Circle offers two Home Screen widgets: Keep Up, which shows who’s due a catch-up and the birthdays coming up, and Starred, which shows the faces of a set you choose. Both are built around the same rule: nothing personal appears unless you have said it may.
The widgets
Touch and hold the Home Screen, tap +, and search for Circle. Both widgets come in small, medium and large. Keep Up is also available on the Lock Screen.
Anonymous by default
A freshly added widget shows counts only, such as “2 people to catch up with” and “2 birthdays coming up”. No name, photo or other contact detail is prepared for it, and that is true even if another widget on your device has been allowed to show people.
Turning on Show People
Two switches control people, and both must be on:
- In the app: Settings ▸ Widget Privacy ▸ Show Names in Widgets, and optionally Show Contact Photos in Widgets. These permit Circle to prepare a small set of display names and downsampled photos on this device.
- On the widget itself: touch and hold it, choose Edit Widget, and turn on Show People. Each widget is opted in individually.
With names allowed but photos off, each person appears as their initials on a coloured disc instead of a photo.
Turning either switch off takes effect immediately. Prepared names and photos are removed, and every widget returns to counts.
Ticking someone off
On the large Keep Up widget, each person due a catch-up has a tick beside them. Tap it once you’ve been in touch, and Circle records the catch-up without opening.
Starred
The Starred widget shows faces from one set: your Starred people, or any circle. Touch and hold the widget, choose Edit Widget, and pick the circle it should follow; Starred is the default. The header shows how many people are in the set, and the grid seats as many as fit. Tapping the widget opens that set in Circle.
The grid follows the same consent as everything else. Until Show People is on for that widget, it shows the set’s name and an invitation to opt in, nothing more.
On the Lock Screen
The Lock Screen widgets follow the same two switches. Anonymous, they show a count, such as “Catch up with 2 people”. With Show People on, they can name the person who’s due. Names are marked as private, so if you have chosen to hide private widget content while your iPhone is locked, iOS shows them only once it’s unlocked.
What never reaches a widget
- Phone numbers, email addresses, postal addresses and notes, never prepared, in any state
- Contacts identifiers, so the widget data cannot be joined back to your address book
iOS may additionally hide personal widget content while the device is locked; that behaviour belongs to the system and works with Circle’s own boundary, not instead of it.