You are in the car, or halfway through a podcast, or standing in a shop with your hands full, and a friend mentions the exact thing you have wanted for months. By the time you get your phone out, open the app and find the right list, the moment has passed and so has the thought. Most wishes are lost that way. Not because you forgot what you wanted, but because writing it down cost more than it was worth right then.
With the 1.23 update, Wishes for iPhone closes that gap in three places: you can add a wish by talking to Siri from anywhere on your phone, find any list or wish from Spotlight without opening the app, and keep one list on your Home Screen as a widget that actually looks like the list. Here is what each one does, and how to set it up.
Add a wish with Siri, from anywhere
Say "Add a wish in Wishes" and Siri asks what you want to add. Say the name, and it lands in your list. If you have more than one wishlist, Siri asks which one first. If you have just one, it goes straight in. Either way, you never open the app, and Siri confirms what it added and where.
It works from the lock screen, from inside another app, and in CarPlay. Three phrases start it:
- "Add a wish in Wishes": the plain version, when you know what you want and just need it written down.
- "Add this to my Wishes list": the same thing, phrased the way you would say it out loud.
- "Save this to Wishes": shortest of the three, good for a quick capture while you are doing something else.
There is a second shortcut for getting back to a list: "Open my Birthday in Wishes" or "Show my Christmas wishlist in Wishes" opens that list directly, using the name you gave it.
Because these are App Shortcuts, they also appear in the Shortcuts app, where the Add a Wish action takes a link as well as a title. That is the piece for people who like automations: a shortcut that saves the page you are looking at straight to a wishlist, with the title and image pulled from the link the same way the app does it.
Pro tip: name your wishlists the way you would say them. A list called "Birthday" is easier to ask for than "Things I would like for my birthday this year".
Find any wishlist or wish in Spotlight
Swipe down on the Home Screen and start typing. Your wishlists and the wishes in them show up in Spotlight by name, alongside your contacts and apps, and tapping one opens it in Wishes on the right screen. A wish's description is searchable too, so "the blue one" finds the blue one if that is how you wrote it down.
This is a small change with a big effect on how often you open a list. Getting to a wishlist used to mean finding the app, then finding the list. Now it is the same gesture you already use to find anything else on your phone. New wishes and new lists are indexed as you add them, and when you delete a list, or leave one you were invited to, it disappears from search too.
A Home Screen widget that looks like your list
Wishes lists have always been a bit of a poster: a theme, a title, a grid of the things you want. The new widget puts that on your Home Screen. Touch and hold the Home Screen, tap the plus button, search for Wishes, and add the Wishlist widget in the size you like. It shows the list's theme color as the background, the title, the wish count, and the latest wish photos. Tap it and the list opens.
It comes in four sizes. The small one shows a single photo, the medium and large ones show the latest four, and on iOS 27 there is also the new extra-large size for iPhone, where the same four photos get room to breathe. To choose which list it shows, touch and hold the widget, tap Edit Widget, and pick a wishlist. Until you pick one, it shows the list you updated most recently.
The widget updates itself when you add or remove a wish in the app, so it is never a stale picture of a list you have since changed. And it is the retention trick nobody tells you about with wishlists: a list you see every day is a list you keep adding to, and a list you keep adding to is one people can actually shop from when your birthday comes around.
What you need
Wishes 1.23 runs on iOS 26 or later, so if Siri is not offering the shortcuts, update iOS first, then update Wishes from the App Store. The extra-large widget size is an iOS 27 addition and needs iOS 27. You need to be signed in with an account, since Siri and the widget work with your own lists. Everything here is included for everyone, on the free plan and on Wishes Plus alike.
Android is not left waiting on this one for its own update: Wishes for Android gets a new version the same day, with a round of fixes to sign-in, sharing, and link handling. Siri, Spotlight and Home Screen widgets are iPhone features, so the three above are iPhone-only for now.
Why this release, and why now
iOS 27 shipped on September 14, and the two things people notice first on a new iOS are what Siri can do and what their Home Screen looks like. We wanted Wishes to be there for both, with the app's own character intact rather than a generic tile. The Siri part is the one we are most pleased with, because it fixes the oldest problem a wishlist has: the good ideas arrive when you cannot write them down.
If you are new here, Wishes is a wishlist app for iPhone, Android and the web. You make a list, add anything from any store, and share it with one link. People who open the link can book a gift so that nobody buys the same thing twice, and the list owner never sees who booked what. Now it also listens.
Frequently asked questions
How do I add a wish to Wishes with Siri?
Say "Add a wish in Wishes" from anywhere on your iPhone, including the lock screen and CarPlay. Siri asks what you want to add, then asks which wishlist if you have more than one, and confirms once it is saved. You need Wishes 1.23 on iOS 26 or later, and to be signed in.
Do Wishes wishlists show up in iPhone Spotlight search?
Yes, with the 1.23 update. Swipe down on the Home Screen and type a wishlist's name or a wish's name and it appears in the results. Tapping it opens that list or wish in the app.
Is there a Wishes widget for the iPhone Home Screen?
Yes. The Wishlist widget shows one list as a themed poster with its title, wish count and latest wish photos, in small, medium, large and, on iOS 27, extra-large sizes. Touch and hold the widget and tap Edit Widget to choose which list it shows.
Does the widget need Wishes Plus?
No. Siri, Spotlight and the widget are included for every account. Wishes Plus lifts the limit of three wishlists and adds collaboration and every theme, but none of the 1.23 features sit behind it.
Is any of this on Android?
Not yet. Siri, Spotlight and Home Screen widgets are iPhone features. Wishes for Android gets its own update the same day with fixes, and Android owners still get everything else Wishes does, including sharing a list with one link and booking gifts. There is more on that in the guide to picking a wishlist app.
