The Best Screen Time Widgets for Android

The short version: Most Android phones already have a free screen time widget: Google's Digital Wellbeing widget, which shows today's total screen time and, at larger sizes, your top three apps. To add it, touch and hold an empty spot on your home screen, tap Widgets, find Digital Wellbeing, then drag the screen time widget into place. If you want more detail, StayFree's widget adds usage tracking and limits. If you want the widget to do something about the number, Unglue's balance widget shows the minutes you have earned and unlocks your blocked apps from the home screen.

The number lives in Settings, three taps deep, and nobody goes there on purpose at 11pm. So the number never gets seen at the one moment it might matter: the second before you open the app again.

A widget fixes that by putting it on the home screen, right next to the icons it is counting. We find it mildly humbling. That is roughly the idea.

Why a widget helps more than the menu

Digital Wellbeing tracks your use whether you look at it or not. The trouble is that checking it is a chore, so most of us check it once, feel bad, and forget it exists. Our guide to checking screen time on Android walks through where the number lives on each brand. A widget saves you the trip.

It also changes when you see the number. Unlocking your phone to reply to a message and seeing "3 h 12 min" before lunch is a small, quiet nudge. It asks nothing of you. Some days it is enough to make you put the phone back in your pocket. Some days it isn't, and that is fine too.

1. Google Digital Wellbeing widget: best built-in option

The Digital Wellbeing screen time widget is free, already on most Android phones that ship with Google's apps, and needs no extra permissions. Google rolled it out in 2022, and XDA's report from the launch describes how it scales: at its smallest, 2 by 1, it shows only your total screen time for today. Make it bigger and it adds the three apps you have used most.

It picks up the colours of your wallpaper on Android 12 and later, follows light and dark mode, and opens Digital Wellbeing when you tap it, so you are one tap from setting an app timer.

How to add the Digital Wellbeing widget

These are the steps from Google's Digital Wellbeing help page, which lists them for Android 9 and later:

1. Touch and hold an empty spot on your home screen.
2. Tap Widgets.
3. Scroll to Digital Wellbeing and touch and hold the screen time widget.
4. Drag it where you want it and lift your finger.
5. To resize it, touch and hold the widget, then drag the handles at its edges.

If you don't see Digital Wellbeing in the widget list, open Settings and search for "Digital Wellbeing" to check your phone has it. Google notes that the steps vary by device, so the widget may sit under a slightly different name on yours.

Best for: anyone who wants the number in view without installing anything.

Skip it if: you want history, weekly trends, or limits you can't just delete. The widget only shows today, and app timers in Digital Wellbeing are easy to remove when they get in the way, which Google's own help page points out.

2. Samsung's Digital Wellbeing widget: best on a Galaxy

Samsung builds its own version of Digital Wellbeing into One UI, and it comes with its own home screen widget. Add it the same way: touch and hold the home screen, tap Widgets, and look for Digital Wellbeing. Widget names and sizes vary between One UI versions, so the exact options on your phone may differ from a friend's.

What makes the Samsung version worth a look is what sits behind it. Tapping through opens Samsung's Digital Wellbeing screen, which has a Screen time goal you can set, and a weekly report that shows your daily average and most-used apps, as Samsung's support page describes. A goal gives the widget's number something to be measured against.

Best for: Galaxy owners who want the built-in option with a daily goal.

Skip it if: you want the widget to block anything. It reports. That's all.

3. StayFree: best for detailed tracking

StayFree is a usage tracker first, and its home screen widget reflects that. It can show your total screen time or your most-used apps at a glance, and the app behind it keeps daily, weekly, and monthly history, which Digital Wellbeing doesn't show in nearly as much depth.

StayFree also goes further than tracking. It offers usage limits, schedules, reminders when you go over, and blocking of parts of apps, such as Shorts or Reels, without blocking the whole app. We cover it in more detail in our ranking of Android screen time apps.

Best for: people who want the receipts. Charts, history, trends.

Skip it if: you already know which app is the problem and seeing the number has stopped changing anything.

4. Unglue balance widget: best if the number alone isn't enough

We make Unglue, so take this one with that in mind.

Every widget above counts the minutes you have spent. Ours counts the other way. Unglue blocks the apps you choose, and you earn minutes for them by doing things in real life: a walk, a glass of water, a few minutes of reading. The Unglue Balance widget shows how many minutes you have earned, and has an Unlock button right there on the home screen. Tap it, pick 1, 2, or 5 minutes, and your blocked apps open for that long. A countdown shows how much time is left, with an End Now button if you finish early. During a focus session, the widget shows the session timer instead, with a pause button.

The effect is that the home screen shows a number you can grow, which feels different from one you can only watch climb. It is a square 2 by 2 tile, so it takes the space of four icons.

To add it, install Unglue from Google Play, set up your blocked apps, then touch and hold your home screen, tap Widgets, and look for Unglue Balance.

Best for: people who have tried watching the number and want something that steps in at the moment they reach for the app.

Skip it if: you only want tracking. Unglue's job is blocking and unblocking; for charts, Digital Wellbeing or StayFree will suit you better.

Which screen time widget should you use?

Start with the free one. Add Google's Digital Wellbeing widget, or Samsung's on a Galaxy, and live with it for a week. For some people the number alone is enough to shift a habit, especially if the widget sits on the first home screen, the one you see every time you unlock.

If you find yourself wanting to know which day was worst and why, move to StayFree.

If you have been watching the number for weeks and it keeps going up anyway, a tracker probably won't change that, and something with friction might. That is where an app blocker earns its place, whether it is Unglue or one of the others in our Android apps ranking.

Where to put it

Placement matters more than which widget you pick. Put it on your first home screen, near the apps you open most, at a size big enough to read without trying. Ours sits in the bottom row, just above the dock, where a thumb passes it on the way to everything else.

What about iPhone?

iPhones have a Screen Time widget too, built into iOS, which shows your daily total and top apps. If your family has both kinds of phone, our explainer on what Apple Screen Time can do covers the iPhone side.

Common questions

Is there a screen time widget on Android?

Yes. Google's Digital Wellbeing includes a screen time widget on most Android phones that ship with Google's apps. Touch and hold your home screen, tap Widgets, and look for Digital Wellbeing.

Why can't I find the Digital Wellbeing widget?

First check your phone has Digital Wellbeing: open Settings and search for it. If it is there, scroll the whole widget list, since some brands list it under a different name. Phones without Google's apps may not include Digital Wellbeing at all; a third-party widget like StayFree works there.

How do I add a screen time widget to my Samsung home screen?

Touch and hold an empty spot on the home screen, tap Widgets, find Digital Wellbeing, and drag the widget into place. Menu names can vary a little between One UI versions.

Can a widget limit my screen time?

The Digital Wellbeing widget only shows the number; limits are set inside Digital Wellbeing itself, under App timers. StayFree and Unglue include limits and blocking in their apps, and Unglue's widget lets you unlock blocked apps for a set number of minutes from the home screen.

Does the screen time widget show yesterday's usage?

Google's widget shows today's total only. For earlier days, tap the widget to open Digital Wellbeing, where you can step back through recent days. StayFree's app keeps longer history.