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iOS 15 Bug with Widgets Going Blank

After updating to iOS 15, I've been experiencing the following issue:


Every time I enter the widget library from the jiggly mode, I check out widgets for two random apps, and when I open the third app, I suddenly only get blank squares/rectangles there.


If I leave the widget library at that point, there's a fair chance that my home screen widgets remain functional. If I continue browsing the widgets though, I'll only get more blank widgets instead, and then all of my home screen widgets will go blank one by one, as well.


The only way out of this is the phone's restart.


I've made a screen recording demoing this issue:

https://youtu.be/nEsqtEJ0bJE


Here's a Reddit thread discussing the same issue:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ios/comments/pt4n2d/ios_15_bug_widgets_appearing_blank/

As mentioned there, I sort of suspect one of the 3rd-party apps might be causing it; but for me, it's impossible to identify it. I can reproduce this issue every time with a completely random selection of apps in the widget library, and it always results in the same behaviour.


Any possible tips are welcome. Cheers!


iPhone XS, iOS 15

Posted on Sep 22, 2021 11:20 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Oct 23, 2021 9:09 AM

Switch the system language between English UK <> English US.

This does a quick soft reload of iOS and the widgets are back.

This should be fixed quickly though, as it’s really annoying :\

17 replies

Nov 16, 2021 5:19 AM in response to Mike P CZ

Apple, if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it. I don’t know about the perfect Apple features you enjoy in-house but I’m sick and tired of dealing with your disruption to my life every time you “improve” things. QC the **** out of your products and fire people if what they develop is crap. There’s no other cure for ineptitude.

Sep 24, 2021 2:58 AM in response to Eric--F

I had no luck with a hard reset. Well, it worked for about 20 minutes, then, widgets started showing up blank again. I’m not qualified to make a judgment call, but the problem for me coincided with the iOS 15 upgrade. My only solution for now is to discontinue the use of widgets.


(Note: Widgets are working well with iPadOS 15 — the issue for me is only on the iPhone.)

Sep 23, 2021 4:50 PM in response to Mike P CZ

Hi Mike P CZ,


Thanks for posting in Apple Support Communities.


We understand that your widgets begin to show blank.


Restart your iPhone. If it continues, reset your settings. Your preferences and settings such as wallpapers, Wi-Fi passwords, and Apple Pay will be reset. Content such as contacts, photos and calendar events will not be removed. We advise on creating a backup to iCloud or to your computer before resetting. Check out Back up iPhone.


Once the backup is complete, proceed to reset by choosing Settings > General > Reset and tap Reset All Settings.




Regards.


Nov 17, 2021 1:00 PM in response to Sofalit

I’ve had the same troubles on my XS Max for a while and so far a hard reset only worked. Never bothered to look on fora, assuming a fix in some iOs 15.x would arrive soon.


Since a week on a 13 Pro Max via Cloud backup and today first time widgets went blank again. The language switch indeed helped to bring them back, great tip!


But we need a real fix, dear Apple 😊


I have widgets iConnectHue to control my Phillips Hue, MeteoSwiss, Waze and Todoist running in widgets.


So dear Apple pls fix this asap… my life depends on it (wife and kids need Netflix lighting setting 😜)

Oct 1, 2021 9:11 PM in response to Dustyland

I’ve now technically performed the reset by moving to a new phone (from Xs to 13 Pro). The new phone was set up as new and restored from the latest iCloud backup afterwards.


The bug is still there. The 13 Pro seems to be handling it better, probably due to a bigger RAM. It takes a bit longer for the widgets to disappear, and also they manage to recover on their own after a few minutes.

Oct 2, 2021 4:08 AM in response to Mike P CZ

Mike P CZ wrote:

I’ve now technically performed the reset by moving to a new phone (from Xs to 13 Pro). The new phone was set up as new and restored from the latest iCloud backup afterwards.

The bug is still there. The 13 Pro seems to be handling it better, probably due to a bigger RAM. It takes a bit longer for the widgets to disappear, and also they manage to recover on their own after a few minutes.


That sure is disappointing. Good to know, though. Thanks for posting.

Nov 3, 2021 7:38 AM in response to Killasyougo

I'm seeing the same behavior with the Music widget but only on my iPhone 13 Pro. My iPad Pro, iPad mini and iPhone XS are all fine.


The Music widget is blank for me until I plug into power and then it refreshes. It does not refresh at any other time, nor does the color of the widget change like it does on my other devices.


This is not happening on my wife's iPhone 13 Pro and I've done all the troubleshooting steps so hopefully this gets resolved in some kind of update. For now, I'm just going to delete the widget - it was mostly useless anyway.

iOS 15 Bug with Widgets Going Blank

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