As iOS 16 Lock Screen customization takes off, an iPhone personalization app called Top Widgets has soared to the No. 1 spot on the U.S. App Store's top free apps list, displacing BeReal. The Sichuan, China-based app maker first introduced Top Widgets in August 2020 to capitalize on the introduction of Home Screen widgets with the release of iOS 14. With its newly added support for iOS 16's Lock Screen widgets, the app has gained approximately 1.3 million downloads in the two days following Monday's iOS 16 launch.

That's up 1,812% from the two days prior to iOS 16's release, when the app saw approximately 68,000 installs, according to data from mobile intelligence firm Sensor Tower.

To date, Top Widgets has topped 30 million worldwide installs, the firm says. The majority are from the company's home country of China, which accounts for around 25.8 million lifetime downloads, or 86% of the total. The U.S., by comparison, is a smaller market for this app, with some 730,000 installs to date, or 2% of the total.

In addition to ranking in the No. 1 position on the U.S. App Store as of Thursday, the app is also No. 1 in 58 other global markets. It's the No. 1 app in the Utilities category in 80 markets.

Top Widgets is similar in some ways to other popular widget designers, like Widgetsmith -- one of the more successful apps to emerge from the original iPhone customization craze, thanks to its DIY tools for creating custom widgets that match your overall iPhone theme, wallpaper and icons. (In fact, Top Widgets even stuffs the keyword "widgetsmith" into its App Store description!)

Image Credits: Top Widgets

Like other widget markers, Top Widgets' tools allow users to select from a range of common Home Screen widget types, like photos, clocks, calendars, weather, reminders, and more.

But it also includes a few features that differentiate it from other widget apps on the market, including a transparent widget type that doesn't block your iPhone's background wallpaper as well as a variety of "quick launcher" widget styles that let you put tappable access to favorite apps in a widget format -- which offers more customization possibilities compared with the use of app icons.