What does a Widget do that a one-tap shortcut to an Android Activity not do?

What does a Widget do that a one-tap shortcut to an Android Activity not
do?

In a recent thread on weather app icons, I suggested one-tap shortcuts to
public Android Activities - which Muntashirakon App Manager easily creates
but which very many other apps also create, as shown below for the creation
of a single-tap shortcut to the reset-advertising-ID setting deep inside
the Android settings. <https://i.postimg.cc/P5d7kxgc/shortcut26.jpg>

In that prior thread, I mused about the possible difference between widgets
versus one-tap homescreen shortcuts to internal activities within an app.

Is there a difference?

What does a widget do that a one-tap shortcut to the Activity doesn't do?