Photo: reddit user d7mtg
Apple’s next big release in terms of software updates for the iPhone is iOS 14, a new version of its mobile operating system that’s projected to go live in the fall.
One of the biggest changes coming to users with the release of iOS 14 is support for widgets, which technically display essential information, such as the weather forecast, right on the home screen without the need for launching the Weather app itself.
Someone on reddit has created a mockup of a Tesla widget, imagining how the carmaker and customers alike can benefit from the addition of this new feature to iOS.
More specifically, the envisioned widget provides users with essential information about the plugged-in Tesla, including the current range and the battery charging level. Furthermore, the mockup imagines something that’s rather difficult to happen, namely controls for the air conditioning system in the connected Tesla model, as well as dedicated buttons for locking and unlocking the doors and starting the engine.
While such capabilities are indeed possible on Android with apps like Dashboard for Tesla, which allow users to create widgets with advanced controls, the upcoming widgets that will be part of iOS 14 will actually come with several limitations making this rather difficult.
The iOS 14 widgets will be more or less supposed to display certain bits of information rather than provide users with custom controls, so while you could see the battery charging level, a dedicated button to control the air conditioning system isn’t possible in a widget. A way to deal with this limitation could be a button that links to a feature within the app, so technically, tapping it would launch the app right to the feature that does what the button is supposed to do in the first place.
Obviously, it’s not as straightforward as doing the whole thing from the widget, but for now, it’s pretty much the only way to deal with the restrictions coming in iOS 14. It remains to be seen how things improve by the time the golden master gets the go-ahead, and in the meantime, anyone interested in trying out iOS 14 can download the public betas released by Apple.
UPDATE (January 28, 2022): If you really enjoyed the mockup, here’s some good news. The concept has actually been used for an actual widget that you can download on your iPad. Called TeSlate, the widget is live on the App Store, therefore bringing essential car information right on the home screen.
Additional information on how the concept was turned into a real widget is available on the dev's website here.
Someone on reddit has created a mockup of a Tesla widget, imagining how the carmaker and customers alike can benefit from the addition of this new feature to iOS.
More specifically, the envisioned widget provides users with essential information about the plugged-in Tesla, including the current range and the battery charging level. Furthermore, the mockup imagines something that’s rather difficult to happen, namely controls for the air conditioning system in the connected Tesla model, as well as dedicated buttons for locking and unlocking the doors and starting the engine.
While such capabilities are indeed possible on Android with apps like Dashboard for Tesla, which allow users to create widgets with advanced controls, the upcoming widgets that will be part of iOS 14 will actually come with several limitations making this rather difficult.
The iOS 14 widgets will be more or less supposed to display certain bits of information rather than provide users with custom controls, so while you could see the battery charging level, a dedicated button to control the air conditioning system isn’t possible in a widget. A way to deal with this limitation could be a button that links to a feature within the app, so technically, tapping it would launch the app right to the feature that does what the button is supposed to do in the first place.
Obviously, it’s not as straightforward as doing the whole thing from the widget, but for now, it’s pretty much the only way to deal with the restrictions coming in iOS 14. It remains to be seen how things improve by the time the golden master gets the go-ahead, and in the meantime, anyone interested in trying out iOS 14 can download the public betas released by Apple.
UPDATE (January 28, 2022): If you really enjoyed the mockup, here’s some good news. The concept has actually been used for an actual widget that you can download on your iPad. Called TeSlate, the widget is live on the App Store, therefore bringing essential car information right on the home screen.
Additional information on how the concept was turned into a real widget is available on the dev's website here.
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