Android 15 QPR2 could fix this lock screen widget oversight

With the most recent Pixel Drop, the Pixel Tablet now has the ability to add widgets to the lock screen. These widgets aren’t shown directly on the lock screen but rather in a dedicated space called the “glanceable hub.” Although Android gives you a large space to place widgets on, it doesn’t let you decide how much space you want each widget to take up, only where they’re located. Fortunately, that could change in the next quarterly release of Android 15, as Google is working on letting you resize widgets on the lock screen.

Lock screen widget support was finally reintroduced in the last quarterly release of Android 15, i.e. Android 15 QPR1. The feature is only available on large-screen devices like the Pixel Tablet for now, as those devices offer enough screen real estate for widgets to make use of.

The lock screen widget area is accessed by swiping inward from the right edge of the lock screen. While in this area, you can tap the “customize” button in the intro card to open the lock screen widget editor page where you can add, remove, or reorder your widgets. Once you’re done, the widgets you added will be visible in the locations where you placed them, even if the device is locked.

Android’s glanceable hub currently shows a maximum of 6 widgets at a time, though you can scroll horizontally to see more. These widgets occupy a 2×3 grid, but no widget can occupy more than one cell at a time, with the exception of the media player card. That might change in Android 15 QPR2.

While digging through the Android 15 QPR2 Beta 1 release, I managed to activate a feature that lets you resize any widget to take up an entire column. This will allow certain widgets to show more information at a glance, as demonstrated in the video embedded below.

If you’re wondering why the lock screen UI looks janky, it’s because I’m demonstrating the lock screen widget resizing feature on my phone using unofficial means. However, this doesn’t mean the feature is actually available on phones.

I don’t know why Android doesn’t let you resize widgets more freely on the lock screen hub, but I’m glad to see Google is working on making the feature more customizable regardless.

If you’re wondering when this feature will reach your Pixel Tablet, it’ll likely land in the Android 15 QPR2 stable release, which is set to roll out in early March of next year. Since the Android 15 QPR2 is still ongoing, there could be other lock screen widget-related tweaks that are in the works, but we don’t know what they are if any exist. Google may also be cooking up some changes that’ll land in the bigger Android 16 release next year, and if it is, we’ll be keeping an eye out for any evidence of that.