Make the most of your notification center with Orby Widgets
Do you take advantage of the space in your iDevice’s notification center? I know that I am constantly adding, removing, rearranging, and looking for new items to make this section as personalized as possible. The notification center is intended to be the most convenient location on your iDevice for quick information. Whether you need to see your upcoming meetings, the current weather, or your tasks for the day, you should try to make the most of this useful spot. Orby Widgets can help you do that.
Orby Widgets is an app that adds widgets to your notification center to provide data on your iDevice, speed calling options, and quick sharing for social media. Below are the nine available widgets and the helpful details and functions that they each provide:
Memory
This widget provides a color-coded orb of information regarding your iDevice’s memory. It is easy to see at a glance just how the memory is being used. It displays data for wired, active, inactive, free, and system with both megabyte and percentage amounts. The Memory widget also provides a total memory amount.
Storage
This widget displays the used and free space on your iDevice along with a total for the system. Here again you will see the color-coded orb with the details beneath it.
Battery
This widget shows the percentage of battery you have left along with the estimated time remaining below it. So, if you prefer not have your battery percentage indicator at the top of your iPhone screen, you can check how much time your battery has left here instead.
Runtime
This widget shows your iDevice’s runtime since it was last started. It displays both the amount of time in days, hours, and minutes as well as the date that it was last started.
CPU
This widget also displays a colorful orb with the usage and idle CPU percentages below it. This means that you can see exactly how much CPU is being used by your iDevice.
Speed Call
This is my favorite widget so far. You can select up to eight of your contacts to dial instantly. Four are displayed at one time with an arrow to move to the next four. Plus symbol icons are available to add contacts directly to the widget. There is also a handy keypad icon beneath the speed dial contacts for you to dial a number directly. The Speed Call widget is currently only available for the iPhone.
Network
This widget tracks the amount of data sent and received on your iDevice from the last time it was started. Both Wi-Fi and and cellular data amounts are available.
Network Addresses
This widget displays your Mac and IP addresses for both Wi-Fi and cellular networks.
Share
This social sharing widget has two convenient functions. The first function is to post directly to Facebook or Twitter by tapping either icon. The second function is to share the music you are listening to on your iDevice by holding down the desired icon. With each of these functions a pop-up is displayed for you to edit your post and select the location, audience, or Twitter account if you have more than one.
Some widgets can be configured and this is easily done by opening the Orby Widgets app. The Memory, CPU, Storage, and Battery widgets can all use a different colored theme if you like. With the Share widget you can activate Facebook or Twitter or both. Speed Call contacts can be added quickly from your iPhone’s contact list.
You can use all of the Orby Widgets available or just those you find to be the most useful. Each can be removed or rearranged depending on what you need and where you need it the most.
Orby Widgets is currently on the App Store for $2.99 and is available for iPhone and iPad.
