The Lock Screen is the first thing you see when you pick up your iPhone. It’s your first opportunity to make your device your own and gives you quick access to features like the Camera app, Siri, Control Center, and much more.
With iOS 16 and later, you have more customization options than ever on your Lock Screen, with the ability to change fonts, widgets, wallpapers, and more than before. Here’s how to customize your Lock Screen to get the best iPhone experience from your Apple device.
How to add a new Lock Screen/Wallpaper
- On your Lock screen, hard press to bring up the Lock Screen/Wallpaper options on your iPhone
- Tap the "+" sign at the bottom right of the screen
- Choose a wallpaper you'd like to use. These are arranged in various categories, including Featured, Suggested Photos, and more
- On the next screen, you can make further changes. First, adjust the background color. Choices include natural (the default), black & white, duotone, and color wash.
- Tap the date at the top of your screen to choose a different top widget
- Click Add widget to add widgets to your Lock Screen. You can add up to four widgets of various sizes
Note that if you do add widgets beneath the time, you'll lose the cool depth effect of your photo, where part of the photo's subject appears layered over the time. You can see this depth effect with the dog's head overlapping the time in the images above. And in the images below, with widgets, you can see that the dog's head is no longer layered over the time.
- Click on the time to change the font and color
- Tap Add when finished
- Select Set as Wallpaper Pair if you want the Home screen and Lock screen to have the same background image. Otherwise, tap Customize Home Screen
- In addition to being able to add a different background to serve as your Home Screen, you can adjust its color and gradient. You can also blur the Home Screen background if you wish to do so
How to delete an existing Lock Screen/Wallpaper
To remove an existing Lock screen/Home screen combination, use the following steps:
- On your Lock screen, hard press to bring up the Lock Screen/Wallpaper options on your iPhone
- Find the combination you want to delete by scrolling back and forth
- Swipe your finger up on the wallpaper you wish to delete
- Delete by tapping the trash can icon
- Confirm by tapping Delete The Wallpaper
Make the Lock Screen your own
Lock Screen customization on iOS 16 and later is incredible. It’s easy to understand, and you can delve as far into customization options as you want to. If you’re feeling fancy, there are loads of widget applications on the App Store, like Lock Launcher, to help change the look and feel of your device.
I have Lock Launcher set up with a shortcut to ChatGPT on iPhone above the date on my Lock Screen. This means that when I need to ask ChatGPT a question through Siri, it’s just a tap away.
