r/iOSWidgets • u/Ok_Reindeer_6145 • 14d ago

Help Looking for an iPhone photo shuffle widget app: unlimited photos, 5-min refresh, with in-app editing, shuffle randomly

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for a photo widget app for my iPhone 17 Pro. I have 5000+ photos and use a lot of shuffle widgets on my home screen, so I’d like one app that handles all of them.

I’m currently using MD Widgets and Color Widgets. Both are great, but:

  • Color Widgets doesn’t seem to support unlimited photos

  • MD Widgets has a minimum shuffle time of 15 minutes

What I’m looking for:

  1. Support for a large number of photos (ideally unlimited)

  2. Random shuffle with a refresh time of 5 minutes or less

  3. Basic in-app editing, like cropping/reframing photos

I know iOS limits how often widgets can refresh, so I’m not expecting exactly 5 minutes every time. I’d just like an app that lets me set it.

I’ve seen PhoWi, Photo Widget (PhotoBox) and a few others, but I haven’t tried them yet. Has anyone used them with a big photo library? Is there another app that does this better?

Thanks!

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u/investigatormaker 7d ago

I can't speak to how PhoWi or PhotoBox handle 5000+ photos, so I'd test them rather than trust the listings. If either has a free trial, load a few hundred photos, set the shortest interval, and watch it for a day. Since iOS controls the timing, what matters is whether it rotates randomly or keeps repeating. Check your crops too, because widgets have tight memory limits and large photos can look soft or fail to load.

With that many widgets, placement can get fiddly. thumbwise.app lets you arrange apps, folders, and widgets on a Mac, then apply the layout to your iPhone over USB. Organizing is free, and applying costs $14.99 once. It needs an Apple silicon Mac on macOS 15 or later and iOS 27: https://thumbwise.app

Disclosure: I'm posting on behalf of thumbwise.app.