On your home screen
Quit smoking widgets for iPhone and Android
The only part of a quit app you see without choosing to open it.
Written by Lee H. Last reviewed 13 September 2026.
Why this is the feature worth checking for
Most people stop opening a quit smoking app somewhere around week three. Not because it stopped working, but because opening it is a decision, and the decision gets made less often as the crisis recedes. That is normal and no amount of notification design fixes it.
A widget is the exception, because it does not require the decision. You unlock the phone for some unrelated reason and the number is simply there. On the days you would rather not think about any of it, which are exactly the days it matters, the widget is the only part of the app that still reaches you.
I build a competing app with a widget, so weigh that accordingly. The checkable parts of this page are the two sections that follow.
Which apps mention one
Of the well known quit smoking apps, QuitNow! from Fewlaps SL and EasyQuit from Mario Herzberg both describe a home screen widget in their own store listings. Several others do not mention one anywhere in their description, and Kwit from KWIT, the third biggest app in the category, is one of them.
That is a weaker statement than it sounds, and it should be. A description not mentioning a widget is not evidence that there is no widget; developers leave things out, and listings go stale. It is a starting point, which is why the section below is about checking for yourself.
How to check before installing
- Look at the screenshots. This is the most reliable signal available from outside the app. A widget is a visual feature, and any developer who built one puts a picture of it in the screenshots, because it sells the app. If you scroll every screenshot and never see a home screen, be sceptical.
- Read the "What's New" entries. Widgets tend to arrive in a specific release and get announced there. It also tells you whether the app is still being maintained at all, which is worth knowing separately.
- Check the publisher name as well as the app name. This category has several products with near identical names from unrelated developers, so a roundup saying "this app has a widget" may be describing a different app with the same title. The publisher sits directly under the app name on every listing. The app roundup names the publisher for every app it describes for this reason.
The thing almost every widget gets wrong
Nearly all of them show a day count, and a day count is the wrong thing to put on a home screen for a reason that has nothing to do with design.
A day count only goes up. On day four, "4 days" carries real information: it is fragile, it is recent, and losing it would cost something. On day two hundred, "200 days" carries almost none. The number cannot surprise you, it cannot fall, and a figure that can only ever improve stops being watched. It becomes furniture.
The widgets worth having show something that stays alive. That means either a figure that can move in both directions, so today's choices actually register, or a figure denominated in something you care about. Time regained and money saved both qualify. "Days since" does not, past the first month.
This is the same problem the whole category has, just made visible: a streak is a fine number and it is not the number people are actually asking about.
What to expect on each platform
Widgets are not the same thing on iPhone and Android, and the differences change what a developer can offer you.
- iPhone. Widgets come in a few fixed sizes and are added by pressing and holding the home screen, then choosing the app. They refresh on a schedule the system controls, so a widget showing a figure that changes by the second is showing you a recent value. Lock screen widgets are a separate, smaller set that an app has to build on purpose.
- Android. Widgets are usually resizable, and are added from a widget picker after a long press on the home screen. Refresh behavior varies more between manufacturers than it does on iPhone, and aggressive battery optimization on some devices can stop a widget updating at all until the app is opened. If a widget looks frozen on Android, that setting is the first place to look, before blaming the app.
On both platforms, a widget mirrors data the app already has. It is a window onto the app, so it will only ever be as current as the last time you told the app the truth.
Where The Long View fits, stated as disclosure
Mine, so read it as disclosure. The Long View's widget shows the time you have won back, alongside today's count. It was built that way because of the problem described above: a day count on a home screen stops meaning anything, and a forecast that moves when you log honestly does not.
Widgets are part of premium. The estimate itself, the daily check-in, one photo, the recovery curve and the smoke-free day count are free forever, so the free version is a complete quit tracker and the paid part is where you put it. The premium page has the full split, and after a year of smoke-free days you cancel and keep everything, the widget included, still counting.
Common questions
Which quit smoking apps have a widget?
QuitNow! and EasyQuit both describe one in their own listings. Others may have one without mentioning it, so check the screenshots on the listing, whatever any roundup says, this one included.
Why is my quit smoking widget not updating?
On Android, battery optimization is the usual cause, and the fix is in the system settings for that app. On iPhone, widgets refresh on a system controlled schedule, so a short delay is expected behavior.
Do I need the paid version to get a widget?
It varies by app, and it is worth checking before installing. In The Long View the widget is part of premium, and the estimate it shows is free in the app itself.
Can I see the number without installing anything?
Yes. The quit smoking calculator on this site runs the same model in your browser, with no account and nothing sent to a server. It is the same figure a widget would carry, without the widget.
Nothing on this page diagnoses, treats or prevents any condition, and none of it is medical advice. App features change and store listings differ by region, so check the current listing yourself. Talk to a doctor or a quitline about stopping smoking. In the US, that is 1-800-QUIT-NOW.
A number that can only ever improve stops being watched. It becomes furniture.
Keep reading
Where to go next
Apple Watch apps
Fewer have one than the results suggest, and how to check the listing.
QuitNow! alternatives
The community app, the profile it needs, and what to use instead.
Quit smoking calculator
The years smoking has likely cost you, and the years quitting returns.