Where to find it
Settings → Permissions → Home Screen Widget, or use your launcher's standard "add widget" gesture (long-press an empty area on your home screen → Widgets → tellmint).
How to add it
Open Settings → Permissions → Home Screen Widget and tap the row. What you see next depends on your phone:
- Samsung, Pixel, Nothing, OnePlus, most others — a small preview and a single Add Widget button. Tap it, the system dialog pops up, tap Add, done. The sheet swaps to "Widget active" when the widget is detected on your home screen.
- Xiaomi, Redmi, POCO (MIUI / HyperOS) — the sheet starts with a 3-step illustrated guide plus two buttons: Open app permissions (primary) and Try system add anyway. See the MIUI section below — the one-tap path needs an extra permission first on these phones.
- iPhone — no programmatic add exists on iOS. The sheet shows a 3-step walkthrough (long-press home → tap
+→ search "Tellmint"). Close it, follow the steps on the home screen.
You can always add it the classic way: long-press your home screen → Widgets → scroll to tellmint.
What you get
- One tap records. The widget launches a quick-record session with the mic already warmed up.
- Today's tasks at a glance. Larger widget sizes show tasks due today first, sorted by due time. If nothing is due today, they show the next dated tasks instead.
- Overdue shortcut. Larger widgets can show an overdue count. Tap it to open the Tasks tab already filtered to overdue tasks.
- Works offline. Audio is queued locally if you're offline and uploads when you're back online.
- Respects your plan. If you're at your monthly quota, the widget tells you and offers a top-up flow.
Xiaomi / Redmi / POCO (MIUI / HyperOS) — extra permission
MIUI and HyperOS block apps from showing system dialogs in the background by default, which is exactly what "pin widget to home screen" needs. The sheet gives you a direct path:
- Tap Open app permissions in the sheet. Tellmint opens the right MIUI permissions page.
- Enable "Display pop-up windows while running in the background" (sometimes called "Home screen shortcuts" — wording varies across HyperOS versions).
- Return to Tellmint. The sheet automatically swaps to a big Add Widget button.
- Tap it. The system dialog appears. Tap Add.
If the dialog still doesn't appear after enabling the permission, Tellmint detects that silently (no more staring at a spinning wheel) and swaps to the illustrated manual guide, which always works.
Other MIUI knobs worth checking if the widget disappears or stops responding after a while:
- Battery & performance → App battery saver — set Tellmint to "No restrictions".
- Permissions → Autostart — enable Tellmint.
- Recent apps — some MIUI versions require the app to be pinned there (tap the pin icon on the task card).
Good to know
- Widget state: once installed, the Settings row shows a ✓ "Active on your launcher" confirmation. Tellmint also checks for the widget on app open/resume — so adding it the manual way (long-press home → widget gallery) still ticks the onboarding checklist and updates the Settings row.
- Samsung One UI: the widget picker sometimes hides widgets that haven't been launched once. Open Tellmint at least once per install.
- Resizable: tiny sizes are quick-record mic tiles. Larger sizes add a compact to-do list and a larger bottom record button. Android launchers decide the exact resize steps, so some phones may jump between size buckets instead of offering every grid size.
- iOS / iPadOS: no widget yet.
Plan & limits
No plan gating. The widget uses the same monthly recording allowance as the in-app record button.