What are popup widgets on the BlackBerry Priv and how do you use them?

BlackBerry 10 has its active frames, but if you're moving to the BlackBerry Priv and with it, Android, you'll have to get used to working with widgets. The trouble with widgets, though, is that they can get messy, clutter up your home screens and leave you doing a whole lot of scrolling around. But BlackBerry came up with a neat solution that's baked into the Priv.

It's called popup widgets and it allows you to view any app widgets with just a swipe over the app icon. Keep information handy and visual clutter to a minimum.

Here's what you need to know.

When enabled, any app with a widget will show three dots beneath it. But first you have to turn the feature on.

• On the home screen, hold down your finger until you see an option for "Settings."
• Tap on it.
• Half way down you'll see the "Popup" widgets option, make sure the toggle is set to on.

Setting up the widgets is similar to how you'd do it if you were putting them on a home screen, in that you can choose from any available styles. Swipe up over any app with three dots beneath it and you'll either see the widget (if only one style is available) or a choice if more than one is available. Choose the one you want and next time you swipe over that app you'll see whatever content the widget should show. In the image up top you can see the Twitter for Android widget hovering over the rest of the home screen.

This is a small, yet thoughtful feature added by BlackBerry. You can quickly access all kinds of information without having to scroll around and fill screens with potentially messy looking widgets. Keep music controls closer than having to swipe down the notification tray, see Twitter updates with just a single swipe. And as with other features on the Priv, you don't have to use it if you don't want. The choice is entirely yours.

Source: CB

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