More new iOS 8 widgets

A few months back we discussed how to take advantage of the new iOS 8 widgets displayed in your notification center. These are accessed by swiping down from the top of your iPad or iPhone’s screen, and provide quick access to important pieces of information from apps that offer them. At that time the feature was still pretty new and not many apps had been updated yet to take advantage of the capability. This has quickly changed though and new app updates are coming out daily offering innovative ways to use the widget display.

Battery Stats Widget

This $1.99 app provides valuable data about your power usage trends and helps estimate how long until your battery will be empty based on current activity. The widget displays a smaller version of this usage graph and a time estimate of remaining battery life, which can be very useful in the cockpit when the battery gets low. You can download the Battery Stats app here.

Weather Widgets: Thermometer & NOAA Radar

Summertime flying requires a constant awareness of precipitation and thunderstorm activity, and this app allows you keep an animated radar widget within quick reach. This is an iPhone app and not designed specifically for iPad, but the widget works just the same on the iPad’s larger screen. You can download the Weather Widgets app here.

PCalc Lite

This app has been a longtime favorite as a powerful calculator app for iPad and iPhone, and it now offers an interactive calculator as a widget. You’ll find this very useful since you can perform basic computations at any time without having to exit the app you’re currently using. You can download the PCalc Lite app here.

Omnistat

The $1.99 Omnistat app provides lots of diagnostic information about your iPad, including network status, memory usage, CPU activity, battery life and more. The app was recently updated with a customizable widget that allows you to quickly display the stats you care about most. You’ll find this helpful to troubleshoot apps and situations that might be causing increased power drain or memory usage. You can download the Omnistat app here.