Glance

Widgets do not run inside your app: the launcher draws them from a description called RemoteViews, which supports only a limited set of layouts. Glance lets you write that description with composable functions such as Column, Row, Text, Image and Button, then translates it into RemoteViews. It supports Material 3 theming, including dynamic colour, and actions that open the app or run a callback.

Because of RemoteViews, Glance composables are not the same as Compose ones: there is no custom drawing, animation is limited, and the component set is separate. Widgets update when the app pushes new data or on a schedule, often through WorkManager, and Android limits how often they refresh to save battery.