A sample Dashclock Widget, with extensions for Eye in Sky Weather, Battery Widget Reborn, Logika Word of the Day, and inQuotes.
Dashclock Widget is a revelation. It has become so integrated into my daily workflow on my Nexus 4 that I forget that it isn’t an Android system app and that it is in fact a 3rd-party solution (albeit one developed by a former Googler, Roman Nurik). When an app reaches this level, at which it no longer requires any effort or second thought to use, then I know that its functionality and design have resonated not just with me but likely with thousands of other users, too. If you need a quick primer about Dashclock, I’ve written one here.
The best thing about Dashclock, however, is that it is an ecosystem unto itself, a mini OS that governs your Android 4.2+ lockscreen (seriously, Google should acquire this app). Many Android developers have now created extensions for Dashclock and diversified and enriched its functionality. Out of the “box,” Dashclock supports Gmail, SMS, missed calls, weather (from the stock Android weather app), Google Calendar, and Alarm/Clock. 3rd-party extensions typically add support for other apps (like Google Voice) or display their own curated sets of data (like quotes). Some topshelf Android apps have Dashclock support baked-in, meaning that you only have to add their extension in the Dashclock settings menu.
Here’s a roundup of 13 of my favorite Dashclock extensions (why 13? Because I’m feeling unlucky today, that’s why).
As its name suggests, AnyDash Pro lets you add an extension for any currently installed Android app. Simply pick an app, and then pick an icon to go with it. You’ll have to grant AnyDash Pro the appropriate Accessibility permissions so that it can monitor your notifications. My favorite apps to pair with AnyDash Pro are Snapchat, stock Email client, Words With Friends, and Google Voice.
This app is an all-star. It gives long-term charts and history about your battery usage and life, with nice charts and relevant statistics (e.g., “battery usually lasts [time]”). It can also put your phone into “Night Mode” (with mobile data, wifi, Bluetooth, and background sync all disabled) automatically during assigned time periods. Its Dashclock extension shows the predicted amount of battery life left, or, if the device is charging, how long you’ll have to wait until it’s fully charged.
As its name suggests, this extension lets you add an action, icon, and title/text of any kind to your Dashclock. Want to launch Chrome or toggle Bluetooth? You can do it with a simple tap.
I’m not much of a Facebook user, but this extension is useful if you are: it shows counts
and extended text for global notifications as well as Facebook messages.
This is a simple extension that provides a thoughtful or inspirational (or sometimes depressing) quote from a famous person. You can customize the content areas you want the quotes to pertain to (tech, love, etc.), as well as the refresh frequency.
Do you like Google Keep? Me too! It’s the best way to get a stock Android experience while taking notes, making lists, and saving images. This handy extension gives you immediate access to Keep, and better yet, it lets you configure what action you trigger when you tap its Dashclock icon: you can browse notes, or go directly to creating a new note or new list.
Dashclock can already display an SMS extension by default, but this 3rd-party extension
does a little more: it shows the actual unread count for your SMS/MMS, rather than the number of unread conversations. So if you have five new SMS from one person, it’ll show
that, rather than “1 Unread Conversation,” which wouldn’t give you a sense of how many
messages that person had really sent.
I used to use Dictionary.com’s app for a daily word of the day, but I eventually discarded
it due to the ugliness of its widget. This provides a much better solution: the word and its definition are shown in Dashclock, and can be clicked to take you to the Merriam-Webster page.
Eye in Sky is the greatest of all Android weather apps – it has a killer widget, lots of cool icon packs, and a persistent notification with hip language (“refreshingly cool,” e.g.) and a graphical preview of the rest of the day’s weather. It also supports Dashclock, with an icon to show the current condition, as well as read-out about the condition and temperature. There’s no reason not to ditch the stock weather extension for Eye in Sky’s version. And please, support the developer by upgrading to the Pro license (it removes the annoying in-notification adds, too).
Press is snazzy RSS client that simplifies your reading experience and taps into Feedly Cloud, Feed Wrangler, and Feedbin, so that you’ll not need to fret Google Reader’s imminent demise.
This is a great app in its own right that lets you access links and files that you’ve pushed to your Android device using either the PushBullet website or the handy Chrome extension. Its Dashclock extension previews the content of the most recent push and shows you an applicable push count.
Robin is an amazing client for App.net (ADN), with some of the smoothness scrolling I’ve ever seen on an Android app and a rich set of features. Its Dashclock extension lets you preview any notifications.
This nifty extension lets you perform a search on the current song playing and it lets you utilize Shazam, Sound Search for Google Play, or SoundHound.
BONUS!
If you’re a Star Trek nerd (like I am), this extension is a lot of fun. You can see the current Stardate, plus you can configure it according to whichever series/timeline you prefer (I use The Original Series). It clicks-thru to Google Calendar, too.
The Trek Episode Guide app is also a great resource if you’re a Trekkie.
