Slack brings its first iPhone widgets for the Home and Lock screen, so now there’s no escaping from work even when you think you’ve unwinded.
I’ve been using Slack every day for the past few years. Not once have I yearned for a Slack widget. As the type who values clear delineation between work and play time, I really don’t need widgets in my face to update statuses and catch up on chats.
But if you do, grab the latest version of the Slack app on the App Store, then go to your Home or Lock Screen and invoke the editing mode to get to the widgets gallery.
Slack’s first iPhone widgets are here
From there, scroll to Slack and swipe through the new Catch Up and Status widgets. With those, you can update your status on Slack or catch up on messages.
Inevitably, office warriors will put a Launcher widget on their Lock Screen so they could slide into Slack right after unlocking!
1. The Catch Up widget
As its title says, the Catch Up widget informs you how many unread messages and mentions you have pending on Slack. It’s not interactive though—you cannot mark all unread messages as read from the widget. And if you touch it, you’ll be taken to the unread messages in Slack’s mobile app.
2. The Status widget
The Status widget comes in small and medium sizes. The small widget displays your current status on the Home Screen, allowing you to change it. Touching it opens the status update screen in the Slack app so you can write your status there.
The medium-sized version is better in that it lets you choose from ready-made statuses without opening the Slack app. To do so, select “What’s Your Status” on the widget and choose a “Focus,” “Lunch” or “Taking a Break” status. The first two will set your Slack status for one hour and the latter for thirty minutes.
Changing my Slack status directly from the Home Screen is fine and useful, but what I really wanted was a way to customize the built-in statuses. Unfortunately, I could not find such a feature anywhere in the widget options or Slack settings.
3. The Slack Launcher widget
The launcher widget is only accessible from the widgets gallery when editing your iPhone’s Lock Screen. If you need a way to jump immediately into Slack after unlocking your iPhone, put the Launcher widget on your Lock Screen.