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

I wanted to add the Facebook widget just to my Mac, but had to add an FB widget on the iPhone for the Mac one to work. Different format on the Mac (larger), so at least that's able to be customized per device.

Just from the doc

“Open [App] on your iPhone to continue”: If you click an area of a widget that isn't interactive, the widget's app opens so that you can continue in the app. If the widget's app is installed on your iPhone and not on your Mac, the widget asks you to “Open [App] on your iPhone to continue,” so that you can continue in the app on your iPhone

I am having the same issue, butI disagree, Apple is very particular about adding features and making sure that they are specifically designed for that specific device. These widgets have been redesigned for the Mac. For example, the Instagram widget added to the Mac via Sonoma asks to open the Instagram app. I presume this is to link your account to the widget on the Mac. These widgets on Sonoma are not ported onto the mac (even if it is still running the same RISK processes via ARM), Apple will have specifically designed these widgets for the Mac OS. One reason I am let to believe this, is that the widgets that do work perform very well on the different display size of the Mac. If they're ported, they would either have to display at the same resolution as on the iPhone, or be upscaled to run as they are on Sonoma currently. I believe this is more of a bug, or something that will come later, as Apple has stated that a lot of the features that they have advertised on the new iOS and the new OSX will be coming later this year, which is a sad thought as there are a lot of great features that would be very useful to have right now.

If anyone has any information or has found any discussions on delving further into the code aspect of these widgets, please reply to my message as I would be very intrigued to see how they function and why they ask to open the iPhone. I am very much convinced that this is used to authenticate the account used in the given widget (for example, Instagram).

I have also noticed that the Find My widget isn't working, which is a little bit annoying as I have a lot of AirTags and friends who share their location with me, so this would be very useful when glancing at my desktop to see when certain close friends are arriving or ensuring that my AirTags are near me.

I hope this helps spark ideas.

I am also looking forward to the day that we begin seeing more third-party widgets becoming available.

All the best,

Tyler.

I did another search on this in the apple help..... this paragraph explains it: When you click a widget, if you see the message “Open [app name] on your iPhone to continue,” this means the app isn’t installed on your Mac. You need to open the app on your iPhone to interact with it. Some third-party apps aren’t available for both iPhone and Mac.

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

Also, the app and widget may need to be updated to take advantage of it.

I have no way to know if this is correct, but I would assume there is nothing for the widget to do on your Mac. If you click on the widget, it loads the associated app. If that app isn't on your Mac, it would have to open the app on your iPhone. It may be telling you that if you want to interact with it, you must use the app on the iPhone.

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

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.

I have the same problem. Some Iphone apps do not work. I am always instructed to open the app on the Iphone, but nothing happens. Continuity is switched on.

I noticed that the iPhone selection box in the WIdgets section of the settings is missing. In the tutorials I watched, there was always a selection box for iPhone. Could it have something to do with that?

I have attached two pictures - one from the tutorial and one from my 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.

What a absolutely pointless tease from Apple... about the ONLY things that work like they should is the Outlook widget and the calendar widget, all the rest are useless (open your iphone to continue), well doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose of being able to open a app on your desktop?! For example, the Youtube app, if you click in the search area or the mic on the widget it tells you to open the app on your phone to continue?! Some things Apple does so good and other things really make me wonder...

I am having the same issue with apps that were made for both Iphone and Mac. For example the app "Calendars" by Readdle. They have a mac and an iphone version, but every time I click it, I get the message open app on iphone to continue. But the app is also not working property on my iphone. I'll go to open the calendars app on my iphone, and it will say "open app to see details"