Apple has completely re-invented Widgets in iPhone with iOS 14, from changing their appearance to allowing users to add them to the Home screen of the iPhone. But what Apple truly considers its biggest change to the Widgets is the ‘Smart Stack’.

As the name suggests, you can stack your widgets on top of each other. Previously, it would have made no sense. But now when we can add the Widgets to our Home screen, they seem like the most sensible and natural thing Apple could have added. And yet, it’s serendipity that they did; it easily could have gone the other way and we wouldn’t even have realized what we missed.

With stacks, you can make sure that Widgets that you add to your Home screen stay quickly accessible but also don’t take up too much space. You can also create widgets on Today View, but in my opinion, they are the most valuable on the Home screen.

You can simply swipe on the stack to see the widgets that are a part of it. Additionally, iOS 14 also uses on-device intelligence to show you the aptest Widget on the top basing the decision on factors such as time, location, activity, etc.

How to Stack Widgets Together

You can create a stack using the drag-and-drop method. Tap and hold a Widget until all the widgets start to jiggle. Now drag one widget on to the other to create a stack. You can add as many as 10 widgets in a single stack.

Dragging and dropping a widget on to another to create a stack.

Note: You can only create a stack for the widgets that are of the same size, i.e., you cannot stack a small-sized widget onto a medium or large one.

If a widget that you want to add to the stack is not present on your Home screen or Today view, you can add it from the Widget Gallery.

To open the Widget Gallery, enter the jiggle mode by tapping and holding a Widget or an app on the screen. Then tap on the ‘+’ icon on the upper left corner of the screen.

The Widget Gallery will open from the bottom of the screen. Find the stack you want to add and tap on it to add it to the screen. Then drag it onto your stack.

You can also create a new stack from the Widget Gallery. Scroll down in the widget gallery to find the ‘Smart Stack’ option and tap on it.

Select the size of the stack that you want to create from the two sizes available and tap on ‘Add Widget’. The smart stack will appear on the screen. It will include all widgets that are present on your screen or previously created and a ‘Siri suggestions’ widget. You can edit it later from the Home screen.

How to Edit a Widgets Stack

The widgets that you add to a stack appear in the order you dropped them in. But you can edit this order or also remove certain widgets from the stack.

Tap and hold the stack you want to edit. Then select ‘Edit Stack’ from the Home screen actions that appear.

The list of widgets will open. To rearrange the widgets, place your finger on the three horizontal lines at the right of the widget name and drag it to its new position on the list.

To remove a widget from a stack, swipe right on the widget and tap on ‘Delete’.

Tip: You can also quickly remove a widget from the stack using Home screen actions. Make sure that the widget you want to delete is the one currently being displayed on the stack. Now, tap and hold the stack to open the Home screen actions menu and select ‘Remove <Widget name>’

Stacks are pretty cool, right? Now you can add all the widgets to your Home screen without taking too much space. No worries about which widgets are important enough to include on to the Home screen, and which to exclude. Add away all the widgets to your heart’s content.

And with the on-device intelligence always bringing up just right widget for you, it’s just another reason to love this bundle of joy, I mean, Widgets!