Styling widgets
Per-widget colour palettes, gradients, appearance, chart type, timestamp format, milestones, and exactly what the Customization subscription covers.
On this page
Styling is the one paid part of Steps. It changes how widgets look, not what the app does.
Where styling happens
In the app's main screen, swipe between widget types along the top. Each type has its own preview and its own saved style, so Steps Ring and Steps Timeline can look completely different.
Colour palettes
Each widget type offers three rows of styles:
| Row | What it is |
|---|---|
| Solid | System colour plus a set of single-colour treatments, including muted text tones |
| Two-tone | A primary and a secondary colour — the number in one, the ring or chart in the other |
| Gradient | A gradient background with light text, in themes like Sunrise, Meadow, Dusk, Aurora, and Ocean |
A fourth row appears once you have made styles of your own. Style from Photo, in the bottom bar, builds one out of any picture in your library — either as a palette lifted off the photo, or as the photo itself behind the step count. See Styles from a photo, and Sharing a photo style to send one to someone else.
Display options
The slider icon opens options that apply to the selected widget:
Appearance — System, Light, or Dark. This is per widget, so a widget can stay dark on a light Home Screen.
Timestamp — how the "last updated" time reads. Three formats: a clock time, a relative time, or a relative time with wording.
Chart — on Steps Timeline, choose Line Chart or Bar Chart. The setting also applies to the Lock Screen and Apple Watch rectangular chart. See the section below.
Milestone — on the ring and progress widgets, marks milestone points along your progress.
There is also a sensitive mode that hides the number itself, for a widget you would rather not have readable by others.
Line Chart: the momentum view
The two chart modes plot different things, so the choice affects what you can read from the widget.
Bar Chart gives each hour its own bar. It shows when you moved during the day.
Line Chart plots your running total, so the line only ever climbs. What you read is the slope: a steep stretch is a walk, a flat stretch is time in the chair, and the overall curve shows your momentum through the day.
Note: The curve tracks the same trajectory the reminder model uses. The model projects where your day is heading; the line chart shows that trend on screen. A line that flattens through the afternoon is the point at which a reminder becomes likely.
Line Chart suits the Apple Watch Rectangular complication well. The slot is small and wide, which fits a single curve better than a row of narrow bars, and a smoothed line stays readable at a glance. The same applies to the iPhone Lock Screen rectangular widget.
Use Bar Chart when you want to check a specific hour, and Line Chart when you want the overall trend.
What the subscription covers
What is free and what is paid:
Free forever — goal reminders and every setting behind them, the on-device model and its training, your reminder messages, the reminder schedule, your daily goal, Insight, Live Activity, the Apple Watch app, Motion Sensor, the step window settings, and a working widget on every surface.
Paid — applying additional widget styles, colours, and gradient themes.
No feature the app needs to function is behind the paywall. Without the subscription you still get the full reminder system and your step count on every surface. It changes appearance only.
What happens if the subscription lapses
The style you are already using stays. A lapse does not revert your widgets or take a look away from you — what is on your Home Screen keeps rendering exactly as it did.
What an active subscription buys is the act of applying a different style. Switch off, and you keep what you have; resubscribe when you want to change it again.
Restoring a subscription
The subscription is tied to your Apple Account, not to an app account, since there are none. On a new device or after a reinstall, sign in with the same Apple Account and use the restore option in the app.
Subscribing on Apple Watch applies to your iPhone and vice versa. One subscription, not one per device.
Does changing style affect my data?
No. Styles are presentation only. Your steps live in Apple Health, so switching styles — or letting a subscription lapse — never costs you history. Your widgets keep the style they are set to and keep showing the same numbers.
The app icon
Not a widget, but the same instinct: Settings › App Icon offers seven icons — Classic, Black, Blue, Green, Orange, Pink, and Purple.
Do styles sync to my other devices?
Yes, through your private iCloud. The Apple Watch keeps its own styles for its three accessory types, chosen on the wrist, and those sync back to the iPhone too. See Privacy and sync.
What to read next
- Styles from a photo — building a style out of one of your own pictures.
- The widget gallery — what each widget shows.
- Apple Watch — styling from your wrist.
- Privacy and sync — how settings travel.
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Steps Widget projects your end-of-day step total on device and reminds you only when you are heading for a miss — with your Apple Health count on every screen you already look at.
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