How do the home screen widgets work on Android?
Long-press your home screen, tap Widgets and look for Immersed. Play and Stop on a widget work right there, without opening the app. A tap anywhere else opens the app where it points: your running session, today's timeline, This Week Immersed or Growth.
The widgets come with the Immersed app for Android. There are no iPhone widgets, and Aim installed from Chrome (the web app) doesn't have them either. See How do I install Aim on my phone or computer?.
How do I add a widget?
- Long-press an empty spot on your home screen.
- Tap Widgets.
- Scroll to Immersed and tap it. All nine are in there.
- Hold the one you want and drag it onto your home screen. Some phones have an Add button instead.
- Never opened Immersed on this phone? Open it once. Until then the widgets say "Open Immersed once": the app is what tells them your numbers.
You can also start from the app. Open Settings, tap Notifications and scroll to Home screen. Tap a widget there and your phone asks where to put it. If your phone can't do that, you get a note: "Long-press your home screen, choose Widgets, and look for Immersed."
To make one bigger or smaller, long-press it and drag its edges. Every widget can be resized, and each one changes what it shows to fit.
If you only add one, I'd make it Aim or Now. They show your day and have Play right there.
Which widgets are there?
Sizes are in home screen squares, wide × tall. Phones differ a little.
| Widget | What it shows | Size |
|---|---|---|
| Aim | Aim peeking in with your streak, today's goal and Play. | Starts at 2×2, as small as 2×1 |
| Today | Today's minutes against your daily goal, what's next, and one button. A bar, or a square at 2×2. | Starts at 4×1, as small as 2×1 |
| This Week Immersed | The This Week Immersed card itself: your weekly goal ring, the arch with Aim under it, turning through the week's activities, and a ring for each day. | Starts at 4×3 |
| Weekly goal | Your hours this week against the goal you set, and what's left to make it. Wider, about how much a day it takes. Taller too, a bar for each day. | Starts at 2×2, as small as 2×1 |
| Now | The running session with a big clock and Stop. With nothing running, what Play will start. | 2×2 |
| Immersed time | Today, this week and this month against the last, with bars. | 4×3 |
| Heatmap | Twelve weeks of days, darker the more you immersed, and this week's total. | Starts at 4×2, as small as 3×2 |
| Timeline | Your timeline from now on, today and the next two days: each item as a pill like the timeline's, with its time, title and photo or icon, a circle to check it off, and + to add something. | Starts at 4×3, as small as 2×2 |
| Continue | The last three things you immersed in (two on a short card), each with its own Play. | Starts at 4×2, as small as 2×2 |
| By activity | The week by activity: a donut and the top three, with their time and share. | 4×2 |
What does a tap do?
Two rules:
- Play and Stop start and end your session right on the home screen. The app doesn't open. A little note says "Started: …" or "Saved: … · 25 min". Stop finishes the session and saves it.
- Everything else opens the app where it points.
| Widget | Tap the card | Its button |
|---|---|---|
| Aim, Today | A session running: your session, full screen. Nothing running: today's timeline. | Play, or Stop while a session runs |
| Now | A session running: your session, full screen. Nothing running: the details of the thing it shows, or today's timeline when it shows the clock or an activity. | Play, or Stop while a session runs |
| This Week Immersed, Weekly goal | The timeline, with This Week Immersed open | No button |
| Immersed time, Heatmap, By activity | Growth | No button |
| Timeline | An item: the timeline on its day, with the item open. Anywhere else: today's timeline. | An item's circle opens How did it go? for it; + adds something new today |
| Continue | A row: that thing's details. Anywhere else: today's timeline. | Each row's Play starts that thing again |
Your session, full screen. With a session running, a tap on the Aim, Today or Now card opens the app straight on it, full screen. If the app was already on the timeline, Home or another tab like Growth or the Library, it stays on that page. From anywhere else it goes to the timeline.
Today's timeline. With nothing running, those cards open today's timeline. Already on it? Nothing moves.
Details. The item's card opens over your timeline, with its details and preview.
This Week Immersed opens the same way you'd pull it down from the week strip. See How do the week strip and weekly goal work?. To change your weekly goal, tap the ring in its corner.
How does the Timeline widget work?
It's your timeline the way the app shows it, from now on. Each item is a pill in its activity's colour with its icon, or its cover photo when it has one and covers are on in your timeline's look. Wake up and Wind down are round, as on the timeline. Under each item is its time the way the pill writes it (7:30 AM - 7:45 AM (15m)). What's under way wears a ring in its colour, and later days have +1 or +2 by the time. Something planned earlier today that you haven't checked off stays at the top, so you can still tick it.
- The circle does what the timeline's circle does. It opens the app on that day and asks How did it go? for that item, in the language you immersed in, so you save it the same way as on the timeline.
- A ticked circle opens the app and asks before unticking, because unticking deletes the item's log.
- The running session's circle is Stop: it ends the session and saves it.
- Wake up and Wind down sit on the line with no circle, as on the timeline.
- + in the bottom corner opens a new task for today, the same as the timeline's +.
- A tap on an item opens the timeline on its day, with the item open.
The date sits on top, and how many of today's planned items are done sits at the bottom by +. It shows as many items as fit, so make it taller to see more of your day. On a 2×2 the titles get the room, each item's start time wears its colour, and the pills step aside.
A photo appears once your phone has downloaded it. Until then, or with no connection, the pill shows its icon.
What does the Aim widget's button do?
Aim himself isn't a button. Tapping him is tapping the card: your session full screen if one is running, today's timeline if not.
The round button is Play when nothing is running and Stop when a session is. Like every widget's Play and Stop, it works right on the home screen. It only shows where there's room:
- Peek and Speech bubble: on a card 2 squares tall, or 4 wide. A 2×1 has no button.
- Full: only on a card 4 wide. At 2×2, Full shows Aim, your streak and today's bar, with no button.
No button? Make the widget taller or wider, or switch it to Peek.
Aim's three styles
Long-press the widget, open its settings, and pick under Style:
- Peek, the one you start with. "Aim pokes his head in from the corner" and says how your day is going, a few words big.
- Speech bubble. "Aim says it from under a bubble": the same words, with more of him under them.
- Full. "Aim whole, your streak and today's bar." It says today's minutes against your daily goal ("15 of 60 min today") and draws them as a bar. While a session runs it says "Immersing now". Full needs a card at least 2 tall. On a shorter one he peeks instead.
What does Aim say?
In Peek and Speech bubble:
| When | The big words | Under them |
|---|---|---|
| A session is running | Its title, with the clock ticking ("Immersing now" over it) | |
| You've never opened the app | Open Immersed | once, and I'll keep score here |
| Today's goal is done | Goal done! | 1h 5m today. Nice work. |
| Part of it is done | 45m to go | 15m of 1h today |
| Minutes, but no daily goal | 45m today! | 19 day streak |
| Nothing yet, after 7 pm, with a streak | Streak at risk! | Your next planned session, or "Immerse tonight to keep your 19 days" |
| Nothing yet, with a streak | Keep it going! | Your next planned session, or "19 days in a row. Day 20 today?" |
| No streak | Start a streak! | Your next planned session, or "Immerse today for day one" |
Over the words: the flame and your streak, the days in a row you've immersed in the language you're on. The line under the words shows where there's room for it.
His outfit and his mood
He wears the outfit you've got on in the app. If that one isn't drawn for the widgets yet, he wears the season's look, or none. See How do I change Aim's outfit?.
His face follows your day: focused while a session runs, happy once today's goal is done, worried after 7 pm when you haven't immersed yet and a streak is on the line, and hopeful the rest of the time.
What does Play start?
Play on the Aim, Today and Now widgets starts what that widget's Play setting says. Long-press the widget and open its settings:
- Same as the app's Play button. Every widget starts on this one. It does what you picked in Settings, Immersion, Play button, and the line under it says which: "Repeat my last activity, its title and link", "Repeat my last activity", "Always Reading" or "Decide as I go". See How do I change what the play button does?.
- Continue what I did last. Your last session again, with its title and link.
- Just the clock. "Starts now; pick the activity after." The session runs as No activity until you pick one.
- Always one activity. Pick it from the list under it: Active Listening, Passive Listening, Active Subtitles, Reading, Speaking, Shadowing, Writing, SRS or Study.
Nothing done yet to continue? Play starts just the clock.
Under the choices it says: "Play and Stop work right on the home screen; the app doesn't open."
The session gets your default goal, the one in Settings, Immersion, Session length, like the app's Play. The Now widget shows what its Play will start, and so does Today when nothing's planned next ("Continue: …", "Start the clock", "Start Reading").
A row's Play on the Continue widget always starts that row's thing again, whatever the settings say.
How do I change a widget's settings?
- Long-press the widget.
- Tap its settings. Depending on your phone it's a pencil or Settings. On Android 11 and older, the settings open once when you place the widget.
- You see the widget as it is, live, and under it what you can change. Each change shows on your home screen straight away.
- Tap Done, or go back. The widget keeps your changes either way.
| Setting | On | What you pick |
|---|---|---|
| Style | Aim | Peek, Speech bubble or Full |
| Play | Aim, Today, Now | Same as the app's Play button, Continue what I did last, Just the clock, or Always one activity |
| Language | This Week Immersed, Weekly goal, By activity | Same as the app (it follows the language you switch to), or any language you've logged, each with its week so far |
| Look | Every widget | Match phone (light by day, dark at night, as your phone is set), Light or Dark |
| Colours | Every widget | The month's colours, or Classic |
| Pages | This Week Immersed | Turn through the activities. On, each one rises out of the arch in turn. Off, your biggest stays up. |
Timeline, Continue, Immersed time and Heatmap have just the Look.
About the look. Light is a white card with dark words, all month. Dark is the dark card, or the month's colours where the widget wears them. Match phone is Light or Dark as your phone is set, and switches when your phone does. Until you pick one, every widget but This Week Immersed wears the month's colours, and This Week Immersed stays dark.
About the colours. Every month has its own look. October is "Purple night, pumpkin orange", with a pair of bats. November is "Maple and falling leaves". December is holiday lights and snow, January a new year aurora, February hearts and a Seollal knot, March spring rain and new buds, April cherry blossoms at night (and in Easter week, whether it falls in March or April, painted eggs in the grass, from the Sunday before Easter to Easter Monday), May kites in a spring sky, June graduation caps, July Tanabata wishes and stars, August summer fireworks, and September Chuseok's harvest moon. Each month's scene sits in the widget's top corner, and its colour goes on the rings, bars and Play buttons. The new month's look arrives on the 1st by itself. Every widget wears the month's colours unless you pick Classic. This Week Immersed stays the dark card unless you pick the month. Classic is Aim's night sky on the Aim widget, the dark card on This Week Immersed and Weekly goal, and light or dark like your phone on the others.
Each widget keeps its own settings, so two This Week Immersed widgets can show two languages. Take a widget off your home screen and its settings go with it.
Good to know
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Android only. The widgets are part of the Immersed app for Android. No iPhone widgets, and none in the web app.
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The little notes. After Play: "Started: Extraordinary Attorney Woo". After Stop: "Saved: Extraordinary Attorney Woo · 25 min". Play with a session already running says "A session is already running". Stop with nothing running says "No session running".
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A widget session is a timer. When you open the app, a session you started from a widget doesn't play its video or episode by itself. Open it and tap Play here to bring it in.
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When they update. The widgets show what the app last told them. The app tells them whenever something changes while it's open (a log, your plan, a session, your goal, your language), when you come back to it, and at midnight. On their own, they redraw every half hour, after your phone restarts and when you resize them, from what they already have. A new day starts at 0 by itself. Play and Stop show straight away.
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Signed out or offline. A Play or Stop shows on the widget straight away and waits for the app. With the app open in the background it's done at once. Otherwise it's done when you next open Immersed, timed from when you pressed. Offline is fine: the session is saved on your phone and sent when you're back online. See Why doesn't something show up on my other device?. Signed out, it can't be kept: when the app opens you see "Sign in to Immersed to keep your sessions." and the widget goes back to what the app says. A Play the app can't do because another session is already running is dropped the same way.
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Goal reached, with the app in the background. At your session's goal, your phone plays Aim's chime and shows Goal reached ("30 min of Extraordinary Attorney Woo. The clock keeps going.") with two buttons:
- +15 min moves the goal 15 minutes on ("15 more minutes. Aim will ding at 45 min.") and it rings again then.
- Stop ends the session and saves it, like a widget's Stop.
Tap the notification itself to open your session full screen. Swipe it away and the clock keeps going: it rings again when another goal's worth has gone by (at 60 minutes for a 30-minute goal). With the app in front, the app rings its own chime instead, so you never hear it twice.
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Shortcuts and the tile. Long-press the Immersed icon for Continue, Log time and Inbox. The Immerse tile in Quick Settings starts or finishes a session from the pulled-down shade.
Your session in your notifications
While a session runs, it has a card in your notifications and on your lock screen, with the cover and the clock. Its two buttons:
- Finish (the square). Ends the session and saves it, like a widget's Stop. The app doesn't open.
- The Aim logo. Opens your session full screen, the same as tapping the card. If your phone doesn't let it open straight away, a note appears under the card: tap Open your session. On the lock screen, unlock your phone and your session is there.
There's no pause button on the card, and your headphones' pause button doesn't touch your session. To pause a video or episode that's playing in Immersed or the Chrome extension on your computer, open your session full screen: next to "Playing on …" there's a small pause. Pausing never stops your session anyway: the clock keeps going, because looking a word up in your dictionary is part of the session too. Only Finish ends it.
To throw a session away, open it full screen, tap More (the three dots), then Discard session at the bottom. It asks first: "Discard this session? It won't be logged." Nothing in your notifications discards a session.
With nothing running, a quiet card says "Ready when you are". Tap Continue to start your last thing again (or Start if there's nothing yet). It stays there with the app closed and comes back after your phone restarts or the app updates. On Android 14 and later you can swipe it away; it comes back the next time you open the app. Turn it off in Settings, Notifications, Continue from the shade. It goes when you sign out.
Troubleshooting
Why did tapping the widget bounce between screens before going to my session?
That was a bug, and it's fixed in the next update after 1.4.1. With a session running and the app on the timeline, a tap sent the app to the dashboard and straight back. The timeline loaded twice, and the full screen session closed a second after it opened. From a closed app it didn't open full screen at all. Now the tap opens your session full screen and it stays. From the timeline, Home or another tab, the page doesn't move. From anywhere else it goes straight to the timeline. A tap with nothing running skips the detour too, and the session's card in your notifications works the same way.
Why does my widget say "Open Immersed once"?
The widgets get their numbers from the app. Open Immersed once, signed in, and they fill in.
Why are the numbers on my widget out of date?
The widget shows what the app last told it. Open Immersed and it catches up. Logged something on your computer? It shows on your phone's widgets once you open Immersed on the phone.
Why doesn't my Aim widget have a Play button?
There's no room for it. In Peek or Speech bubble the button needs a card 2 tall or 4 wide. In Full it needs a card 4 wide. Make the widget bigger, or pick Peek in its settings. Tapping Aim opens the app, but it isn't Play.
Why didn't Play start anything?
- A session is already running. You'll see "A session is already running". Stop it first, from any widget or the app.
- You're signed out. Sign in to Immersed. A Play pressed while signed out isn't kept.
Why does tapping the Now widget open my timeline instead of my last thing?
Its Play is set to Just the clock or one activity, or it's on the app's Play button and that is "Decide as I go", "Always the same activity", or your last activity without its title and link. Then the widget shows the clock or an activity, not a thing, and a tap opens today's timeline. Set its Play to Continue what I did last and a tap opens your last thing's details.
Why didn't my phone chime at my goal?
- The app was in front. It rings its own chime in the app instead.
- Notifications are off for Immersed, or Live timer notification is off. The goal alarm goes with your session's card in your notifications. Allow notifications for Immersed, and turn on Live timer notification in Settings, Notifications. See How do I choose which notifications I get?.
- The session has no goal. In the session, tap the clock and set one. See How do I change the goal?.
- You started it from a widget with Immersed closed. Your phone learns the goal from the app, so it starts counting once you've opened Immersed.
Why did my widget change colour?
Every month has its own look, and every widget but This Week Immersed wears it, from the 1st of the month. Long-press the widget, open its settings, and pick Classic under Colours if you'd rather not, or Light under Look for the white card.
Can I have a light widget?
Yes. Long-press the widget, open its settings, and pick Light under Look. Pick Match phone to have it light by day and dark at night, with your phone.