Home screen widgets

What the widgets do

AskMed's home screen widgets are shortcuts that start a question or reopen an answer from the Android home screen. There are two. The small widget, Ask a question, shows the AskMed wordmark and a question bar; tapping it opens AskMed straight to the Home screen with the question box focused and the keyboard up, so you can start typing at once. The medium widget, Recent questions, has the same question bar plus the last two questions from your History and a link to History; tapping a question reopens that answer with its sources, and tapping History opens the full list. When History is empty, the medium widget says your recent questions will show there. The widgets appear in the widget picker under AskMed, like any Android widget, and you can add either one or both. They show in the app's language, in any of AskMed's seven languages, and follow AskMed's colors, with the launcher's own corner style on Android 12 and later.

How the widgets work

The widgets work by showing data the AskMed app keeps up to date. Whenever your History changes, because you asked, saved, deleted or cleared something, the app updates the medium widget's two recent questions; when the app's language changes, both widgets redraw in the new language. The widgets redraw only when that data changes. Questions asked in Private Mode never reach History, so they never appear on the widget either. A tap on a widget opens the AskMed app with a link that says where to go: the question box, History, or one answer. If AskMed is still in its setup screens or asking you to choose a plan, a widget tap just opens the app where it is. On Android 15 and later, the widget picker shows a preview of each widget drawn as it will look, in your app language, instead of a plain app icon. The widgets show text only and hold no answers themselves.

Want to keep a question off the widget? Turn on Private Mode before you ask it.

When widgets help

Widgets help when the time between a question occurring to you and getting it answered matters. A doctor between patients can tap the Ask widget and type a question in seconds, without finding the app and switching modes. A nurse on a busy shift can keep the medium widget on the first home screen and reopen the answer from earlier in the shift with one tap. A pharmacist who checks the same kinds of questions all day can go straight to the question box from the home screen. A medical student revising can reopen the last two answers they were studying, for example after a break, without opening History. A researcher reading on the phone can jump back into a question as an idea comes up. Because the medium widget shows the two newest questions, it also works as a quick reminder of what you looked up last. Each widget is optional, and you can remove it at any time like any other widget.

Get AskMed on the App Store for iPhone and iPad, on Google Play for Android, or use it on the web.

Limits of the widgets

The widgets have clear limits. They are in the Android app only: the current App Store version of AskMed for iPhone and iPad has no home screen or Lock Screen widgets, and the web app has none. Android has no Lock Screen widgets for AskMed. You can't type or read an answer inside a widget; every tap opens the app. The medium widget shows the text of your two most recent questions on the home screen, where anyone who sees your phone can read them, so use the small widget or Private Mode for questions you don't want on show, and never put patient details in a question. The widgets show only the newest two questions, not saved answers. The widgets don't change how answers are made: answers still come from the app, with citations, AI-written and without drug doses.