Widget Updating Question

Would it be possible to get the widgets to update more real time?

It looks like in my research that this is something that can be requested from Apple and both the Mini Notes widget that I've been using this week as well as the poorly designed iOS Reminders widgets update immediately after I've opened the app through the widget to make the change. It's been 10 minutes with my trial of the GoodTask widget and it still hasn't refreshed.

GoodTask definitely is my preferred widget and app, but the slow refresh makes it impractical for the use I need it for. Thanks for taking this into consideration and for this great app!

Thanks for the feedback. When you open the app and close it, widget should be refreshed.

If you change the data on other app or other device, it may need Background App Refresh to run.

Unfortunately Background App Refresh time is managed by iOS and can’t be set from other apps.

If you can share details about your usage, I’ll take another look.

Thanks!

Thanks so much! I emailed you a quick video in case I’m doing something incorrect.

Could the widget kit 'Inform WidgetKit When a Timeline Changes' function be used? At worst to trigger an update early morning, but also on other key events such as adding a new reminder?

Looks to be the way to get iOS to refresh the widget:

To run the action, background app refresh needs to be turned on. Also it can’t be scheduled to run on certain time. Background action is managed by iOS and 3rd party apps can’t run it by itself. I’m looking into making a shortcut which may trigger the refresh. If it goes well, it’ll be added on next update. Thanks!

In the spirit of trying top be helpful I downloaded todoist (don't hold it against me!), clear out the tasks and added two - one for today and another due tomorrow. added the widget and saw that the today one was showing. Unlocked the phone in the morning and the 'today' one was showing as overdue with the 'tomorrow' task now showing on the widget too. It looked like a rapid update on opening the phone - although couldn't really tell. This says to me there is a way.

I love goodtask, especially the format of the widget - but it is unusable in its current update approach. I have gone back to reminders until it works better.

@brizzlebloke - I should note here that @GoodTask worked with me for several days after sending my video and we found the issue for me was related to one of my calendars or lists. Once I turned those off and on (after trying several different options that @GoodTask suggested), the widget began updating immediately for me. I'm not sure exactly what the issue was, but I am so happy that it is working better now! It might be worth it to send an email to @GoodTask with a video and see if there are any suggestions to help your situation. Good luck!

Thanks for the update, @brizzlebloke. I’m not quite sure what your exact issue is now. :sweat_smile: If it’s about day changing, it should normally update by itself without opening the app. There could be some issues if you edit data outside the app but background app refresh should mostly resolve this too. Like @SIGFY said, if there is a specific issue, send me details to contact@hahaint.com Thanks! :wink:

Hi! It’s been some time since this thread, and I’m glad to see that you’ve added a small refresh icon in the widget.

But what I’m trying to do is to create a shortcut/automation to do that on certain criteria. I see the background app refresh being added into shortcuts. However, it doesn’t seem to refresh my widget when I run it. I might be configuring it wrongly. Any guide on how to use the shortcut “Refresh Data”?

Hi @Kyle_P, thanks for the feedback.

I’m sorry about the confusion. Refreshing widget by Shortcut can’t be done due to iOS limitations. I’ll remove it on next update. Thanks!