Lake Travis on your Android phone
A small card on your Home Screen that always shows today's lake level — no app to open. It looks like this, with live numbers:
Setting it up takes about three minutes, costs nothing, and needs no account. Have an iPhone instead? Use these steps.
Get the free app called “Web Image Widget”
It's a small, free app from the Play Store whose only job is showing a picture from the internet on your Home Screen. No sign-up, no ads, and it collects no personal information.
Open the Play Store ↗Tap Install, wait for it to finish, then come back here.
A note on this app: it's made by an independent developer, not by Hydrowet. We mention it because it's free and works well for this, but we can't vouch for it or support it — and better options may come along. Use whichever app you like; any app that can show a picture from a web address will work with the address in step 2.
Copy the lake picture's web address
This button copies the address of a picture that always shows Lake Travis's latest level. One tap, nothing to type:
Press and hold on your Home Screen
Go to your Home Screen (where all your apps are). Press and hold your finger on an empty spot between apps for a second, then tap Widgets in the menu that appears.
Find “Web Image Widget” and add it
The list is alphabetical — scroll down to Web Image Widget and tap it. Then press and hold the little preview picture and drag it to an empty spot on your Home Screen. (On some phones, just tapping it works too.)
Paste the address
A settings page opens automatically. Tap the line that says Image URL. In the box, press and hold your finger until a small menu pops up, tap Paste, then tap OK.
Set it to refresh every 15 minutes
On the same settings page, tap Refresh Interval and choose 15 minutes. Make sure Scale Image and Preserve Aspect Ratio are switched on, and leave Update over WiFi only switched off.
Tap “Create Widget”
Tap the Create Widget button. The card appears on your Home Screen and fills in with today's level.
Too small? Press and hold the card, let go, and drag the dots on its edges — a spot 4 squares wide and 2 tall fits it best.
That's it 🎉
The card quietly updates itself every 15 minutes — the same pace the lake gauge reports. Want the very latest reading right now? Tap the card twice quickly and it refreshes on the spot.
If something looks off
- The card is blank or gray.
- Your phone probably had no internet at that moment. Tap the card twice quickly to try again.
- The numbers seem old.
- The card updates every 15 minutes, and the gauge itself only reports every 15 minutes — so it's never more than about half an hour behind the lake. Double-tap to refresh right away.
- Tapping it once doesn't open the website.
- That's normal — this card is a picture, not a button. To see the full dashboard, open www.hydrowet.com in your browser. (Tip: add it to your Home Screen too — in Chrome, tap the ⋮ menu, then Add to Home screen.)
- The card disappeared after restarting the phone.
- Rare, but it happens. Repeat steps 3–7 — it takes under a minute the second time.
Free and personal-use, like the rest of the site. Levels come from public agency gauges and are provisional. Questions? contact@handhewn.works