Everything Widgets

In the vast ecosystem of Android customization, few trends have hit as hard and as fast as the “Nothing” aesthetic. When Nothing Tech launched their first phone, they didn’t just release a device; they released a design language. It was retro yet futuristic, dominated by dot-matrix typography, monochrome palettes, and a raw, industrial minimalism that stood in stark contrast to the colorful, bubbly interfaces of One UI or Pixel UI.

For years, users who wanted this look on non-Nothing devices had to resort to complex workarounds—rooting phones, sideloading launchers, or spending hours configuring KWGT (Kustom Widget Maker) presets. Enter Everything Widgets by JustNewDesigns.

This app promises to be the holy grail for minimalism lovers: a one-stop-shop that brings the entire Nothing OS widget experience—and then some—to any Android device. Whether you are rocking a Samsung Galaxy, a Google Pixel, or a Xiaomi, “Everything Widgets” claims to seamlessly transform your interface. But does it live up to the hype? Is it worth the price of admission?

In this comprehensive review, we will dissect every aspect of the app, from its design philosophy to its impact on battery life, to help you decide if this is the customization tool you’ve been waiting for.

1. The Design Philosophy: Why “Nothing” Matters

To understand the appeal of Everything Widgets, one must first appreciate the design language it emulates. The app isn’t just a collection of tools; it is a style statement.

The Dot-Matrix Revival

The core visual identity of this widget pack is the dot matrix. Historically associated with early computing, receipt printers, and retro airport departure boards, the dot matrix font evokes a sense of nostalgia. Everything Widgets captures this perfectly. Every clock digit, every weather icon, and every battery percentage is rendered with this pixelated precision. It turns mundane data points into digital art.

Monochrome Mastery

Modern smartphone interfaces are often cluttered with conflicting colors—red notification badges, blue app icons, green status bars. Everything Widgets embraces a strict monochrome ethos. By default, the widgets use black, white, and shades of grey (often with a transparent “glass” effect). This lack of color isn’t boring; it’s calming. It reduces cognitive load, allowing your brain to process information (like the time or weather) without being distracted by unnecessary flashiness.

Adaptive Theming

While the “Nothing” look is traditionally black and white, Everything Widgets is smart enough to play nice with Android’s Material You system. The app supports adaptive colors, meaning if you change your wallpaper to a deep forest green, the widgets can subtly pick up those accents, maintaining harmony without breaking the retro-industrial immersion.

2. Comprehensive Feature Breakdown

The app boasts over 400 widgets, a staggering number for a single pack. Let’s break down the key categories and what makes them special.

2.1 Timekeeping: Clocks and Calendars

The humble clock widget is the centerpiece of any home screen, and Everything Widgets offers an exhaustive variety.

• Analog Designs: These aren’t your grandfather’s clock faces. They feature skeletal hands, dotted hour markers, and unique “glitch” aesthetic variations that look like they belong on a cyberpunk dashboard.
• Digital Stacks: The vertical stack clock (hours on top, minutes on bottom) is a staple of this pack. It allows for a large, readable time display that fits perfectly in a narrow vertical column, leaving room for other apps.
• Calendar Integration: The calendar widgets don’t just show dates; they integrate your agenda. You can see your next meeting in a sleek, pill-shaped container that strips away the clutter of traditional calendar apps, showing you only what you need: “Meeting at 2 PM.”

2.2 Atmospheric Intelligence: The Weather Widgets

Weather apps are often guilty of information overload. Everything Widgets strips this back.

• Dot Icons: Instead of a realistic cloud or sun, you get a stylized, dotted representation. A sun is a circle of dots; rain is a cascade of pixels. It’s abstract but immediately recognizable.
• Data Density: You can choose between simple “current temp” pills or larger, comprehensive cards that show wind speed, humidity, and a 3-day forecast. The distinctive “dot” typography makes even dense data easy to scan.

2.3 Power Management: Battery Widgets

Battery anxiety is real, and this app turns monitoring it into a stylistic choice.

• The Circular Indicator: A segmented ring made of dots that slowly depletes. It’s far more visually interesting than a standard battery bar.
• Device Support: One of the standout features is the ability (on supported devices) to show battery levels for connected Bluetooth devices, like earbuds or watches, consolidating all your power stats into one “Mission Control” style widget.

2.4 Multimedia Control: Music Players

The media player widgets are a fan favorite. They mimic the “retro-future” vibe of physical cassette players or mp3 players from the early 2000s but flattened into a modern UI.

• Album Art Integration: The widget pulls your current track’s album art but often applies a desaturated or high-contrast filter to ensure it doesn’t clash with your monochrome setup.
• Controls: The play/pause/skip buttons are oversized and dotted, offering high touch targets that are easy to hit while driving or walking.

2.5 The “Snake” Game and Fun Extras

Perhaps the most surprising addition is the interactive Game Widgets. Yes, you can play a version of the iconic “Snake” game directly on your home screen.

• Why a Game? It speaks to the “digital toy” aspect of the Nothing philosophy. Your phone isn’t just a tool; it’s a gadget to be enjoyed. The game is fully functional within the widget frame, perfect for killing 30 seconds while waiting for an elevator without committing to opening a full game app.
• Pedometer: For the fitness-conscious, there is a step counter that uses the same industrial design. It accesses your device’s motion sensors to give you a daily tally, motivating you with a progress bar that looks like a system diagnostic tool.

3. Customization and Usability

Many widget packs suffer from a common fatal flaw: they are too difficult to use. KWGT, while powerful, requires a steep learning curve. Everything Widgets positions itself as a “Plug and Play” solution.

No Extra Apps Required

This is the app’s biggest selling point. Unlike many “skin packs” that require you to purchase KWGT Pro (a separate paid app) and then import files, Everything Widgets is standalone. You install it, open your widget drawer, and drag the widgets onto the screen. This accessibility opens up high-end customization to casual users who don’t want to learn how to code global variables in Kustom.

Resizability

Android devices come in all shapes and sizes, from the tall Xperia screens to the boxy foldables. JustNewDesigns has ensured that these widgets are fully responsive.

• Scalable Vector Graphics: Because the widgets use font-based and vector assets, they do not pixelate when stretched.
• Layout Adaptation: If you stretch a 2×2 weather widget into a 4×2 bar, the elements intelligently rearrange. The temperature might move to the left while the condition icon shifts right, rather than just stretching comfortably.

Included Wallpapers

A widget pack is only as good as the canvas it sits on. The app includes a curated gallery of over 100 wallpapers designed specifically to complement the widgets. These include:

• Glitch Art: Distorted digital landscapes.
• Abstract Topography: Lines and curves that look like elevation maps.
• Glassmorphism: Blur-heavy backgrounds that make the white widgets pop. Having these included means you don’t have to hunt Pinterest for hours to find a matching background.

4. User Experience: Performance and Reliability

A beautiful home screen is useless if it lags or drains your battery. How does Everything Widgets fare in daily driving?

Battery Impact

Widgets are notorious battery hogs because they have to constantly update data (time, weather, battery). Everything Widgets appears to be well-optimized. By using the native Android scheduling APIs rather than aggressive background polling, it minimizes wake-locks. The “dot” graphics are also lightweight to render compared to high-resolution image assets used by other widget packs.

• OLED Efficiency: For users with OLED screens (which is most modern Androids), using the black monochrome widgets can actually save battery, as the black pixels are turned off.

Stability and Updates

The developer, JustNewDesigns, has a strong track record in the Android community. Updates are frequent (as seen in the version history, e.g., v2.1.008 adding 50+ new widgets).

• Bug Fixes: Early reviews mentioned issues with weather providers not updating. Recent changelogs indicate major “core level” changes to fix freezing and improve reliability.
• Refund Policy: The developer offers a confident “100% refund guarantee” if you contact them within 24 hours, which mitigates the risk of buying a paid app.

Navigation and Interface

The app’s dashboard—where you browse the widgets—is clean and categorized. You aren’t dumped into a list of 400 file names like “widget_001”. Instead, you get visual previews categorized by type (Clock, Weather, Utility). This makes “window shopping” for your new home screen setup a pleasant experience.

5. Comparison: Everything Widgets vs. The Competition

How does it stack up against the alternatives?

Vs. Stock Android Widgets

Stock widgets (Pixel or Samsung) are functional but safe. They prioritize legibility and brand consistency. Everything Widgets prioritizes vibe. It is less about “glancing at the time” and more about “enjoying the look of the time.” If you want your phone to look like a piece of sci-fi tech, Stock widgets can’t compete.

Vs. KWGT Packs

KWGT is the king of customization, but it is heavy.

• Pros of Everything Widgets: Faster setup, no dependency on other apps, smoother animations (native apps often animate better than KWGT overlays), and lower RAM usage.
• Cons: You cannot edit the internal logic. In KWGT, you can recode a widget to turn red when your battery hits 20%. In Everything Widgets, you are limited to the customization options the developer provides (size, basic colors).

Vs. Official Nothing OS (on a Nothing Phone)

If you own a Nothing Phone (1, 2, or 2a), do you need this?

• Surprisingly, Yes. The official Nothing OS is great, but it has a limited selection of widgets. Everything Widgets expands the visual language to categories Nothing hasn’t touched yet, like the detailed health trackers, quotes, and the snake game. It acts as an “Expansion Pack” for actual Nothing Phone owners.

6. Pros and Cons Summary

The Good

• Massive Library: 400+ widgets ensures you never run out of options.
• Aesthetic Cohesion: Every widget looks like it belongs to the same family.
• Zero Friction: No complex KWGT installation required.
• Developer Support: Active updates and responsive support channels.
• Value: For the price of a coffee, you get a complete UI overhaul.

The Bad

• Paid Only: There is no free trial (though the refund window exists).
• Permission Reliance: Like all widget apps, it needs extensive permissions (Location for weather, Storage for photos, Notification access for music) which privacy-conscious users might scrutinize.
• Refresh Rates: Sometimes 3rd party widgets update slightly slower than system widgets due to Android’s aggressive battery management closing background tasks.

7. How to Install and Set Up

Getting started is straightforward, but here are some tips for the best experience.

1. Download: Purchase “Everything Widgets” from the Google Play Store.
2. Permissions: Upon first launch, grant the necessary permissions. Do not skip this! If you deny location access, the weather widgets will simply display empty dots.
3. Battery Optimization: Go to your phone’s Settings > Apps > Everything Widgets > Battery and set it to “Unrestricted.” This is crucial to prevent the clock or weather from “freezing.”
4. Placement: Long-press your home screen, select “Widgets,” scroll down to “Everything Widgets,” and drag your chosen design onto the screen.
5. Scaling: Once placed, long-press the widget again to see the resize handles. Drag them to fit your grid.
6. Wallpaper: Open the app dashboard and download a matching wallpaper to complete the look.

Conclusion: The Verdict

Everything Widgets is more than just a utility; it is a digital fashion accessory. In a world where smartphones are increasingly homogeneous slabs of glass, software customization is the last frontier of personal expression.

For users who envy the Nothing Phone’s distinct look but love their current device’s camera or performance, this app is the perfect bridge. It delivers 95% of the aesthetic experience with 0% of the hardware switching cost.

While power users might miss the granular logic editing of KWGT, the sheer convenience and polish of Everything Widgets make it the superior choice for the vast majority of people. It is clean, it is cool, and it works.

If you are tired of your boring home screen and want to inject some retro-futuristic soul into your device, Everything Widgets is an absolute must-buy.