Music player covering clock in lock screen

[shermarama]

I've just got a Galaxy S4 Mini, upgrading from a Galaxy Ace, and I'm still working out the fine details of the new interface.

One of the differences is that the stock music player now has a lock screen widget. Handy! Except when it's showing, it replaces the lock screen clock. There's still the tiny one in the top corner, yes, but since I frequently use the lock screen clock for a quick time-check (that's what it's there for, isn't it?) I don't want to have to squint at a tiny clock instead just because I've got music playing.

So, is there a way to show both at once? I've got the option for multiple widgets on the lock screen ticked, and there don't seem to be any other relevant settings there or in the music player. From a quick look around I see there are apps like WidgetLocker that will solve this problem, but if I can do it using the existing system I'd prefer to.

 

[chanchan05]

If you're not using a pin or pattern lock, you have access to the music controls by pulling down the notification shade even from the lockscreen, no need for widgets.

 

[shermarama]

This was the quickest way to access the music player on my old phone, so obviously I've considered that workable in the past, but there seem to be some advantages to having the widget - mainly visible artist/track names without having to swipe anything, so I can just pull it out of my pocket and have a quick look. Same sort of useful as having a big lock screen clock, in fact, so I'd like to have both. (Also, I don't know how to disable the music player widget either.)

 

[chanchan05]

If that's the case then no, you can't do what you want with the existing system options. Only one widget per page.

 

[shermarama]

Really? Oh well, that's good to know at least, thanks for the info. (I did find the page functionality on the lock screen, but it seems unusably fiddly to me, not to mention missing the point.)

In that case my question becomes, what's the best app available for changing the lock screen?

 

[chanchan05]

Widgetlocker is still the best. I've went through several over the years and keep coming back to this.