Lock Screen: live
Lock Screen widgets get a per-second refresh, so a seconds readout there behaves like a real clock. This is the shortest path to seconds on an iPhone.
Seconds
Seconds that
actually move.
The single most requested thing iOS does not ship. Here is exactly where seconds run live on an iPhone, and which faces are built around them.
- 1 Hz
- live tick
- 3
- places seconds run live
- 20+
- faces with a seconds field
StandBy: live
On charge and in landscape, StandBy runs a full-screen face with a sweeping seconds hand or a ticking counter, dimmed to a red night palette after dark.
Fullscreen: live
Inside the app, the fullscreen clock keeps the screen awake and updates continuously — the mode to use when you actually need to time something.
Live previews
Faces built around the seconds field
Every one of these is counting right now.
The honest answer about Home Screen widgets
iOS budgets Home Screen widget refreshes. A third-party widget cannot repaint itself sixty times a minute there — no app can, and any listing that claims otherwise is showing you a video.
What a Home Screen widget can do is schedule a timeline of pre-rendered states, which keeps hours and minutes exactly right and lets a seconds field advance in steps. It looks correct; it is not a live tick.
For a live tick, use the Lock Screen, StandBy or fullscreen. WidgetClock ships the same designs across all four surfaces, so you pick the placement and keep the face you like.
Questions
Seconds, answered.
Why do most iPhone clock widgets not show seconds?
Because on the Home Screen iOS refreshes widgets on a budget rather than continuously. Seconds are only meaningful where a live refresh is permitted: Lock Screen, StandBy and inside the app.
Which widget size should I use for seconds?
The rectangular Lock Screen slot is the best of both worlds — it is live and it has room for HH:MM:SS. In StandBy, use a large face.
Is the seconds readout accurate?
It reads your device clock, which is synced by iOS to network time. There is no separate server call and no drift added by the app.
Seconds that
actually move.
Free on the App Store. iOS 16+. No account, no ads, no tracking.