Home Screen Widgets
How to add Forbidden Finance widgets to your phone's home screen, including the one-tap Add Transaction shortcut and the four data widgets you opt into from Settings.
Overview
Forbidden Finance puts two different things on your phone's home screen, and they work very differently.
The Add Transaction shortcut is a launcher. It shows no numbers at all — it is a button that opens the app on a blank transaction form. It needs no setup and no permission, because it never displays any of your financial data.
The data widgets show real information from your account: budget status, net worth, upcoming bills, and account balances. Because a home screen is visible to anyone holding your phone, these are off until you turn them on, behind two separate switches in Settings.
The Add Transaction Shortcut
This is the fastest way to log a purchase before you forget it. Every version of it opens the same new-transaction form, and none of them display a balance, a budget, or an amount.
| Surface | Where it lives | Platform |
|---|---|---|
| Home screen widget | A small tile on your home screen | iPhone, iPad, Android |
| Lock screen widget | A compact accessory on your lock screen | iPhone |
| Control Center control | The "Add a Control" gallery | iPhone, iOS 18 and later |
| Siri and Shortcuts | Say it, or add it to a Shortcut | iPhone, iPad, iOS 16.4 and later |
| Quick Settings tile | The pull-down shade next to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth | Android |
| App icon shortcut | Press and hold the Forbidden Finance icon | iPhone, iPad, Android |
Siri Phrases
On iOS 16.4 and later, these phrases work with no setup:
- "Add a transaction in Forbidden Finance"
- "Add an expense in Forbidden Finance"
- "New transaction in Forbidden Finance"
- "Log a transaction in Forbidden Finance"
There is a matching set for review, including "Review transactions in Forbidden Finance" and "Show transactions to review in Forbidden Finance."
App Icon Shortcuts
Press and hold the Forbidden Finance icon on your home screen for a short menu: Add Transaction, Review Transactions, Add Account, and Budgets.
The Four Data Widgets
These show your actual figures, so they are opt-in.
| Widget | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Budget status | How much of your budget is spent, and which groups are running hot. |
| Net worth | Which way your net worth is moving, and by how much. |
| Upcoming bills | What's due in the next 30 days, soonest first. |
| Account balances | Your checking and savings accounts at a glance. |
Larger sizes add a small chart — a net worth trend line, a budget pace bar, a spread across your accounts, and a strip of the week ahead for bills.
Tapping a widget opens the matching screen in the app rather than dumping you on the dashboard.
Turning Data Widgets On
Open widget settings
Go to Settings and tap Home Screen Widgets.
Turn on Show data in widgets
This is the master switch. Until it is on, nothing is written to a widget at all. The screen is direct about why it is off by default: widgets appear on your home screen, where anyone holding your phone can see them.
Decide about amounts
Show amounts is a second, separate switch, and it stays unavailable until the master switch is on. Leave it off and your widgets show progress bars, trends, and bill names without dollar figures. Turn it on and they show real balances and amounts.
Add the widgets you want
Forbidden Finance cannot place a widget for you — your phone's operating system reserves that. Add them from your home screen's widget gallery, as described below.
Placing a Widget
On iPhone or iPad
Press and hold an empty area of your home screen until the icons jiggle, tap the Edit or + button, then search for Forbidden Finance. You will find Add Transaction, Budget Status, Net Worth, Upcoming Bills, and Account Balances. Pick a size and tap Add Widget.
On Android
Press and hold an empty area of your home screen, tap Widgets, then scroll to Forbidden Finance. Press and hold the widget you want and drag it into place.
Resize it
Most of the data widgets offer more than one size, and the larger sizes show more: extra budget groups, more bills, a chart. Resize the widget the way you would any other on your phone.
What Your Widget Is Telling You
A widget shows a snapshot the app left for it, not a live reading. Medium and large widgets carry an As of footer in small text — "As of 5 min ago", "As of 2 days ago" — so you always know how old the number is.
Widgets refresh when you open the app, and your phone also wakes them periodically on its own schedule. Opening Forbidden Finance is always the fastest way to bring one current.
| What you see | What it means |
|---|---|
| Dimmed or greyed content | The snapshot is more than 36 hours old. The numbers are still shown, along with the As of footer, but they are visibly stale. |
| "Open to refresh" or "Out of date" | The snapshot has aged past a week. Open the app and the widget fills back in. |
| "Widget data is off" | The master switch is off. Turn on Home Screen Widgets in Settings. |
| "Unlock to show" | Your phone is locked and this widget is waiting on it. |
| "Period ended" | Your budget period rolled over. Open the app to see the new period. |
| "As of unknown" | The widget could not read the age of its own snapshot. Open the app to rewrite it. |
| "Balances hidden" | Show amounts is off. This is working as intended. |
Privacy and Shared Devices
Widget data lives on your device, and the two-switch design exists so that nothing about your finances lands on your home screen by accident.
- Both switches default to off. A fresh install shows nothing until you choose otherwise.
- Amounts are a separate decision. You can have useful widgets — a budget bar, bill names and dates, a net worth direction — with no dollar figures anywhere.
- iOS hides amounts on the lock screen. Even with Show amounts on, iOS redacts them on the iPhone lock screen until you unlock.
- Signing out clears everything. Widget data is wiped and both switches reset to off. Because these settings belong to the device rather than the account, this stops the next person to sign in from inheriting consent they never gave.
- Deleting your account clears them too, by the same path.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can someone read my balances off my lock screen?
Only if you turned on Show amounts, and even then iOS hides amounts on the iPhone lock screen until the phone is unlocked. If you would rather not think about it, leave Show amounts off — your widgets still show progress and direction, just without the figures.
What happens to my widgets when I sign out?
They empty, and both switches reset to off. This is deliberate: widget settings are stored on the device, not in your account, so leaving them on would hand the next account to sign in on that phone a consent it never gave. Sign back in, turn the switches on again, and your widgets refill.
Why does my widget look grey or faded?
Its snapshot is more than 36 hours old. Your phone decides how often to wake a widget, and it can stretch that out to save battery or when you have not opened the app in a while. Open Forbidden Finance and it refreshes immediately.
Do widgets work on the web app?
No. Widgets are placed by your phone or tablet's operating system, and a browser has no home screen to place them on. Nothing is written from a web session.
Do I need to turn anything on for the Add Transaction widget?
No. It shows no data, so there is nothing to consent to. Add it from your widget gallery and it works right away, even with the data-widget switches off.
Why can't the app add a widget for me?
Neither iOS nor Android lets an app place a widget on your home screen — that stays with you and the widget gallery. The settings screen ends with a reminder for exactly this reason.
Which widgets are on which platform?
All four data widgets and the Add Transaction widget are on both iPhone and Android. Lock screen widgets and the Control Center control are iPhone only, and the Quick Settings tile is Android only.
A widget says there is nothing to show. Is it broken?
Probably not. "Nothing due in the next 30 days", "No cash accounts yet", and "No budget groups yet" are real answers — the widget is reporting an empty state, not a failure. If you expect data there, open the app and check that the underlying account, bill, or budget exists.
Related Articles
Add a Transaction
Where the Add Transaction shortcut lands you.Dashboard Widgets
The in-app dashboard, which is customized separately.Upcoming Bills
What feeds the Upcoming Bills widget.Biometric Unlock
Lock the app itself behind Face ID or a fingerprint.Need more help? Contact us at [email protected].