Clock Widgets is available on the Mac App Store as an iPhone app, which every Apple silicon Mac can run natively. Install it once and its widgets appear in the Mac’s own widget gallery, ready to drop on the desktop.
The app runs natively on Apple silicon, so these widgets are rendered by the Mac itself — no phone in range required. While an app has focus, macOS dims them to a single tint.
Apple silicon Macs execute iPhone apps natively — same binary, same widget extension, running on the Mac itself. Nothing is streamed from a phone, so the widgets keep working with the iPhone switched off or on the other side of the country.
On a phone a widget competes for six rows of grid. On a 27-inch desktop it can sit in a corner and simply be beautiful — which is where the editorial, e-ink and analog faces earn their keep.
macOS dims desktop widgets to a monochrome tint the moment an app takes focus, and brings the colour back when you clear the desktop. Faces built for the Lock Screen tint survive that gracefully.
Live previews
Live previews. On the Mac these sit alongside your windows at roughly this size.
There is a version of this that ships a native Mac app, charges for it again, and drifts out of sync with the iPhone one within two releases. Apple silicon makes that pointless: the ARM binary you already bought runs on the Mac unmodified, widget extension included.
What you give up is nothing at runtime — the widgets are local, they work offline, and they do not care whether your phone is nearby. What you give up is the Mac-native window chrome: opening the app itself shows a phone-shaped window, because that is what it is.
Settings do not travel automatically between the two installs, though. The Mac copy keeps its own cities and formats, which is usually what you want — a desk clock and a pocket clock rarely need the same time zone.
Step by step
It needs Apple silicon — M1 or later — and macOS Sonoma or newer for desktop widgets. Intel Macs cannot run iPhone apps at all.
Search for Clock Widgets, then switch to the iPhone & iPad Apps tab in the results. If you already own it, it is in Account → Purchased under the same tab.
Same purchase, nothing extra to pay. The app opens in a phone-shaped window on the Mac; you can close it straight away — the widgets do not need it running.
Right-click an empty part of the desktop and choose Edit Widgets, or click the date in the menu bar and hit Edit Widgets at the bottom of Notification Centre.
Pick the size, drop it where you want it, then right-click the placed widget to choose the design and the city.
Questions
There does not need to be a separate one. Clock Widgets is published to the Mac App Store as an iPhone app, and every Apple silicon Mac runs those natively — so you install the same app you already own and its widgets appear in the Mac widget gallery.
No. Running iPhone apps requires Apple silicon — an M1 chip or later. On an Intel Mac the app will not appear in the Mac App Store at all.
macOS Sonoma (14) or later, which is where desktop widgets arrived. On older versions widgets can only live in Notification Centre.
No. It is the same App Store purchase — install it on the Mac from Account → Purchased and any upgrade you already own comes with it.
No. The app runs on the Mac itself, so the widgets keep ticking with the phone off, out of range or not on the same account.
That is macOS: desktop widgets dim to a monochrome tint while an app has focus, and return to full colour when you show the desktop. Nothing is wrong with the widget.
Free on the App Store. iOS 17+. No account, no ads, no tracking.