clearly targets the inner screen of the upcoming foldable iPhone.

More room for widgets

In the iOS 27 beta distributed to developers after the keynote, a new widget category has emerged: the full-page format, which occupies the entire screen and displays information far more richly than traditional widgets. Weather, Music, and News are among the first apps to support it, with layouts reminiscent of native iPad apps.

Thurrott notes these widgets are fully functional on current iPhones too, but their appearance is directly tied to foldable iPhone references found in the same beta — where Apple introduced specific APIs for hinge state and display opening angle.

Preview of a dual-screen experience

The full-page widget represents a way to use the inner half of a foldable device when fully open, filling space with useful content without requiring a separate app. The fact that the feature already works on standard iPhones suggests Apple wants to prepare its developer — and user — ecosystem for the paradigm before the hardware even arrives. A pragmatic move: when the foldable ships, it will find a pool of ready-made widgets waiting.

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