Handy - Live Widget Wallpaper Reviews

by Mariahdcor

I was shown an ad that said $0.67 per week or something for ~all access~ and ability to “cancel at any time”. When I realized I wasn’t going to use much of what was offered for free within 20 minutes of subscribing, I went to cancel and it says I was charged for the full year ($31)…? Why say “$0.67 per week, cancel anytime”? I shouldn’t be charged for the full year if the promotion was truthful.

UPDATE: I cancelled the subscription because I didn’t want to forget next year and be charged $30 again, and once I did that the widgets on my phone stopped working. If I PAID $30 for the year, they should STILL WORK until the year is up. This was so frustrating. Luckily I filed a complaint and got a refund.

by Bdwise47

I felt silly paying for this, but I wanted to try it out. The widgets I used were very cute, but not worth actual money imo. And they didn’t update themselves, you have to click on the widget to sort of wake it up and sync it to the this app app. Which is annoying.
And then today, my subscription just stopped working for no reason. Apple says I’m still subscribed for a whole year, but Handy itself says it’s under a different account? Which is literally impossible. So I’m just cancelling, deleting, and washing my hands of this experience. $20 down the drain, I only had Handy for a couple of weeks.

by Cheesycat11

I downloaded Handy because of all the great reviews. When I first opened Handy , I could see all the different options but almost all the good ones you needed to pay for it. After some looking I decided to do i later. 2 months later, I opened Handy to find that the moment you opened Handy the add for the premium subscription pops up. Even though there is an option to close the pop up, it doesn’t work. I tried several times to close it and it never works. It probably didn’t happen to anyone else because of all the positive reviews. This would be such a great app if that didn’t happen to me. I hope it won’t happen to anyone else. ☺️

by Foulrats

I usually do not write reviews but I thought to write one after the frustration I experienced today. I don’t know if this is just a problem with iPad but it will not let me install icon packs after half an hour of adding my games which was another problem I experienced, in the description it says 1-click which was clearly false. I did confirm in my settings to allow Handy but it still wouldn’t let me install pack even after I bought a weekly subscription. It was only two dollars but I could still have used the money and time spent on Handy elsewhere and I’m very disappointed. That being said I am also horrible technology, I just wanted I cute home screen and didn’t think it would be this difficult.

by Gogo_999

After using Handy for around 9 months now, I think the overall app is okay, has nice features, however some issues I’ve noticed:

There should be an option to turn off watermarking since a lot of the content on Handy is featuring other artist’s artwork.

“Large Widget” gifs always look low quality + compressed. I’ve tested many different gifs and the Large Widgets always look pixelated.

A lot of gifs I try to upload work great in Handy but don’t load in the widget on my phone. The widget will show a loading green screen but never load the gif.

None of the pages refresh when you drag/pull the page down except on the profile page and the ALL page.

I’m unable to delete downloads that are located in the Library section under my profile.

I would like to download more than 50 widgets from one post (if possible).

It would be nice if there was an option to preview gifs (I have to install the gif widget first in order to see what the gif looks like animated).

It would also be great if there was an option to shuffle Dynamic/GIF images under the widget options.

Would like to have the ability to follow someone’s profile.

by Justine Sarmiento

i downloaded this because the promotional twitter video i saw said that there’s no jump unlike when you save a shortcut bookmark. however there is still a jump on all the apps. i regret not just testing it out on a few apps first because it also cleared all the data on my browser, the tabs i had on everything are gone, and they didn’t get saved either so for example i have to re-sign into websites, wordle streak is lost, even the history has been obliterated. i had a few to-read pages open that are now lost 🥲 seems like this works for other people but for new users i suggest testing it out first instead of just trusting to go all-in

by Catgratulations

I tried to use a theme but there weren't enough widgets and weren't enough icons for each color for me to create a cohesive theme. That aside, i was charged for a membership i didn't purchase. I bought two themes and then deleted Handy . Two days later i was charged $10 on top of the $10 i spent on themes i cant even use. the worst part is that i dont know if its gonna charge me again or how to cancel it.

by Pancake Bacon Puppy

I got Handy seeing it from Pinterest, downloaded it. I picked a cute design, everything seemingly went well. Picked the apps, made sure everything I did was correct. Followed EVERY step correctly, and did everything it told me to. Logged in, allowed, etc. I watched the add, as I had just gotten it.

I hit “complete”, nothing. Reloaded, turned it off, tried again. Nothing. It looked the exact same, I did everything correct, nothing.

by Noslenpar

Handy is rated 4+, but my 10 yo daughter can’t download anything because it requires creating an account with your Apple ID. However Apple does not allow this for anyone under the age of 13. There is no option for creating an account with an email address instead of Apple ID. So it is completely useless if your under 13. This is the type of thing that appeals to kids and I was ready to give you my money for some silly icons, but I couldn’t.

by Izzy.ed

When I first found this app I absolutely loved it! Having a icon pack creation platform that is easily accessible for artists and users alike was a incredible cool idea. I understand completely that it takes time and a ton of effort for the developer to create Handy. Keeping up on the Twitter has shown me how much time is spent creating these updates along with the time spent sending reviews to apple.

When I saw the notification that the “second jump” was getting removed I was so excited! But when I opened Handy and was prompted to pay 9.99 a month for the feature I got sad. Everyone deserves to get paid. I do not disagree with that. But 9.99 a month? It’s a bit much in my opinion, and I feel it’s going to shrink your audience.

Otherwise I do greatly like Handy, it does what it says it does well. I enjoy the autofill “magic” feature when creating icon packs. I really like how simple the process for artists to upload their work.

by Kn4600

The themes are cute and Handy does work in terms of redesigning your phone theme for you, but the subscription ad that pops up on every other attempt to open an app is irritating enough to make me want to get rid of Handy entirely. And the delay after redirecting to the shortcuts app, then to the subscription ad, then to Handy you wanted to open gets old reaaaal fast especially when/if you’re trying to make an emergency text or call.

I’m pretty sure the ad is meant to annoy you into submission so that you pay for them to stop blocking apps randomly with the useless ad before you can open it. I would consider buying the subscription just because it is THAT tiresome to deal with, but even then, it’s overpriced for what it is and I don’t want to pay an app company that tries to aggravate customers into paying for the company to stop annoying them.

I can deal with not having full features or access to fancy widgets, themes, etc since they have to make money somehow, but for the love of god just GET RID OF THAT PERSISTENT AD. Going to start looking into other apps to replace this one soon.

by Ashluvsuuuuuuu

Handy overall looks good and I've used it before to create themes. I recently re downloaded it because I saw the addition of music widgets and I've been trying to find an app that has music widgets that aren't only for apple Music and this is the only app I've found that has that! That all sounds good but once I tried to access the music widgets I realised you have to pay for a membership to use them, and since they are 2 out of the 4 picture advertisements on this apps game page an that's mentioned nowhere that got me upset that's why Im only rating 2 stars.

by Hghkef

I’ve been unable to post any themes for like three days now, every time I press post on any draft it just stays frozen on a certain percent like 3 or 32 for an indefinite amount of time. I’ve only waited up to twenty minutes. I tried contacting the support team but the email is either false or outdated and they don’t respond on socials. I would’ve tried deleting and reinstalling Handy but that would’ve made me loose all my hard work. Again, I’ve found no way to contact the support team so it makes for an unpleasant experience with Handy.

by K-yotsuba

Handy is really useful to easily setup the cute phone layout you want! my biggest critique is how often their subscription ad comes up when i try to open apps (at least in my experience). i can get past the this app app pulling up the shortcut window then shortly opening up the actual app you selected, but sometimes it's frustrating when the subscription ad shows up especially on apps that may be more time sensitive to access. i can't open the base phone or messages app without getting the subscription ad when i'm trying to contact someone quickly. i understand why they have to display their subscription ad for the users, but i wish it could maybe be off limits on certain base apps that you would need to access quickly so you aren't waiting for Handy to load only to see the subscription first before closing out of it.

by Lcrakas

I really wanted to use Handy, but during the icon linking process it crashes any time I exit Handy to view my home screen, which is frustrating because I’m just trying to reference which apps I have on which screen. After every crash it doesn’t remember anything you put in previously. I tried three times, all ending in a crash, and ended up uninstalling. I would be able to use Handy if the issue of not being able to leave Handy while linking is fixed.

by Chuckithaniel

Handy has been incredibly useful in cutting down the time it takes to create shortcuts manually and also offers cute widgets.

My biggest issue is the time it takes to open an app. When I need to call someone and I click on my phone app, it opens up a blank screen, opens up this app, and then opens up my phone app. It ends up creating a lot of open tabs on my phone to clear. About 25% of the time, and always when I need to urgently contact someone, it’ll stop halfway through that process and just open up the this app app instead.

I’ve strongly considered just uninstalling it all as a result. I’ve made a habit of just searching for apps instead of using my shortcuts.

It’s super cute and makes making shortcuts easy, but I just don’t have the patience.

by Shokenfi

It was great and convenient at first to be able to support artist and find new ones for phone layouts but then it became tedious when Handy would open a whole blank app before sending you to the actual app while still taking up space. I wouldn’t mind a one time payment to be able to use it all the time but $30 a year for just one device wasn’t that appealing to me and I figured I would just go back to doing the shortcuts myself

by DeathTheGirl

Handy would honestly be the best shortcut one there is if it didn’t require you to go through a blank page + the this app app loading up before taking you to the actual app. I raved to my boyfriend and was like, “look how fast and cute I made this!” just to find out the issues that came with actually pressing Handy itself on my homescreen. I may just go back to making the shortcuts myself if this isn’t fixed somehow.

by Ohnogodwhyno

I have always been so upset and confused trying to make my own shortcuts but Handy helps cut out so much of the work! The free options are even great themselves and good for people who can’t afford! My own issue is that I have no idea how to cut out the part where the shortcut goes through Handy to then take me to the linked app. It would be so much better if I could figure that out!

by ItsDaylily

Handy is very simple to use and has a very clean UI and interface. There are a lot of cute icons, themes, and widgets to choose from without the need to pay for anything!

The main thing that bothers me is that whenever I open any linked application, it opens the this app app first and then the linked app. It’s pretty annoying, so I hope there is a solution or fix to this soon. It doesn’t look smooth; It actually looks like it glitches out.

by Wilykit2011

Handy is a really wonderful idea, I’m always looking to change or update the theme of my phone and this definitely cuts down on how longs that takes. The only issues I think could be fixed are getting rid of the white blank screen that opens anytime an app is opened (it just sits in the background and doesn’t go away unless you close it) and when the themed apps are opened the titles of those apps just say ‘Untitled’ instead of the name of the application itself.
Other than that I’m glad this ma agent app exists 😃

by Abby#$54

If there’s anything, I can make wallpapers, get good packs and stuff, but a lot of it costs money and I don’t save up money often which makes it a bit difficult.
Handy is a useful app but only for people with the money for it, so I’d probably make more free packs and stuff. Yea, I know it’s the creators that aren’t making the packs and it’s the people that download Handy , but people should make more free packs.
Except for that, ive had a great time creating and making small packs of icons and all. And if there’s anything, Handy is cute and very useful.

by Sameul F.

It has a lot of great features and things to use but when ever I tried to download or get one it would not show and the buttons stopped working. I refreshed Handy multiple times but still nothing. Also I tried opening peoples peoples profiles to see what else they had and it was always close me out to what ever I was looking at before. Maybe it’s just my device or me but I have a feeling that it’s not just me because I got this device 2 days ago!!! If there anything I can do I have probably tried it. Handy could be great if it worked better.

by SprinkleCat49

App is really useful, and much faster than using shortcuts app to make app icons. There are some things I don't like about it though. Like a lot of other reviews on here said, you have to be over 13 to actually use this, as apple sign in won't work otherwise. A sign in option other than using apple idea would be helpful. A lot of stuff isn't actually free, either, like how you have to pay for a premium service to get certain things and a lot of stuff costs money, even with premium. The main problem I have with though is when you open up an app, it first takes you to a blank page with Handy 's picture and name, then that takes you to Handy you opened. It kind of gets annoying having to close both out and being redirected every time I open an app. Other than that though, Handy is very useful for decorating you're phone, and I recommend it.

by 39572848194027592)19284728038

Handy is really great! It’s overall pretty simple, and you get an adorable Home Screen. The one thing I was scared about while downloading this, is if it was like some of the other apps that want you to pay for literally everything. But no! Handy does have some things you need to pay for, but you don’t need to buy anything to use this. What I did was make my own app icons and then link them, and it worked great. It did take longer than just purchasing one of the bundles that already have the icons made and linked for you, but it was completely free! One thing, is that when you press on Handy icon, it takes you to the this app app and then to Handy you linked. It’s not really a big deal, but it looks a little weird and like something’s glitching because it takes you to a different app and then to the one you pressed. Other than that, it looks really cute, and you don’t need money to use this and customize your Home Screen. Definitely recommend (p.s. Pinterest has some great app icons, so I recommend looking there for all your icons, if you choose to make them instead of buy a pack!

by Stop It!!!!

Handy is amazing but I need help, I bought a pack and tried to download it but the apps aren’t appearing in my Home Screen? I’ve done this process before but I wanted more simple app icons, I selected them and linked them but they never showed up and I’m not doing anything wrong because the wallpaper I wanted showed up in my photos but the icons didn’t?

Developer if you see this please tell me what’s wrong cuz I don’t want my dads money to be wasted.

by I Not Paying For Vip

I liked this app until like the 3rd week of using it and I just couldn’t post or install privately bc I was trying to use the same widgets and I kept trying like 3 times each day and it still won’t work and I found out that you can’t post drafts and I can’t install drafts privately idk if that’s just me tho but it’s pretty good still I can still use some stuff but I think it’s bc there were like 2 updates in 2 days maybe

by Sage,omg Its A Herb

Handy is amazing!! At first I had some issues because my apple account wouldn’t sync with it, but luckily one of my friends used an easy trick for it to work using tik tok! I’ve custom designed both of my devices with this and it looks stunning! All of the pictures are beautiful and I love the widgets I am able to use! Also when trying to design my own it was so much simpler than I originally thought! Love all of the wallpapers and ways all of the icons are set up! I definitely recommend to those who would love to have cute icons or themes for their devices but don’t want to go through the trouble of setting up shortcuts for it!<3
Thank you so much for making Handy, this is one of my #1 favorite apps!

by Sicily Lynn Holden

I have had the this app app for about 2 days and its amazing! Everything is under $20 or $10! I also love how you have the option to pay $20 a year! The only thing i’m okay with, but a bit annoyed with, is that every single time you click and app, it takes you to the this app app for a second, opens a black screen tab, and then sends you to Handy . Thats my only concern but, overall its amazing! I thank the creators and this app for putting so much effort into Handy!

by Coolbeans8778

Have not had a bad experience! I love being able to make my own icons and widgets. I find it faster than having to use the shortcuts app. If you delete a pack it removes all the apps so there’s no time wasted on deleting the icons on the homescreen one by one. It’s pretty affordable and you get to support small artists on their designs! Only suggestion is to add an option to see if you added the same app twice when linking the icon photos to Handy and if there’s a way to make opening the apps go more smoothly because there’s a slight delay/lag but that’s about it <3

by Serena Teapot

Handy is so good, I love how your giving all of the artists a chance to make their work get published, I love how simple it is and it’s just 3 clicks to set up such an cute home-screen and have such cute app icons- I’ve been telling all my friends about it, but my only concern is that i’m having some troubles with selling my work, I honestly spent about 6 hours of my life drawing all of these icons and stuff and I can’t even make a buck out of it, im still trying to figure out what it means by “haven’t set up your mail yet” and I do not wanna link any social media or emails onto my account-

by Lilbitofange

k, Handy is amazing in any aesthetic for anyone. but you need vip or something like that to have access to everything, which i’m don’t want to buy; but that’s not the problem. it crashes every time I try to get a free one, so I am unable to have a good experience. please try to fix the crashes !! very much appreciated !! thank you, I like your app 💞

edit: how do I change Handy icon with this app? please give feedback! I love your app

by Emerald Kosarin

Handy helped me make my homescreen cute! I can find the perfect themes on here! I recommend to those who are too lazy to do shortcuts! But there is one problem, sometimes I log into Handy , and it doesn’t let me touch anything?! It also is annoying when it kicks me out. But overall it’s a really good app for people who are lazy to make their homescreen pretty or cute! :3

by Loveemetoinfinitybabe

Ever since apple rolled out the option to use custom icons and widgets, I’ve always had such a problem trying to remember how to do it and always got so frustrated! this app makes this a MILLION times faster AND easier! Plus, I can support my favorite artists right from Handy ! SUCH a great idea and will definitely recommend to anyone who loves their custom icons and widgets!

by Bramble Snow

Handy eliminates the confusing and time consuming process of creating shortcuts entirely. All you have to do is select a pack, select the icons you want to use and tell Handy which ones to link if they haven’t linked automatically and poof! You get to play with your own layout a bit to do some spring cleaning with your home screen as you set everything up, and it always comes out looking great! Handy even has a widget function to let you change themes whenever you like!

The customer support Handy has is so useful and friendly! I had a minor glitch with my phone and they helped me quickly fix the issue, then they helped explain what went wrong so I can avoid it in the future. I can’t recommend Handy more!!!

by Nixy

I am so glad the this app app exists. I have been putting off getting cute app icons for ages because I was dreading the process of making each individual one, but this app made it super easy. Plus, when I was confused about something, the this app support team on Twitter was super responsive and helpful! I will def be using this app again in the future. :)

by Makkojak Duuuuuude

I downloaded this just because I saw someone with an iPod widget that showed the lyrics as the song played, however Handy is so much deeper than I realized. The themes are adorable and so easy to use, and I really really admire the mission of supporting talented indie artists! I thank everyone involved who has helped brought it to us.

by Danie2902

Definitely would have NO problems using Handy if it didn’t take me through the this app app before opening the actual app. If I click on Safari, Safari should be the only thing that is opened. Love Handy, but I’d rather use Apple’s Shortcuts due to this reason!

by Babyoaky

Bought this cause I saw Baomii’s art! It was a little difficult to set up because I’ve never set up icons or edited anything but the developer was so helpful on their discord server and I love my new phone icons and wallpaper 🥺🥺

by Tunaasoup

Handy is really easy to use and browse cute icon packs! And when I had an issue, their response time was very quick and helpful.

by Sam ＾＾

The main reason i was so scared to switch over to iphone was because my phone would no longer be cute! But Handy reminds me so much of samsung themes! Its great and works like a charm （＾ω＾）

by K8tthekitty

I LOVE Handy. It is so nice to be able to buy themes and apply them in the same place. They’re cute and the people behind Handy seem to really care about artists