How to add a WhatsApp widget to your lock screen

WhatsApp has rightfully replaced traditional text messaging for most smartphone owners these days, and having quick access to your messages is just as essential. With a couple of easy steps you can add a WhatsApp widget to your Android's lock screen so that you don't even need to unlock your phone to see what's up in WhatsApp.

Accessing WhatsApp without unlocking your phone is a great time saver. / © AndroidPIT

One simple thing to do on any device is go into WhatsApp's Settings > Notifications and enable popup notifications. You can have popups for an illuminated screen (when you're using your phone) but also for a switched off screen. If you go for this option a new message notification will popup once even if the screen is off but remain on your lock screen the next time you go to unlock your phone.

The simplest WhatsApp ''widget'' comes from within the app itself! / © AndroidPIT

Stock Android

If your device is running stock Android, or a custom ROM that supports lockscreen widgets, you can quickly and easily add custom widgets, including WhatsApp, to your lock screen. Just go into Settings > Lock screen and tick the box for Custom Widgets. Then, lock your device's screen and from the lock screen swipe to the side until you see the + symbol. Tap that and select WhatsApp (or any other app for that mattecr) from the list. If you unlock your device from the lock screen with the WhatsApp widget installed, the next time you unlock your lock screen the WhatsApp widget will appear as the ''default''. You can also unlock from a different lock screen to have another widget be the one you see when you unlock. Older versions of Android do not support lock screen widgets.

KitKat allows you to conveniently set up your own lock screen widgets including WhatsApp, which can be expanded to full screen. / © AndroidPIT

Galaxy devices

Like all OEM skins, Samsung uses a slightly different menu setup but customizing your lock screen widgets is just as easy. Galaxy devices running newer versions of Android give you the ability to set up lock screen widgets just like stock Android, but you can also add a WhatsApp shortcut to your lock screen if you prefer that. Just go to Settings > Lock screen > Lock screen options and turn on Shortcuts switch, then tap where it says Shortcuts and choose WhatsApp from the list.

Lock screen WhatsApp shortcut on a S3 running Android 4.1.2 (left) and Dynamic Notifications acn also be used to show WhatsApp message previews as well as a lockscreen alternative. (right) / © AndroidPIT

Having problems?

If you're having issues getting the WhatsApp widget using the method described above, you may have a version of Android that doesn't support lock screen widgets – anything below Android 4.2. If you want a different lock screen widget specifically, you can just install an app like NiLS or WidgetLocker which are nice lock screen widget managers. You'll probably have to remove the default clock widget first though. Keep in mind that on Samsung devices running KitKat you can't just remove the clock widget as it seems as though Samsung is trying to take over that area with its own custom lock screen cards for weather, social, email etc.

NiLS is a great lock screen widget manager for Android 4.2 and above. / © NiLS

If you're using a widget manager like NiLS, you'll need to know that Samsung tends to push notifications through it's default widget so you'll have to use a different SMS app to bypass that whole mess. Some apps, like Sliding Messaging, work well with NiLS and allow you additional lock screen widget buttons like Reply and Read. Many of you will also know that I’m a big fan of Dynamic Notifications, the notifications app scraped from the Moto X. If you have an AMOLED displayed Samsung device, this is a great battery saving and notification tool that you can also use to quickly access new WhatsApp messages before you get to your lock screen. It can also be used as a lock screen replacement in the premium version.