Comparison

Shortcuts vs Widgetsmith

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Shortcuts

Automate everyday tasks on your iPhone and iPad by creating custom workflows. Combine actions from your favorite apps to perform complex operations with a single tap, Siri command, or even automatically. Explore hundreds of built-in actions to streamline your digital life.

Highlights
  • Create custom automations
  • Hundreds of built-in actions
  • Integrates with favorite apps
  • Home Screen icons for quick access
  • Siri integration
  • Automatic task execution
  • Make animated GIFs
  • Create PDFs from Safari
Features
Read full description

Now, with Describe a Shortcut, you can automate daily tasks with a simple description. Just describe what you need, and Shortcuts creates an automation that connects actions across apps. Choose from hundreds of built-in actions in your favorite apps — like Calendar, Camera, Reminders, and more — to help you accomplish everyday tasks with a simple tap from the Home Screen, by asking Siri, or even automatically. Use the Shortcuts app to: • Add a Home Screen icon that calls a loved one • Make animated GIFs • Make PDFs from Safari And so much more... Shortcuts opens up incredible possibilities to automate things you do regularly on your iPhone and iPad.

About

Widgetsmith

Personalize your device with highly customizable widgets for your home and lock screens. Showcase photos, track events, display weather, and launch apps directly from your widgets. Includes a wallpaper library and tools for theming.

Highlights
  • Customizable widgets
  • Home and lock screen personalization
  • Photo display
  • Event countdowns
  • Weather forecasts
  • App launching widgets
  • Theming tools
Features
Read full description

Widgetsmith lets you personalize your device like never before with a wide range of highly customizable widgets. It allows you to design your home screen to remind you of the people, places, and words that mean the most to you. Widgetsmith showcases your photos, counts down to upcoming events, provides quick access to your favorite music, allows you to check the weather at a glance, and more. You can build widgets with Actions to launch apps, run Shortcuts, send a text, and more, from your home screen or Control Center. Widgetsmith includes a library of iPhone wallpapers and a tool to theme your widgets to perfectly complement these wallpapers or any of your own. Each widget can be adjusted precisely to fit your desired appearance and function, using various colors, fonts, borders, and themes. With Widgetsmith, you can create your perfect home screen aesthetic and easily change it over time. WIDGETS: You can create almost anything with Widgetsmith, using the wide range of widget types offered in the app! Here are some favorites: Photos: Highlight your favorite images across your home screens with a range of filters and borders Photo Galleries: View photos in an album or customized collection Customizable Date & Time Clocks Activity Tracking & Step Counting Countdown Timers Solar & Lunar Trackers Weather Conditions & Forecasts Time Zone Tracker Widgetsmith lets you customize not only your home screen but also your lock screen! You can view inspirational song lyrics, a photo of a loved one, weather information, and more without unlocking your device. WALLPAPERS: Widgetsmith includes a collection of phone wallpapers from various artists. These can be downloaded directly from the app and used to create custom widget themes to quickly and easily theme your entire home screen in a pleasing color palette. FLEXIBILITY: If you want different widgets at different times of day, Widgetsmith has you covered! For example, a widget could show the weather in the morning, your calendar during your work day, and then switch to your Activity ring progress as you wrap up your day. This lets you take full advantage of each slot on your home screen. IN-APP TOOLS: Wisgetsmith is also home to a wide range of valuable tools, including: A weather app with air quality, pollen, and tide information A full-featured time zone converter Charts to review activity and workout data NOTES: Widgetsmith is designed to optionally integrate with Apple Health to display your steps and activity. Permission for Widgetsmith to access this data is controlled through the Apple Health app. Widgetsmith can also integrate with your photos, Apple Music library, calendars, reminders, and more. Access to this information is handled using the standard iOS/iPadOS/watchOS privacy prompts, which are shown only in Widgetsmith. Widgetsmith includes an optional premium subscription. This is offered on a monthly or annual basis. If you choose to purchase a subscription, your payment will be charged to your iTunes account. Subscriptions will automatically renew unless canceled within 24 hours before the end of the current period. After purchase, you can turn off auto-renewal at any time by going to your Account Settings in the App Store. Access to tide and weather data is only available to Widgetsmith Premium subscribers. LEARN MORE: Privacy Policy: https://widgetsmith.app/privacy Terms of Use: https://widgetsmith.app/terms

Screenshots

Shortcuts3 screens
Widgetsmith4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Shortcuts at none against Widgetsmith's 4. Shortcuts also leads on ads (none vs shown) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.0). Widgetsmith's advantage is update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 9 months) and review sentiment (72% vs 49%). On price, rating and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Widgetsmith sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Shortcuts asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Shortcuts against 4.6 for Widgetsmith. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Widgetsmith has 773K ratings behind it against 47K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 49% of Shortcuts's written reviews are positive against 72% of Widgetsmith's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Shortcuts ships an update every 9 months, Widgetsmith every 2 weeks. Both last shipped on October 14, 2026.

Scorecard8 real differences · 3 level
Shortcuts versus Widgetsmith: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterShortcutsWidgetsmith
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (47K ratings)4.6 (773K ratings)
Positive reviews49.2% of reviews72.3% of reviews — better
Number of ratings47K773K — better
Update frequencyEvery 9 monthsEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank—#38 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple WatchiPhone, iPad, iPod, Vision Pro
Requires iOS12.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size9 MB183 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperApple Distribution InternationalCross Forward Consulting, LLC

Customer experience

Shortcuts

All ratings47,401 ratings
Positive88.7%
Neutral3.5%
Negative7.8%
Written reviews2,819 reviews
Positive49.2%
Neutral12.5%
Negative38.4%

Widgetsmith

All ratings772,982 ratings
Positive90.2%
Neutral3.6%
Negative6.2%
Written reviews1,950 reviews
Positive72.3%
Neutral8.5%
Negative19.2%

User reviews

Shortcuts

From 47K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Powerful automation capabilities
  • 👍 Customizable app icons and widgets
  • 🎨 Aesthetic customization options
  • 💡 Useful for home automation and productivity

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Buggy, crashes, and exhibits unexpected behavior
  • 🔍 Inaccessible and difficult to use
  • 🔕 Annoying notification banners
  • 🔌 Drains battery when running complex shortcuts

Widgetsmith

From 773K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Customizable widgets
  • 💡 Allows for aesthetic home screen design
  • 🤩 Great for organizing and personalizing
  • 🥰 Helpful for improving phone appearance

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Widgets turning grey or not working
  • 🤔 Inability to remove 'Widgetsmith' label
  • 🤨 Limited customization options for free users
  • 😕 Inconsistent widget behavior

Bugs and requests

Shortcuts

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Shortcuts randomly stop working, requiring device restart
  • Inconsistent behavior when adding/removing actions in shortcuts
  • Shortcuts not syncing properly between devices
  • Automations not running automatically as expected

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add 'and' statement for automations
  • Allow toggling of silent mode on iPad and Apple Watch
  • Provide option to disable notification banners
  • Improve syncing and reliability between devices

Widgetsmith

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Widgets randomly turning grey or blank
  • Calendar and time widgets not updating correctly
  • App crashing or not opening
  • Issues with photo widgets not displaying images

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to choose specific photos for widgets
  • Option to adjust photo rotation interval
  • Custom color selection tool
  • Customizable widget labels
  • Transparent widget backgrounds

In-app purchases

None

Shortcuts

No in-app purchases

4 purchases

Widgetsmith

Subscriptions4
  • Widgetsmith Premium7 Days trial$1.991 Month
  • Widgetsmith Premium7 Days trial$3.991 Month
  • Widgetsmith Premium7 Days trial$19.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Widgetsmith Premium7 Days trial$29.991 Year

Questions

Is Shortcuts free?
Shortcuts is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Widgetsmith free?
Widgetsmith is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Shortcuts or Widgetsmith?
Shortcuts and Widgetsmith are both rated 4.6 out of 5 on the App Store, from 47K and 773K ratings respectively.
Do Shortcuts or Widgetsmith have ads?
Widgetsmith shows ads; Shortcuts does not.
Which is updated more often, Shortcuts or Widgetsmith?
Shortcuts ships an update every 9 months, and Widgetsmith every 2 weeks. Most recently, Shortcuts was updated on October 14, 2026 and Widgetsmith on October 14, 2026.

Other comparisons