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Android Widgets Today (Nov 12, 2025): Pixel VIPs Widget Upgrade, Play Store Battery Warnings, and 2 Must‑Install Widgets

November 12, 2025
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Android Widgets Today (Nov 12, 2025): Pixel VIPs Widget Upgrade, Play Store Battery Warnings, and 2 Must‑Install Widgets
  • Pixel Feature Drop: Google upgrades the Pixel VIPs experience—messages from your VIP contacts get priority, and a crisis badge now appears in the Contacts widget for critical alerts. [1]
  • Play Store policy shift: Google will flag and penalize apps that secretly drain your battery using “excessive partial wake locks,” with visible warnings and reduced discovery starting in March 2026. [2]
  • What to install right now: If you’re looking to refresh your home screen, TickTick and Weather & Widget (Weawow) are two standout Android widgets recommended this week. [3]

Pixel’s November Feature Drop puts widgets back in the spotlight

Google’s off‑cycle November Feature Drop adds tangible quality‑of‑life upgrades for Pixel owners—especially if you rely on widgets to triage information. The headline: Pixel VIPs now treats messages from your must‑reach contacts as priority notifications, and you’ll see a crisis badge in the Contacts widget when there are critical alerts associated with a VIP. In short, the people who matter cut through the noise faster. [4]

Beyond widgets, this Feature Drop rolls out AI‑powered notification summaries, Remix in Google Messages for playful photo edits, and a power‑saving mode for Maps—changes that will be visible across phones and tablets as the update lands. (Availability and exact feature sets vary by device/region.) [5]

How to get it: On a Pixel, go to Settings → System → System update and check for updates. Once installed, you can configure VIPs from the Google Contacts app (Organize tab), select up to eight VIPs, and drop the Pixel VIPs widget onto your home screen. (The VIPs widget replaces the old Favorites widget; it can show last calls/messages and optional location‑based context when shared.) [6]

Google Play’s new battery‑drain warnings will name—and tame—bad apps

Today’s other big change touches every Android phone, not just Pixels. Google has promoted a new Android Vitals metric—“excessive partial wake locks”—out of beta and into the core quality bar for Play Store apps. If an app keeps your CPU awake in the background for too long, it will trigger user‑facing warnings on its Play Store listing and may lose visibility in recommendations beginning March 1, 2026. The policy was refined with input from Samsung. [7]

Reporters who reviewed Google’s guidance note the specifics: apps crossing the threshold (e.g., more than two cumulative hours of non‑exempt wake locks within 24 hours for at least 5% of user sessions over 28 days) risk those new labels and penalties. It’s a meaningful incentive for developers to fix runaway background tasks—and good news if you’ve been blaming widgets for sudden drain. [8]

Why it matters for widget fans: Many widgets are thin shells on top of background services. With clearer Play Store warnings and stricter discovery rules, power‑hungry apps should be easier to spot (and avoid)—and well‑built widgets should rise to the top. [9]

2 essential Android widgets to install today

A timely guide published this week singles out two polished, useful widgets that pair nicely with today’s platform updates:

  1. TickTick: To‑Do List & Calendar
    TickTick offers a deep set of Android widgets across Tasks, Calendar, Eisenhower Matrix, and Pomodoro Focus—a rare combination that helps you plan, prioritize, and execute without ever opening the app. If you want a single widget suite to run your day, this is it. (Premium adds themes, shared planners, and more.) [10]
  2. Weather & Widget (Weawow)
    Weawow’s customizable weather widgets are both data‑rich and beautiful, pulling community images that reflect conditions at a glance. You can choose among providers, tailor layouts, and keep ads at bay without paying—ideal if the stock Pixel Weather tiles aren’t your style. [11]

Tip: If you’re on a Pixel and prefer Google’s first‑party look, Pixel Weather added native widgets earlier this year, decoupling them from the Google app and adopting the newer Material design—worth a try if you want a cohesive aesthetic. [12]

Quick how‑to: Add the Pixel VIPs widget (and make it useful)

  1. Update your Pixel to the latest Feature Drop.
  2. Open Contacts → Organize → Pixel VIPs and pick up to 8 people.
  3. Add the “Pixel VIPs” widget to your home screen; resize to fit your layout.
  4. Optional: grant SMS/WhatsApp permissions for last interactions, and Location if you want local time/weather or activity suggestions for VIPs. [13]

Pro move: Keep VIPs in the top row of your primary home screen and set your launcher to two pages max—that way, your “people widget” is always one tap from anywhere.

The bigger picture: Lock‑screen widgets are (still) on the way

Google confirmed earlier this year that lock‑screen widgets will arrive for phones via Android 16 QPR1/AOSP after the main Android 16 release. Today’s VIPs upgrade fits a broader push to make at‑a‑glance surfaces more actionable—on the home screen now, and on the lock screen later. [14]

Also notable this month

  • Android Auto 15.6 added widget improvements and stability fixes—useful if you rely on glanceable controls in the car. [15]

Bottom line

If you live from your home screen, today’s Pixel Feature Drop meaningfully elevates Android widgets—especially for communication triage—while Google Play’s upcoming battery‑drain warnings promise a healthier widget ecosystem in 2026. In the meantime, TickTick and Weawow are two quick installs that make your phone feel smarter and faster today. [16]

Sources & further reading

  • Official: November Pixel Feature Drop (new VIPs behavior and more). [17]
  • Roundups of everything in the update, including AI summaries and Maps power saving. [18]
  • Details on Pixel VIPs and how to access the widget. [19]
  • Android Developers on excessive partial wake locks and Play Store warnings. [20]
  • BGR’s picks for 2 essential Android widgets (TickTick, Weawow). [21]
How I get my Samsung tablet widgets 🤩 galaxy tab S9+ | homescreen aesthetic | android apps
Watch this video on YouTube.

References

1. blog.google, 2. android-developers.googleblog.com, 3. www.bgr.com, 4. blog.google, 5. 9to5google.com, 6. 9to5google.com, 7. android-developers.googleblog.com, 8. 9to5google.com, 9. android-developers.googleblog.com, 10. www.bgr.com, 11. www.bgr.com, 12. 9to5google.com, 13. 9to5google.com, 14. 9to5google.com, 15. www.sammyfans.com, 16. blog.google, 17. blog.google, 18. 9to5google.com, 19. 9to5google.com, 20. android-developers.googleblog.com, 21. www.bgr.com

Mateusz Brzeziński

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