iPadOS Widget Updates Not Reliable

I’ve noticed that the content of the widgets on my homescreen will frequently be out of sync. I notice it most with the Things 3 widgets since I use it all throughout the day. But I’ve noticed the same thing with Mail and other widgets. Opening the app doesn’t seem to do anything to get the widget back in sync. The only way I’ve gotten it back in sync is to reboot the iPad. Are there other troubleshooting tips short of rebooting?

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When and how iOS updates the widgets is a complex matter. You cannot do much basically as everyhing is managed by the OS, not the apps. More frequently used widgets will also update more frequently:

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/widgetkit/keeping-a-widget-up-to-date

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I noticed the same things with the Timery App. The widget seemed often out of sync with the app so I decided to delete the widget.

Same problem with the GoodTask Widgets… Seems to be as Dario said - it’s an OS thing I guess…

Thanks, here is the relevant paragraph from the developer docs:

A widget’s budget applies to a 24-hour period. WidgetKit tunes the 24-hour window to the user’s daily usage pattern, which means the daily budget doesn’t necessarily reset at exactly midnight. For a widget the user frequently views, a daily budget typically includes from 40 to 70 refreshes. This rate roughly translates to widget reloads every 15 to 60 minutes, but it’s common for these intervals to vary due to the many factors involved.

So maybe I somehow used up the “budget” for the day and rebooting resets the budget?

One of the widgets I use has a button on it which launches the app to update the content. The app self-minimises so it works reasonably well. Bit of a hack though. Apple need to get a lot smarter with widget updating.

Widgets is one of those features that should be awesome but end up sucking. Exhibit A: Apple’s very own Mail widget. I have not discerned any pattern to when it updates but the fact that it always seems to be out of sync with the actual app makes it essentially useless. And most other widgets I’ve tried had similar issues, and I got rid of them. The only one I still use is the August app to lock and unlock my door. It works directly from the widget with no need to open the app.