xkcd widget

When I saw the xkcd comic “Now”, I immediately wanted it as widget on my smartphone. A cool little gadget showing you the approximate time of day all around the world.

I searched trough the Google Play Store and only found versions with a huge file size – since they just stored all possible images in the app files, the widgets reached a size of around 25 MB.

So I spent a few hours learning how to built Android widgets and compiled my own version – fewer than 1 MB big and with a cool preview animation.

Download the xkcd widget and try it for yourself!

XKCD Screenshot 3 XKCD Screenshot 4XKCD Screenshot 2

11 thoughts on “xkcd widget

  1. Hi, would you release the source code? I would like to change the world image, as the text clutter isn’t very useful. This shouldn’t be a complicated feature to implement.

    Thanks for this application

    1. I might have it lying around. Could you write me an email to the address linked in the “About Me”-section?

  2. The line is at the right place at noon the line touch the noon but the map is not at the right place. The line cross Moscow instead of Paris, and when it is noon at Paris, the map indicate noon at Moscow and 11H00 at Paris.

    Ps : I find the captcha of your site pretty cool

    1. Ok, I’m extracting the time zone information directly from the Android OS – maybe the setting is wrong in your case.
      I have integrated an option to offset the time zone and uploaded a new version to the play store. Just click on the settings button and a second slider will appear at the bottom.
      Thank you for reporting!

      1. I have updated the widget and it’s work well when I set 1 hour of offset. Thank you.

  3. Hello,

    The widget is pretty cool but my location on the map is not correct. I’m in paris and with the red line I seem to be in moscow. Do you know how I can resolve the issue ?

    1. This is interesting – thanks for reporting. Is the line at the right place in time, i.e. does it point upwards at noon? Or is the rotating wheel at the right place, i.e. your location is topmost at noon, but the line isn’t?

  4. Only problem I’ve found is that the widget doesn’t seem to update automatically. May be because it’s part of a complicated multi layer page in Nova Launcher? Love the red line and the small size!

    1. Thanks πŸ™‚ Well, I haven’t tested the widget with Nova Launcher myself so far. Usually it should update automatically and it does so with most (but apparently not all) device configurations.

  5. Very nice, gave you five stars. I hope you’re ready for daylight saving time issues πŸ™‚
    Actually I wonder if Randall is ready…

    1. I very much apprechiate it. No, daylight savings are yet to be dealt with. I’m counting on Randall πŸ™‚

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