It felt like 2020’s debut of Home Screen widgets all over again. TestFlight betas with Lock Screen widgets came pouring in. In addition to my stalwart Microsoft Office 2011-installed with a license of, ahem, questionable origin-my list of 32-bit programs also includes a line item for “Dashboard Widgets.” No one, including Apple, wanted to gut and renovate their widgets for the 64-bit future.As the release of iOS 16 approached, I felt a strong sense of déjà vu.

Apple helpfully points out those programs for you in its System Information menu. Once you upgrade, any program that hasn't made the jump will break for good and refuse to launch.

MacOS Catalina took the final step, dropping support for 32-bit applications. A few years ago, Apple began transitioning away from 32-bit applications in favor of 64-bit software that takes better advantage of modern, high-performance processors. I guess I see why Dashboard had to go, alas. And the tools you use to get through the day, however flawed or idiosyncratic they may be, take on a pleasant intimacy as tangible extensions of your mind. (There's a perfectly good macOS Dictionary app, for example.) But sometimes routines become part of your interior life. All of the tools were readily available to me in a number of other equally convenient or perhaps superior formats. I’m not trying to convince you that my constant Dashboarding was particularly smart or efficient.

Mac dashboard widgets best