Elements vs Shortcut Launcher Widget
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side ā with what reviewers say about each.
Elements
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Aesthetic widgets that match ā because you designed them that way. Elements is a design system for widgets: set the typeface, the accent, the background and the density once, and 33 kinds of widget wear it ā on the Home Screen, the Lock Screen, StandBy, CarPlay, and on your Mac. 173 designed faces. 267 backgrounds, 118 of them photographs. 80 colour sets, 12 accent colours, or your own. 218 finished looks you can apply in one tap and then keep tweaking. 17 KINDS FREE, THE REST ONE AD AWAY Clock, weather, next event, calendar, battery and storage, world clock, countdown, days since, dots, today, sunrise and sunset, moon, prayer times, quote, word of the day, verse of the day and a groceries list are free to place and keep. Every other widget is free for 7 days after one short ad, as often as you like. Elements Pro removes the ads and unlocks everything for good. WIDGETS THAT KNOW SOMETHING ⢠Weather written as a sentence ā "31° now, feels 35°. Haze till 6pm." ⢠Your next event, your month at a glance, and how long until the next thing ⢠A groceries list you tick off from the Home Screen ⢠Steps, distance and sleep, read from Health ⢠Sunrise, sunset, the moon's phase, and how much daylight you lost since yesterday ⢠Prayer times, computed on device from five published methods ⢠Currency at the day's published reference rate ⢠Analog dials, world clocks, countdowns, a verse, a word, your own feeds CUT OUT A SUBJECT AND STICK IT ON YOUR SCREEN Pick a photo and Elements lifts the subject out of it. Size it, turn it, give it a paper edge, and let the widget rotate through your shelf. MINI-APPS YOU FILL YOURSELF Habits you check off. Tallies you count. Subscriptions with renewal reminders. A focus timer. A fasting window. Places, moments, quotes and words of your own. Readings your Shortcuts write into. A canvas you compose from blocks. Habits and tallies keep their streaks and totals, and all of it stays on your phone. FED BY YOUR SHORTCUTS Your automations can write straight into a widget: a reading, a habit, a counter, a canvas block. State how often your shortcut runs and the widget will say "as of 9:41" when it misses ā a stale number never poses as a fresh one. CORRECT, OR IT TELLS YOU WHY The most common complaint about widgets is that they go stale, blank or wrong. Every widget knows how fresh its data is and says so. Every failure is named ā "no location fix", "offline", "not allowed" ā instead of one shrug. Widget Health shows what actually reloaded today. PROGRESS WITHOUT PRESSURE Streaks, totals and a small celebration when you reach a goal ā and you can switch celebrations off. No streak repairs to buy, no leaderboards, and no red marks for a day you missed. THREE THEMES, LIGHT AND DARK Ink Bento, Dawn Glass and Pop. Each design can pin its own theme and light/dark, so one widget stays dark while another follows your phone. PRIVACY Calendar, Reminders, Health and everything you type stay on your device. Health access is read-only and the widget extension never touches it. Weather sends your location, or a place you pin, to Apple for a forecast; a few widgets fetch public data such as exchange rates or feeds you add. There are no accounts. The free version shows ads from Google AdMob. Ads are personalised only if you allow tracking when asked; otherwise they are less personal. In the UK and EU you choose in a consent form, and can change it any time in Settings. Elements Pro has no ads. ELEMENTS PRO Every widget, every face, every photograph and colour set, the bundled typefaces and icon styles, unlimited saved designs, and no ads. Yearly, monthly or a one-time lifetime purchase. Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the period; manage or cancel them in your Apple Account settings. Privacy policy: https://thesolanalabs.com/elements/privacy/ Terms of use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Shortcut Launcher Widget
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Shortcut Launcher Widget turns your Home Screen into a highly customizable launchpad for the Shortcuts you already have. There are no other apps on the App Store that offer this kind of layout precision and customization. Powered by the new iOS 27 APIs, tapping a tile runs your shortcut completely in place without any screen flicker or app bouncing. Because you have total control over the layout, you can break past the usual limits. Want to easily fit 3, 4, or even 5 shortcuts on a small widget? You can dial in the perfect grid. Pick up to 64 shortcuts and they become a beautiful grid of named tiles. This app is all about letting you build the exact widget you want. ⢠Four widget sizes, including the new Extra Large full-page widget ⢠10 built-in color themes, or build your own custom look ⢠Five density presets from edge-to-edge to roomy, or dial in exact margins, spacing, and corner radius yourself ⢠Explicit column control: auto-fit, or pin 1, 2, 3, or more ⢠Three backgrounds: a solid theme color, the system's own material, or your own wallpaper blended in behind the widget ⢠Save multiple board presets and switch between them instantly No accounts. No network access. No analytics. No ads. Nothing to buy. It's a Home Screen tool, not a service.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Shortcut Launcher Widget at none against Elements's 3. Shortcut Launcher Widget also leads on ads (none vs shown). On price, update cadence, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price Ā· Rating Ā· Positive reviews Ā· Number of ratings Ā· Update frequency Ā· Ads Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Monetization Ā· Best chart rank Ā· Devices Ā· Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Elements sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Shortcut Launcher Widget asks for nothing beyond the download.
Elements ships an update every 6 days, Shortcut Launcher Widget every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 21, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Elements | Shortcut Launcher Widget |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Every 6 days ā better | Every 2 weeks |
| Ads | Yes | No ā better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No ā better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 ā better | 27.0 |
| Further details ā not scored | ||
| Size | 116 MB | 1 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Touseef Hassan Nasir | Matthew Hornung |
In-app purchases
Elements
- Elements Pro Monthly$2.991 Month
- Elements Pro Yearly1 Month trial$19.991 Year
- Elements Pro Lifetime$49.99
Shortcut Launcher Widget
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Elements free?
Is Shortcut Launcher Widget free?
Do Elements or Shortcut Launcher Widget have ads?
Which is updated more often, Elements or Shortcut Launcher Widget?
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