iOS can’t add some widgets to home screen

Question

I have downloaded iOS 14 and really like the new widgets, but I can’t add some widgets to my home screen. For example, Nord VPN is has a widget to quickly connect/disconnect to the VPN. I can add this widget to the view to the left of the first home screen(screenshot below).

I cannot figure out how to add this widget to my home screen. I can add the default iOS apps like weather and calendar to my home screen just fine.

(Also the Pacer app also has this same issue.)

Answer 1

It won't work because it's not the right type of widget. NordVPN's 'Quick connect' widget is a 'Today extension', while for the widget to work on the Home Screen it must be a 'Widget extension'. This terminology is even more confusing since 'Widget extensions' can appear on the Today View (but only at the top, above the older Today extensions).

See e.g. the Human Interface Guidelines for some background, but it's all quite technical. I expect most major app developers to convert their extensions, but they do have to support users on iOS 13 and lower (where the new widgets won't work), so it might take a while.

NOTE
Today widgets designed for iOS 13 and earlier aren’t available on the Home screen, but remain accessible at the bottom of the Today View and in the macOS Notification Center.