Is the home-screen widget upsell growing in apps?
- By Ali Abouelatta
- n = 730
- Published
- Updated
- 2 min read
- upsell · retention · monetization · mobile · ux-patterns
Short answer
Yes, steadily. Home-screen widget upsells rose from 3.4% of captured apps in 2023 to 7.5% in 2025 (55 of 730 companies) - roughly a doubling off a small base source[1]. It is a slow, consistent climb rather than a breakout. If you are deciding whether to prompt users to add a widget, the trend is quietly upward but still a minority pattern.
Home-screen widget upsells grew from 3.4% of captured apps in 2023 to 7.5% in 2025 (July 2026).
Bar chart · Companies with pattern
Companies with pattern — The trend: a steady climb off a small base
One block is about 2 Companies with pattern
- 2023
- 10
- 2024
- 21
- 2025
- 55
The trend: a steady climb off a small base
Share of captured apps showing a home-screen widget upsell, by capture year:
Each year gained roughly two points of share - a consistent, monotonic climb, unlike the spike-and-retreat patterns (streaks, countdown timers) elsewhere in this family source[1].
How to apply it
The steady, uninterrupted rise makes the widget upsell a lower-risk bet than the peaked patterns: it is still climbing, so you would be joining a growing behavior rather than a plateaued one. At 7.5% it remains a minority tactic, best suited to apps where a glanceable home-screen surface (weather, tracking, streaks, reminders) adds real daily value. Prompt for it after activation, not during onboarding, given the small base of apps that have made it work.
Caveats
Prevalence is deduped by distinct company and matched on %widget%; it is a lower bound bounded by tag recall, and the broad 'widget' term may catch some non-upsell widget UI source[1]. Base sizes are small (10-55 companies), so treat the slope as directional source[1]. Partial-2026 (4 apps) is excluded as a thin-capture artifact source[2].
Real in-market screens
Screens from real, in-market apps, tracked by Lazyweb Research.
Facetime1206 × 2622opens the full image 
Chevron1206 × 2622opens the full image 
Google Photos1290 × 2796opens the full image 
Koyfin1206 × 2622opens the full image
The numbers
| # | Stat | Computed from |
|---|---|---|
| [1] | 3.4% (2023, 10/293) -> 5.3% (2024, 21/399) -> 7.5% (2025, 55/730) | widget_upsell_prevalence_over_time |
| [2] | 2026 partial = 4 apps, excluded as thin-capture artifact | widget_upsell_prevalence_over_time / smallSampleWarnings |
Methodology
Universe: 47,578 capture-dated screenshots across 809 tracked mobile apps. Method: for each capture year, share of distinct companies whose screens carry a widget tag. Reliable window 2023-2025; partial-2026 excluded. Caveat: broad 'widget' term and small base make the slope directional; tag-matched prevalence is a lower bound.
Sources
- [1]
Lazyweb Research analysis of 809 tracked apps (mobile-app corpus, 47,578 capture-dated screenshots), July 2026
Prevalence = share of companies captured each year whose screens carry a `%widget%` tag, deduped by company_name.
- [2]
Lazyweb Research analysis of 809 tracked apps (mobile-app corpus, 47,578 capture-dated screenshots), July 2026
2026 captures run only through Jul 4 with thin tagging; that year is excluded from the trend.
Source: Lazyweb Research — proprietary analysis of real, in-market app screens. Cite as Lazyweb Research, 2026-07-07.