Scriptable is one of the most powerful automation apps for iPhone. It allows you to write your own code in JavaScript, and run it on iOS. The best part about this is that Scriptable supports iOS’s home screen widgets, which means that you can create amazing custom widgets for your iPhone.

If you’re not familiar with coding in JavaScript, you can easily copy code written by others to use these widgets.

We’ll be highlighting the best widgets created by the Scriptable community.

How to Set Up Scriptable Widgets on Your iPhone

We’ve already covered the basics of using Scriptable, including a step-by-step guide on how to set up Scriptable widgets, so be sure to check it out first. Now, on to the fun part—the best widgets that we’ve been using regularly.

1. Weather Cal: The Most Configurable Widget Ever

Weather Cal is an amazing widget that shows basic stuff such as battery percentage, weather, forecast, calendar and reminder entries, and today’s date and time.

Even though this is one of the most complex Scriptable widgets, its setup process and basic customization options are pretty straightforward. Just follow these steps:

  1. Go to the Github raw code page for Weather Cal.
  2. Tap Share > Save Script.
  3. Open Scriptable and run Weather Cal.
  4. Now follow the prompts to set up the widget. For weather data, the app relies on a key from Open Weather. When you see that prompt, be sure to create an account on the Open Weather website and paste the key in Weather Cal. The setup process walks you through this as well.
  5. Once the widget is set up, run it again to customize the widget. The customization options are self-explanatory but the ones you’ll need most often are Change background and Edit preferences.

After all of this is set up, go ahead and add Weather Cal to your Home screen. The widget looks great in both large and medium sizes.

Download: Weather Cal (Free)

2. Conversable: Put Your Favorite Contacts on Speed Dial

iOS doesn’t really have a dedicated contacts widget, and if you want something like that, Conversable is the right script for you. It adds four contacts in a medium-sized widget to your Home screen and you can call, text, or email them with a tap.

The setup process is a little long on an iPhone but the end result makes it worth the time spent. Here’s what you need to do:

  1. Open the Github page for Conversable in Safari or any browser that supports the Request Desktop Site feature.
  2. In Safari, tap the aA button on the top-left and go to Request Desktop Site. Now open Control Center and make sure rotation lock is disabled.
  3. Hold your phone in landscape mode and tap the green Code button, then Download ZIP.
  4. Open the Files app on your iPhone and tap the Browse tab at the bottom. Go to iCloud Drive > Downloads. This path may differ if you’ve changed the default download location for Safari.
  5. Tap Conversable.zip. This will unzip the file and create a folder called conversable-for-scriptable-main. Open it and tap the three dots button on the top-right. Tap Select, then tap the Conversable folder and Conversable.js.
  6. Go to iCloud Drive > Scriptable and tap and hold a blank part of the screen, then select Paste.
  7. Now open the Scriptable app and scroll down to tap the three dots button on Conversable.
  8. At the top, you'll see fields such as name, phone, type, and photo. You can easily modify the names and phone numbers. The Type field refers to phone calls, WhatsApp messages, etc. You can use texts, phone calls, FaceTime, WhatsApp, and more. The full list is available on Github.

Remember to add a medium-sized widget as that’s the only supported size here. You can duplicate this script and customize it again with Scriptable if you want more than four contacts on the home screen.

Download: Conversable (Free)

3. Intermittent Fasting Timer: Does Exactly What It Says

Many of us stress-eat to get us through tough times, and as a result, our scales wind up displaying some nasty numbers.

Related: Great Siri Shortcuts to Improve Your Health and Well-Being

Some of us have been trying intermittent fasting to shed some pounds and there’s a widget that makes it easy to keep track of mealtimes. Here’s how to set it up quickly:

  1. Head to Github’s raw code page for the Intermittent Fasting Timer script.
  2. Hit the Share button, tap the Save Script shortcut, and save it to the Scriptable folder in iCloud Drive.
  3. Open Scriptable and check if the widget shows up there.
  4. If it does, add a new small-sized Scriptable widget to your Home screen and select Intermittent Fasting Timer from the list of scripts.
  5. This is the most important step. Right after this, tap the Parameter field. If you break your fast at 10am and allow yourself to eat during an eight-hour window on any given day, enter 8,10:00 in the Parameter field. Here the first number (8) is the number of hours you are allowed to eat, and the second number is the start time. The script uses a 24-hour clock, so be sure to adjust the time accordingly.

Download: Intermittent Fasting Timer (Free)

If you like to keep a tab on the number of active COVID-19 cases in your country, this widget will show you an overview. This one works best with small-sized widgets, and you can create one widget per country you wish to track. Here’s what you need to do.

  1. Head to Github’s raw code page for the COVID-19 Trends script.
  2. Hit the Share button and tap the Save Script shortcut, then save it to the Scriptable folder in iCloud Drive. You can name it COVID-19 Trends while saving.
  3. Add a new small-sized Scriptable widget to your home screen and select COVID-19 Trends from the list of scripts.
  4. Tap the Parameter field and enter the name of the country you wish to track. The list of countries is available here, in case your country isn’t showing up for some reason.

Download: COVID-19 Trends (Free)

Related: The Ultimate JavaScript Cheat Sheet

Bonus: Even More Scriptable Widgets

There are so many good widgets out there that the short list above can't do justice to what is possible with this app. Here’s a quick rundown of some more of our favorites:

  • Now Playing on Spotify: Adds Spotify album art, artist and song names, shuffle, and repeat buttons in a neat widget.
  • Track the Stock Market: A widget that lets you track the stock prices for listed companies that you're interested in.
  • Tesla Data: Shows useful information about your Tesla car such as battery level, estimated range, and the car’s location.
  • XKCD: A simple widget that displays a random XKCD comic on your home screen.
  • Steam Wishlist: As long as your Steam wish list is public, this widget will display all the games you have saved there, sorted by discount.
  • Peanuts: Like XKCD, but for the Peanuts comic strip.

Unleash the Power of Custom Widgets

Scriptable has an incredibly active community, so be sure to follow the app's official Twitter account if you want to discover more of such widgets.

The world of iOS automation is expanding fast. Scriptable is a third-party app that's accelerating this trend, but Apple's own Siri Shortcuts feature is much more powerful, particularly because it extends automation to accessories such as the Apple Watch too.