The Microsoft Arrow Launcher is one of the most useful launchers in the Google Play Store right now, particularly if you are a heavy Microsoft apps user. I’ve reviewed this launcher in the past and Microsoft continues to make big strides in improving it on a seemingly monthly basis. One of the features that came with the last major update was the ability to add widgets to the Utility page in the launcher.
For clarity, the Utility page is a single page that you swipe right to get to from the Home page. There you can see your recent contacts, your calendar, documents and so forth. All of this content is tied to your phone or to your Office 365 (personal or business) account to get you these files and information at a glance. You can turn this page off in the settings but once you get it configured the way you want, it is actually quite handy. Think of it, in a way, as the Microsoft version of the Google Now page.
If you are using the latest version of Arrow Launcher, you can add other app widgets to the Utility page. This will free up space on your Home pages but also give you the ability to at glance see a bunch of widgets in one place. It is quite handy.
First, you need to make sure you are running the latest version of Arrow Launcher. That is version 3.4.0.33313 and it is available in the Play Store. Next, swipe over to the Utility page then swipe
Adding Widgets to Arrow Launcher Utility Page
down until you see the blue Edit button. Tap that button and you will see all of the built-in widgets that are available for Arrow Launcher. Now scroll down and you will see a new button, Add Widget. Tap this and you will be taken to your traditional widget page within Android. This is a list of all the apps that you have which have supporting widgets included with them. Find the widget you want then single tap it. It will be added to your Utility page.
As with other widgets, you can move them up and down the viewing list by tapping-and-holding the title bar for the widget then dragging it up or down. You can also resize widgets by tapping on the overflow menu (the three vertical dots) for each widget and tapping the Resize widget option.
The screenshot in this article will give you an idea of the look and feel of this new feature. So far, I’ve not found a number limit of widgets that you can add. I’ve added 12 widgets to the Utility page and Arrow Launcher didn’t stop me from adding them nor did it slow down in performance. I whittled it back down to the handful I use everyday and it has certainly increased my productivity in just the few days I’ve been using them.
One limitation I have found is that you cannot rename the widget. Look at my screenshot and you see my Fitbit widget is named “Fitbit Primary Goal Widget”. That’s the name that Fitbit gave the widget in the app and Arrow Launcher pulls that directly from the app. It would be nice to be able to change this to just “Fitbit” but I’m probably being picky at this point.
Give this a try Arrow Launcher users and see if it helps you organize things better and be more productive.
