Invading the Home Screen
Reto Meier, Ian Lake · 2018
Home screen Widgets, more properly AppWidgets, are visual application components that can be added to other applications. The most common feature of App Widgets is that they can be used to enable users to embed an interactive piece of your application directly within the home screen. A good App Widget provides useful, concise, and timely information with minimal battery drain. App Widgets are implemented as Broadcast Receivers. User interface (UI) design guidelines exist for controlling both a Widget's layout size and its visual styling. The Android home screen is divided into a grid of cells, varying in size and number depending on the device. Remote Views include a series of methods that provide access to many of the properties and methods available on the Views they represent. Live Wallpaper enables to create dynamic, interactive home screen backgrounds.