With macOS Sequoia, Apple has refined desktop personalisation by allowing widgets to reside directly on your desktop wallpaper while offering deeper visual styling options. To prevent colourful widgets from distracting you while working in active application windows, macOS Sequoia introduces custom widget tinting. This feature lets you enforce a sleek monochrome or wallpaper-matched aesthetic across all desktop widgets.
Adding and Placing Widgets Directly on the macOS Desktop
Widgets are no longer confined to the hidden slide-out Notification Centre. You can place them anywhere on your desktop workspace.
- Right-click (or Control-click) on an empty area of your desktop.
- Select Edit Widgets from the contextual menu to open the widget gallery at the bottom of the screen.
- Browse widgets by category (such as Calendar, Weather, Reminders, Battery, or third-party apps).
- Hover over a widget to preview available size variations (Small, Medium, Large, or Extra Large).
- Click and drag the widget directly onto your desktop wallpaper. macOS automatically snaps widgets into an aligned grid layout.
- Click Done in the bottom-right corner to exit editing mode.
Enabling Monochrome and Tinted Widget Styles
By default, desktop widgets display full-colour graphics when the desktop is in focus, fading to a subtle translucent appearance when another application window becomes active. You can override this behaviour to apply a permanent monochrome or tinted theme.
- Click the Apple menu in the top-left corner and select System Settings.
- Navigate to Desktop & Dock in the sidebar.
- Scroll down to the Widgets section.
- Locate the dropdown menu labelled Widget style. You will see three distinct presentation modes:
- Automatic: Widgets appear in full colour when the desktop is clicked and switch to a faded monochrome appearance when an application window is focused.
- Monochrome: Keeps all widgets in a muted, distraction-free grayscale tint at all times, regardless of window focus.
- Full Color: Enforces vibrant, full-colour widget graphics permanently, even when working behind foreground windows.
- Select Monochrome to achieve a minimalist, unified look across your entire desktop.
Displaying iPhone Widgets on Your Mac Desktop
Thanks to Continuity features in macOS Sequoia, you can place widgets from your iPhone directly on your Mac desktop without needing the corresponding Mac apps installed.
- In System Settings > Desktop & Dock > Widgets, toggle on Use iPhone widgets.
- Ensure both your Mac and iPhone are connected to the same Wi-Fi network, have Bluetooth turned on, and are signed into the same Apple Account.
- Open the widget gallery on your Mac desktop. iPhone-only apps will now appear in the list with a small “From iPhone” badge.
- Drag your preferred iPhone widgets onto the desktop. Interactive actions (such as checking off reminders or starting timers) sync seamlessly back to your mobile device.
Managing Widget Interaction and Performance
To keep desktop animations fluid and prevent visual clutter, you can quickly resize or remove unwanted widgets:
- Resize on the Fly: Right-click any active widget and choose a different size option (e.g., from Medium to Small) without opening the full widget gallery.
- Quick Removal: Right-click a widget and choose Remove Widget to clear space immediately.
- Click to Reveal Desktop: In Desktop & Dock, set Click wallpaper to reveal desktop to Only in Stage Manager or Always to easily inspect your widgets with a single mouse click.