diff --git a/src/pages/api/widgets/glances.js b/src/pages/api/widgets/glances.js
index f4b7c010e..5d4622b8d 100644
--- a/src/pages/api/widgets/glances.js
+++ b/src/pages/api/widgets/glances.js
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import { httpProxy } from "utils/proxy/http";
 import createLogger from "utils/logger";
-import { getPrivateWidgetOptions } from "utils/config/service-helpers";
+import { getPrivateWidgetOptions } from "utils/config/widget-helpers";
 
 const logger = createLogger("glances");
 
diff --git a/src/utils/config/api-response.js b/src/utils/config/api-response.js
index 778877eb1..5cc1127e3 100644
--- a/src/utils/config/api-response.js
+++ b/src/utils/config/api-response.js
@@ -4,8 +4,9 @@ import path from "path";
 
 import yaml from "js-yaml";
 
-import checkAndCopyConfig, { sanitizePrivateOptions } from "utils/config/config";
+import checkAndCopyConfig from "utils/config/config";
 import { servicesFromConfig, servicesFromDocker, cleanServiceGroups } from "utils/config/service-helpers";
+import { cleanWidgetGroups, widgetsFromConfig } from "utils/config/widget-helpers";
 
 export async function bookmarksResponse() {
   checkAndCopyConfig("bookmarks.yaml");
@@ -29,24 +30,17 @@ export async function bookmarksResponse() {
 }
 
 export async function widgetsResponse() {
-  checkAndCopyConfig("widgets.yaml");
+  let configuredWidgets;
 
-  const widgetsYaml = path.join(process.cwd(), "config", "widgets.yaml");
-  const fileContents = await fs.readFile(widgetsYaml, "utf8");
-  const widgets = yaml.load(fileContents);
-
-  if (!widgets) return [];
-
-  // map easy to write YAML objects into easy to consume JS arrays
-  const widgetsArray = widgets.map((group, index) => ({
-    type: Object.keys(group)[0],
-    options: {
-      index,
-      ...sanitizePrivateOptions(group[Object.keys(group)[0]])
-    },
-  }));
+  try {
+    configuredWidgets = cleanWidgetGroups(await widgetsFromConfig());
+  } catch (e) {
+    console.error("Failed to load widgets, please check widgets.yaml for errors or remove example entries.");
+    if (e) console.error(e);
+    configuredWidgets = [];
+  }
 
-  return widgetsArray;
+  return configuredWidgets;
 }
 
 export async function servicesResponse() {
diff --git a/src/utils/config/config.js b/src/utils/config/config.js
index 1f6d13fcb..0003c589d 100644
--- a/src/utils/config/config.js
+++ b/src/utils/config/config.js
@@ -33,17 +33,4 @@ export function getSettings() {
   const settingsYaml = join(process.cwd(), "config", "settings.yaml");
   const fileContents = readFileSync(settingsYaml, "utf8");
   return yaml.load(fileContents);
-}
-
-export function sanitizePrivateOptions(options, privateOnly = false) {
-  const privateOptions = ["url", "username", "password", "key"];
-  const sanitizedOptions = {};
-  Object.keys(options).forEach((key) => { 
-    if (!privateOnly && !privateOptions.includes(key)) {
-      sanitizedOptions[key] = options[key];
-    } else if (privateOnly && privateOptions.includes(key)) {
-      sanitizedOptions[key] = options[key];
-    }
-  });
-  return sanitizedOptions;
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/utils/config/service-helpers.js b/src/utils/config/service-helpers.js
index ba58b991d..15740d22b 100644
--- a/src/utils/config/service-helpers.js
+++ b/src/utils/config/service-helpers.js
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ import yaml from "js-yaml";
 import Docker from "dockerode";
 import * as shvl from "shvl";
 
-import checkAndCopyConfig, { sanitizePrivateOptions } from "utils/config/config";
+import checkAndCopyConfig from "utils/config/config";
 import getDockerArguments from "utils/config/docker";
 
 export async function servicesFromConfig() {
@@ -165,23 +165,4 @@ export default async function getServiceWidget(group, service) {
   }
 
   return false;
-}
-
-export async function getPrivateWidgetOptions(type, index) {
-  checkAndCopyConfig("widgets.yaml");
-
-  const widgetsYaml = path.join(process.cwd(), "config", "widgets.yaml");
-  const fileContents = await fs.readFile(widgetsYaml, "utf8");
-  const widgets = yaml.load(fileContents);
-
-  if (!widgets) return [];
-
-  const privateOptions = widgets.map((group, widgetIndex) => ({
-    type: Object.keys(group)[0],
-    index: widgetIndex,
-    options: sanitizePrivateOptions(group[Object.keys(group)[0]], true),
-  }));
-
-  return (type !== undefined && index !== undefined) ? privateOptions.find(o => o.type === type && o.index === parseInt(index, 10))?.options : privateOptions;
-}
-  
\ No newline at end of file
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/utils/config/widget-helpers.js b/src/utils/config/widget-helpers.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c9bdd0fbb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/utils/config/widget-helpers.js
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+import { promises as fs } from "fs";
+import path from "path";
+
+import yaml from "js-yaml";
+
+import checkAndCopyConfig from "utils/config/config";
+
+export async function widgetsFromConfig() {
+    checkAndCopyConfig("widgets.yaml");
+
+    const widgetsYaml = path.join(process.cwd(), "config", "widgets.yaml");
+    const fileContents = await fs.readFile(widgetsYaml, "utf8");
+    const widgets = yaml.load(fileContents);
+
+    if (!widgets) return [];
+
+    // map easy to write YAML objects into easy to consume JS arrays
+    const widgetsArray = widgets.map((group, index) => ({
+        type: Object.keys(group)[0],
+        options: {
+            index,
+            ...group[Object.keys(group)[0]]
+        },
+    }));
+    return widgetsArray;
+}
+
+export async function cleanWidgetGroups(widgets) {
+    return widgets.map((widget, index) => {
+        const sanitizedOptions = widget.options;
+        const optionKeys = Object.keys(sanitizedOptions);
+        ["url", "username", "password", "key"].forEach((pO) => { 
+            if (optionKeys.includes(pO)) {
+                delete sanitizedOptions[pO];
+            }
+        });
+
+        return {
+            type: widget.type,
+            options: {
+                index,
+                ...sanitizedOptions
+            },
+        }
+    });
+}
+
+export async function getPrivateWidgetOptions(type, widgetIndex) {
+    const widgets = await widgetsFromConfig();
+  
+    const privateOptions = widgets.map((widget) => {
+        const {
+            index,
+            url,
+            username,
+            password,
+            key
+        } = widget.options;
+
+        return {
+            type: widget.type,
+            options: {
+                index,
+                url,
+                username,
+                password,
+                key
+            },
+        }
+    });
+  
+    return (type !== undefined && widgetIndex !== undefined) ? privateOptions.find(o => o.type === type && o.options.index === parseInt(widgetIndex, 10))?.options : privateOptions;
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/widgets/unifi/proxy.js b/src/widgets/unifi/proxy.js
index 890c2c73c..dc1c437b9 100644
--- a/src/widgets/unifi/proxy.js
+++ b/src/widgets/unifi/proxy.js
@@ -3,7 +3,8 @@ import cache from "memory-cache";
 import { formatApiCall } from "utils/proxy/api-helpers";
 import { httpProxy } from "utils/proxy/http";
 import { addCookieToJar, setCookieHeader } from "utils/proxy/cookie-jar";
-import getServiceWidget, { getPrivateWidgetOptions } from "utils/config/service-helpers";
+import getServiceWidget from "utils/config/service-helpers";
+import { getPrivateWidgetOptions } from "utils/config/widget-helpers";
 import createLogger from "utils/logger";
 import widgets from "widgets/widgets";