NBC News has updated its iOS app with a new feature that brings election news, data and results directly to your iPhone or iPad home screen. With the app’s new “Decision 2020” iOS 14 widget, you can customize a series of widgets with information related to early voting stats, polls, as well as the current election results, among other things.
Before today, the NBC News app had offered a variety of widgets including small, medium and large sized widgets bringing the latest headlines, a set of widgets showing COVID-19 trends, and even a photo journalism gallery, with its “Week in Pictures” widget set.
But the Decision 2020 widget itself was just made available today.
The added widget is only available as a medium-sized banner, but arrives with a range of customization options. That means you could place several versions of the widget on your home screen, each showing a different set of results.
By default, the widget will auto-rotate through its various modules. But you can also opt to show only one module per widget if you choose by long-pressing on the widget then choosing “Edit Widget” from the menu that appears.
At launch, the available options include Plan Your Vote, National Polling Average, Latest Polls, Early Voting, Election News and Election Results. The latter, of course, is the option most people will be interested in today.
Image Credits: NBC News
You can also add your location to the widget by selecting your state from a list from the widget configuration screen. This will allow you to keep an eye on your local results, if you choose. Otherwise, you can leave it defaulted to national results.
To access the new widget, install the NBC News app then long press on your home screen, choose “Edit Home Screen,” and tap the plus (+) button at the top-left and scroll to NBC News in the list.
The NBC News app can also send out push notifications, including geo-targeted alerts for state races for users on any mobile phone or device.
Gurupriyan is a Software Engineer and a technology enthusiast, he’s been working on the field for the last 10 years. Currently focusing on mobile app development and IoT.
