Adding and arranging
Open Settings › Home & layout › Widgets › Customize widgets, or press Y on any widget and pick All widgets….
| Button | In the widget editor |
|---|---|
| L1 / R1 | Switch between the top screen and the bottom screen |
| A | Customize the highlighted widget, or add one on + Add a widget |
| Y | The highlighted widget's options |
| B | Back |
Every widget has:
- Size: Small, Medium, Wide or Tall. On the bottom screen (two columns) Wide is a big card two rows high.
- Show on: the home screen, the bottom screen, or both.
- Its own settings, such as the clock style or which list the storage widget shows. Left and right change a setting too.
- Move: the widget wiggles; move it with the D-pad and press A (or B) when it's in place.
- Remove widget. The message offers Undo for 6 seconds.
On the home screen the widget area has one row, or two when a Tall widget is there. You can fix it at one or two rows in the editor.
On the icon grid
With the icon grid as home, widgets can also sit on the grid itself, among the icons. Press A on an empty spot and pick Add here › Widget…. A widget on the grid covers 1×1, 2×1, 1×2 or 2×2 cells; Small, Medium, Tall and Wide sizes draw as those. Y on it gives Widget options… (the same settings as above), Move, Resize and Remove widget (under More). While moving it, Y changes its size to the next one that fits.
Settings › Home & layout › Widgets › Widgets on the grid chooses where Add here › Widget… puts a new widget: In cells (the default) or As a row, in the widget row at the end of an up-and-down grid. Widgets already placed stay where they are.
The widgets
| Widget | What it shows | A does |
|---|---|---|
| Storage | Internal and SD card usage rings, the biggest systems or folders, art and cache sizes | Measures again |
| Battery | Charge, charging, temperature and time left (when Android knows it) | Opens quick settings |
| Clock | Digital, analog or big and friendly; seconds and 12/24-hour optional | Switches the style |
| Now playing | The game waiting in the background (needs Shizuku) | Resumes it |
| Continue playing, Favorites, Recently added | Your games in a strip; left and right pick one | Plays it |
| Surprise me | A random game (never played, everything or favorites) | Plays it; the 🎲 picks another |
| Play stats | Today, the last 7 days, your streak and a little chart | Opens play stats |
| Achievements | Your latest RetroAchievements unlocks (only when signed in) | Opens the achievements tab |
| Pip | Pip, reacting to the time of day and your streak | Pip says something else |
| Up next | Your list of games to play next | Plays the game (or edits a note) |
| System monitor | Free memory, CPU temperature when Android shares it, uptime | Nothing |
| App shortcuts | Your dock apps | Opens the app |
| Greeting | Pip, the time and your last game (the bottom screen's default) | Plays your last game |
To put a game on Up next, press Y on it and choose Add to Up next, or press A on the + at the end of the widget and type a name. A name that matches one game adds that game; anything else is kept as a note. The widget's Y menu removes entries and clears played games.
On the bottom screen widgets work by touch: tap a game to play it, tap the 🎲 to reroll.
Battery and privacy
Widgets only update while Tandem is on screen; nothing runs while you play. Storage sizes are measured in the background when you come back to Tandem, at most every 15 minutes, and the measuring stops the moment you start a game. Widgets never use the network, except Achievements, which uses your RetroAchievements account the same way the stats screen does.