How to Track Stocks with the Stocks App on your iPhone | TechRepublic (2024)

Apple offers a Stocks app on the iPhone to help you monitor and research investments that you own or are considering. You can add specific companies to a watchlist by name or symbol and then receive financial and investment news stories and information as well as charts showing the stock’s activity. Here’s how the Stocks app works.

How to track stocks with the Stocks app

The Stocks app comes with iOS by default, so you should already find it on your iPhone. If not, download and install it from the App Store. At the welcome screen, tap Continue.

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By default, the app includes a watchlist of the Dow Jones and S&P 500 indices as well as a few individual stocks. But you’ll likely want to edit the watchlist to remove and add specific investments. You can add stock indices, individual stocks and mutual funds. Tap the ellipsis icon at the top and select Edit Watchlist (Figure A).

Figure A

Edit your watchlist

Tap the minus sign next to any stock or index you don’t want to follow and then tap the trash can icon. Repeat that step for other items you wish to remove (Figure B).

Figure B

Next, tap the Add button for any investments you wish to include in your watchlist. In the Search field at the top, start typing either the name or the ticker symbol for the stock or fund you want to watch. Tap the plus sign for the correct one from the search results. Continue this process to add other investments. When finished, tap Done (Figure C).

Figure C

At the screen for My Symbols, you can change the order of your stocks. Move a specific one up or down in the list by dragging and dropping it through its three-line hamburger icon. When finished, tap Done (Figure D).

Figure D

Create another watchlist

You’re also able to create a new watchlist. For example, you may want to have a watchlist for stocks you don’t own but still wish to track. The default watchlist for My Symbols will contain all the stocks you’ve added to all your lists. But any additional lists can serve as subsets for specific stocks.

Return to the screen to edit your watchlist. Tap the entry for My Symbols and select New Watchlist. Create a name for this new list and tap Save. Add the stocks you want to track. When finished, tap Done. Tap the entry for My Symbols to create yet another watchlist or to switch back and forth between each list (Figure E).

Figure E

View your stocks

Depending on which list you’re viewing, the stocks you follow appear on the main screen. Swipe down the screen to see all the stocks. Each stock displays its current trading price and the latest increase or decrease in terms of percentage.

Tap the percentage number to change the numbers for all stocks to currency. Tap it again to change the numbers to each company’s current market capitalization (Figure F).

Figure F

Read news stories

Swipe down the screen through the top stories to see general stories about the stock market, the economy and business. Swipe down further to see stories related to the stocks in your watchlist. Tap a specific story to read it (Figure G).

Figure G

See more details on a specific stock

Swipe back up on the screen to the view of your stocks. Tap a particular stock to see more details on it. The chart shows the stock’s one-day activity. Tap one of the other headings, such as one week, one month or one year, to see the stock’s historical performance. Tap the link for More Data from Yahoo Finance to see additional data.

Below the chart are other numbers, including the opening price, the high and low for the day, the volume, the 52-week high and low, the yield and the company’s earnings per share. Swipe down the screen to access news stories on the stock (Figure H).

Figure H

View stock prices

To see the stock price for a particular date, press down on that date. You can then move your finger to the right or left to track the stock price. To compare the prices for two different dates, press down on the two dates with two fingers (Figure I).

Figure I

Share a stock or add it to a wishlist

Tap the ellipsis icon to open a menu. Here, you’re able to share the ticker symbol, copy a link to the stock’s chart or add the stock to a specific watchlist. When done, tap the X to return to the watchlist (Figure J).

Figure J

Add a Stocks widget

Finally, you can add a Stocks widget to your phone to see key data at a glance. Keep swiping to the right until you reach the widgets screen. Tap the Edit button and then tap the Plus icon. Swipe down the screen and tap the Stocks widget (Figure K).

Figure K

Swipe through the different screens for that widget until you find the one you prefer. Tap the button for Add Widget. The widget you chose appears on the screen. Tap outside the widget to exit Edit mode (Figure L).

Figure L