Widgets added on Sonoma saying "open app on iPhone to continue"

It seems kind of ridiculous to put iPhone "widgets" on the Mac desktop if they don't offer some function other than to remind you to "open your iPhone" and use them there. And it would be really useful to have some functionality from my iPhone apps when using them on Sonoma. The whole thing seems unclear and unfinished to me.

Yes, what is the point of showing an iPhone app's widget on your Mac desktop if you can't use it? These Mac widgets seem to have been custom designed for display on Mac. Why are they there if they don't work?

I fixed it with turning off/on Use iPhone widgets switch in System Settings > Desktop & Dock > Widgets.

Turn it off, wait a minute, and then turn it back on again.

During this process, all of the iPhone widgets disappear from my desktop and then reappear and start to show what they are supposed to show.

Of course, not all of the iOS widgets are ready to be used on MacOS. Some of them that are capable of interacting with the user can't do so on MacOS. Others, like Spotify, don't even show up in the widget chooser. For example, I can view my note list on the Simplenote widget, but I can't edit it without the iPhone. The Google Search widget also does not work for this reason.

Some widgets you add on MacOS that weren't previously added on iPhone won't work until you give them permission: open your iPhone, wait for a prompt, and confirm.

I have the same issue .

It's weird, because when I want to add one, it displays correctly in the widget list, but once added on the desktop, not anymore.

This feature was highlighted, so I do not understand why it's not working

I add a screenshot to show. The most interesting is that for instance the one with the count down is my parking payment app. In the widget list as you see I can see the widget counting down the time. But it's empty once added on the dektop

I have never found one that works either. This "feature" is useless.

I discovered that you need to open the widget on your iPhone to have it work on the Mac Desktop. Removing it from your iPhone disables it on the desktop.

OK that's good reasoning, you may be right... But, in that case why are they showing up in Sonoma if they are not supposed to be work, if they were written for iOS. Nobody was there from Apple to test them before releasing Sonoma?

Despite that, I remember that in one of the Sonoma presentations from Youtube, someone was saying that the iPhone, or iPad widgets can work now in Sonoma...

only thing is i open it on my iphone and it still doesn't work on the mac..... do i have to also install it on the Mac and if so how do I do that. plus it offeres it in the list of widgets on the Mac so it would seem it is already available..... this is baffling

Yes, you would have to install a widget the app developer made for the Mac. The iOS widgets may open on an Apple Silicon Mac but that doesn't mean it will "work." The data displayed in the widget may be stored in the iPhone so there is nothing on the Mac to show--you have to open the iPhone app/widget to see the data.

I'm just guessing that there might be some mechanism to go fetch the data from the iPhone, but if the app doesn't know about this mechanism, you will get the blank screen on the Mac until the app developer updates the app/widget to respond to the request from the Mac.

There are widgets that display data from the web. These may display that data on the Mac because it can go out and retrieve the data from the internet and doesn't need to contact the iPhone.

I have a calendar app (timetree), I use the widget extensively on my phone, and I was so excited for it to be on my MBA desktop. But all I see is

I'm ok if I can't open it and edit events etc. on macOS, but even the basic display isn't working.

I must say, i'm a little disappointed.

Widgets display information stored or delivered by the backing app. They are not standalone “mini apps” with their own data store. If the app doesn’t exist or have a method to sync across devices (possibly iCloud) there is nothing to display.

Some iOS widgets work. Some do not.

When selecting a widget from the available list, look in the upper right corner of the box where you select the size and variation you like. If it is from iPhone, it will say so. If it is from loaded on your Mac, it doesn't say anything. If the app is loaded on both Mac and iPhone, you will have a choice which version to select.

Bottom line, for the widget to work on Mac, it needs that app loaded on Mac to work on it...on the Mac.

This did the trick, I kept my phone right next to my mac and it did the trick. Hopefully this works for others.

Update: So when it decides to work is spotty, I have it next to my mac and it works at times and not at others. Hopefully this is something that the app makers can easily update to work better.