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Widgets

Your NAS on the home screen

Twelve widgets on both Android and iOS, each with its own preview in the picker - and each one tells you when its numbers were taken, which turns out to matter more than the numbers.

The twelve

What each widget shows

Nine of these joined the original three: System Status, Storage Overview and Quick Actions. Every one carries a preview in the launcher's widget picker, so you can see roughly what it looks like before you place it.

WidgetShowsNeeds
System StatusNAS health at a glance - the state of the machine, without opening anything.-
Storage OverviewVolume usage, so a volume filling up is visible from the launcher.-
Quick ActionsStraight into a screen you use often, without going through the home screen first.-
NAS HealthWhether anything is wrong, and what.-
BackupLast and next backup, and any failures.A backup task configured
Temperature and FanSystem temperature with the fan mode.-
DockerContainers running, with their names.Container Manager
CamerasCameras online.Surveillance Station
NetworkLive traffic on the busiest interface.-
UPSUPS charge and estimated runtime.A UPS attached
DownloadsActive downloads and their speed.Download Station
VolumesUsage for every volume.-
A widget for a service your NAS does not run is not offered. Docker, Cameras, Backup, UPS, Downloads and Volumes only appear in the picker once the app has seen your NAS report that capability - the same rule the dashboard cards follow, applied to the launcher.

On Android every widget resizes both ways, wider or taller, and settles on whichever layout fits the space you give it. All twelve appear under Syno Manager in your launcher's widget picker.

No picker screenshot on this page. The picker only shows what it shows once a widget is actually on a home screen, and every device this site photographs is somebody's real, in-use phone - not a spare set up to be rearranged for a screenshot.
Adding one

How to place a widget

Android

  1. Long-press an empty part of the home screen.
  2. Tap Widgets.
  3. Find Syno Manager in the list.
  4. Drag the widget you want onto the home screen and resize it.

iOS

  1. Long-press the home screen until the icons wobble.
  2. Tap the plus at the top.
  3. Search for Syno Manager.
  4. Pick a size and tap Add Widget.
The important part

Why every widget carries a timestamp

A widget only refreshes when the operating system lets it. Android and iOS both ration widget updates aggressively to save battery, so a figure on your home screen can be hours older than it looks - and a stale reading that looks current is worse than no reading at all.

What it saysWhat it means
just nowRead within the last minute.
12m agoUnder an hour old, in minutes.
5h agoUnder a day old, in hours.
2d agoA day or more. Treat as historical.
never updatedNo successful reading yet - freshly added, or the app has not run since. Never shown as a zero, because a zero reads as a measurement.
Anything older than six hours is treated as stale and marked as such, rather than presented as the current state of your NAS.

The distinction this preserves is a real one: a quiet NAS and a stale widget look identical without a timestamp. "CPU 4%, taken 3 minutes ago" and "CPU 4%, taken yesterday" are different facts, and only one of them is worth acting on.

Keeping them current

If a widget is not refreshing

Neither platform guarantees a refresh interval. No app can force one, which is exactly why the timestamp is there instead of a promise.
Common questions

Widget FAQ

What widgets does Syno Manager have?
Twelve: System Status, Storage Overview, Quick Actions, NAS Health, Backup, Temperature and Fan, Docker, Cameras, Network, UPS, Downloads and Volumes. All twelve are available on Android and iOS, each with a preview in the widget picker.
Why does my widget show an old number?
Because the operating system decides when a widget may refresh, not the app. That is why each widget shows when its data was captured - so an old reading looks old instead of looking current.
What does never updated mean?
That the widget has not managed a successful reading yet - usually because it was just added, or the app has not been opened since. It is shown as never updated rather than as a zero.
How do I add a widget?
On Android, long-press the home screen, choose Widgets, find Syno Manager and drag one across. On iOS, long-press the home screen, tap the plus, search for Syno Manager and pick a size.

Next: shortcuts

Deep links, launcher shortcuts and Siri.

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