Most AI assistants still live inside chat windows.
They can research, summarize, monitor systems, read connected tools, and run scheduled tasks. But once the conversation ends, their work usually disappears into a chat history.
I wanted agents to have somewhere more immediate to communicate with us.
So I built Glance, an iOS app that lets AI agents and automations publish dynamic content directly to Home Screen widgets.
From chat interface to ambient interface
A Home Screen widget should not simply be a smaller version of an app.
It can be a lightweight surface where an agent quietly leaves useful information throughout the day:
- A morning briefing
- Product or infrastructure metrics
- Important messages that need a response
- Recent leads from a CRM
- AI news headlines
- Currency rates and market updates
- A project’s current status
- Or even a new random fact every few hours
You do not need to remember to open an app or start another conversation. The information is already waiting on your Home Screen.
How Glance works
Glance separates a widget into two parts:
- The UI template, which defines how the widget looks
- The content bindings, which contain the information displayed inside it
An agent can create or reuse a template and then ingest new structured content whenever something changes.
A simple update might look conceptually like this:
{
"content": {
"fact": "Octopuses have three hearts and blue blood.",
"issue": "#042",
"category": "ANIMALS"
},
"ui_mode": "template",
"template_id": "your-template-id"
}
The agent updates the data while the widget keeps its designed layout.
Glance also supports dynamically generated interfaces, allowing the agent to adapt the presentation to the information it wants to show rather than being restricted to one rigid design.
Connecting agents through MCP
I recently added an MCP integration so compatible assistants and agent environments can work with Glance directly.
Instead of manually configuring every widget, you can ask an agent to:
Create a medium Home Screen widget that shows the latest AI news, with two clickable headlines and a clean native iOS design.
The agent can create the widget, define its interface, and publish the first update.
You can then combine Glance with scheduled tasks and other connected services. For example:
- Read recent messages and show who needs a reply
- Query a database and publish current product KPIs
- Check a spreadsheet and display the newest sales leads
- Research positive news and refresh a daily widget
- Monitor an agent workflow and show its current status
Glance becomes the final display layer for whatever workflow the agent is running.
Why widgets?
Notifications demand attention. Widgets simply make information available.
That distinction matters.
I do not want every automated update to interrupt me. I want to look at my phone and understand what matters without opening five apps or searching through several conversations.
The Home Screen is already one of the most frequently viewed interfaces in our lives. Giving agents access to that space makes their work feel less like isolated chat sessions and more like an ambient part of the operating system.
What I’m exploring next
Glance started as an app for creating and following widget feeds. It is now evolving into an interface between agents and the Home Screen.
I am currently exploring:
- Better reusable widget templates
- More flexible agent-generated interfaces
- Easier integrations with external data sources
- Shared widgets that other people can follow
- More ways for agents to decide what information is worth displaying
I believe the next step for AI agents is not simply becoming more capable inside chat.
It is stepping outside the chat interface and becoming useful in the places we already look throughout the day.
For me, that starts with the Home Screen.
You can learn more at glance.cool.
You can also download the app at Glance - Home Screen Feeds
I would love to hear what you would put on your Home Screen if your agents could update it automatically.
