Time: 10 minutes | Level: Beginner
Prerequisites: Logging Like a Pro
Prerequisites: Logging Like a Pro
What You’ll Learn
- What widgets are and why they matter
- The five core widget types
- How to read and interpret widgets
- Customizing time ranges
What Are Widgets?
Widgets are visual summaries of your data that update automatically. Instead of scrolling through entries to understand your patterns, widgets show you the answer instantly. Every Helper comes with widgets—Peanuts suggests the most useful ones based on what you’re tracking.The Five Core Widget Types
- Total
- Chart
- Streak
- Counter
- Recent
Shows: Sum of a number fieldExample: “Total Spending: $1,245.00”Best for: Expenses, income, quantities
Reading a Chart Widget
Let’s decode a typical spending chart:
- Title — What data this shows (“Spending by Category”)
- Time range — Period covered (“This Month”)
- Legend — Color coding for categories
- Values — Actual numbers or percentages
- Trend indicator — Up/down compared to last period
Widget Time Ranges
Most widgets can show different time periods:| Range | What It Shows |
|---|---|
| Today | Just today’s entries |
| This Week | Monday to now |
| This Month | 1st of month to now |
| Last 30 Days | Rolling 30-day window |
| This Year | January 1st to now |
| All Time | Everything ever logged |
Changing the Time Range
- Look for the time label on the widget (e.g., “This Month”)
- Tap it
- Select a different range
- Widget updates instantly
Why Widgets Update Automatically
Every time you log an entry:- Related widgets recalculate immediately
- No refresh needed
- Charts, totals, and streaks stay current
Widgets on the Home Screen
The Home screen shows widgets from all your Helpers in one place:- Daily summary — What you logged today
- Streak highlights — Active streaks across Helpers
- Key metrics — Important numbers from each Helper
Customizing Widgets
You can customize which widgets appear and how they look:Exercise
Practice: Explore Your Widgets
Using your Expense Tracker (you should have several entries by now):
- Find the Total Spending widget — what’s your total?
- Change it to show This Week instead of This Month
- Find the Category Breakdown chart — what’s your top category?
- Tap a chart segment to see the exact amount
- Bonus: Add a Counter widget to show “Number of Purchases”