Google Calendar is one of the popular Android apps made by the Mountain View-based tech giant, so it’s no wonder that Google is regularly updating it with new and useful features. This year has been especially good for Google Calendar users as developers added support for things like web notifications, holiday calendars, and goal tracking. While most of the new features were positively received by consumers, there was one functionality which people have been begging for since late 2014. Back then, Google introduced Google Calendar 5.0, a restyled version of the app which was superior to its predecessor in a lot of ways save for one tiny detail – it didn’t support a monthly view widget.
Well, that injustice has finally been set right as Google promised it would be back in April of 2015. Namely, Google Calendar update version 5.6.2 has just started rolling out on the Play Store and within it, the beloved Month home screen widget finally makes a return. The new widget looks and acts similar to the old one. It has a default size of four by five app spaces and can also be shortened into a four-by-four box depending on your preferences. Once you place it on your screen, the widget will show you the current month together with all of your appointments and other information you’ve inputted. You can easily navigate through months by using related navigation buttons located in the upper-right corner of the widget.
Note that this feature is directly connected to the main Google Calendar app and basically acts as its remote. In other words, using the widget to navigate to a specific month and then opening the app itself will also display that same month by default. This feature can either be convenient or inconvenient depending on your usage habits, but as things stand right now, there’s no way to turn it off. On a more universally positive note, the new and improved Month widget now looks identical to the Google Calendar app which means that you can enjoy its minimalist design right there from your home screen. All in all, this is a great addition to an already useful app, and hopefully, Google delivers more convenient features in the near future.