- You can change your lock screen on an iPhone to any photo you have saved, a series of photos, and more.
- If your iPhone has iOS 16 or newer, you can also choose from a gallery of premade lock screens or add widgets.
- You can save multiple lock screen designs on your iPhone, and freely switch between them.
You can put pretty much any picture you want on your iPhone's lock screen. And if you've updated to iOS 16, you can even add a few extras, like widgets.
How to change your lock screen on an iPhone
There are a few ways to change your lock screen on an iPhone. But if you're running iOS 16, the easiest way is to go directly through the lock screen.
While you're looking at your iPhone's lock screen, tap and hold your finger anywhere. After a moment, the lock screen will zoom out and a few new options will appear.
Tap and hold the lock screen to find more options. Apple; William Antonelli/InsiderSelect Customize to edit your current lock screen. You can tap the photos icon in the bottom-left to change the lock screen picture, swipe left or right to add a filter, and tap the boxes at the top to add widgets. If you tap the current time, you can also change its font and color. Tap Done in the top-right to save your design.
Select the plus sign in the corner to open the Add New Wallpaper window. This lets you pick from a selection of premade lockscreens, which include real-time views of the Earth, emoji patterns, color gradients, colorful swirling lines, and more. You can also choose from your own photos like normal — just tap Photos or People at the top of the screen.
You can also create a Photo Shuffle. In a Photo Shuffle, you'll pick a series of photos that your iPhone will randomly select to use as your lock screen, changing every so often. You can make the photo change every day, every hour, or even every time you unlock your iPhone.
iOS 16 gives you a lot of preset options. Apple; William Antonelli/InsiderIf you're using an iPhone XR or newer, some lock screen photos can also have Depth Effects. This gives your photos a faux-3D effect by making the photo's subject block your view of the clock.
Once you've made multiple lock screens, you can switch between them whenever you want by tapping and holding your finger on the lock screen again. When the current lock screen zooms out, just swipe to switch to another one.
How to change your lock screen if you don't have iOS 16
If you're still using iOS 15 or older, then you can't change your lock screen by tapping and holding your current one. You also can't use the new premade options.
Instead, open your iPhone's Photos app and find the picture you want to put on your lock screen. It can be a picture that you took yourself, or one you saved from another app.
Once the picture is open, tap the share icon in the bottom-left corner. It's the icon that looks like a box with an arrow coming out of it.
Scroll down and tap Use as Wallpaper. Your iPhone will show you a preview of what the new lock screen looks like — when you like how it looks, tap Done in the top-right, or Set at the bottom of the screen.
You can set any photo as your lock screen from the Photos app. Apple; William Antonelli/InsiderIf it asks whether you want to make the picture your lock screen or home screen, choose the lock screen option.
William Antonelli
Tech Reporter for Insider Reviews
William Antonelli (he/she/they) is a writer, editor, and organizer based in New York City. As a founding member of the Reference team, he helped grow Tech Reference (now part of Insider Reviews) from humble beginnings into a juggernaut that attracts over 20 million visits a month. Outside of Insider, his writing has appeared in publications like Polygon, The Outline, Kotaku, and more. He's also a go-to source for tech analysis on channels like Newsy, Cheddar, and NewsNation. You can find him on Twitter @DubsRewatcher, or reach him by email at .
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(Pocket-lint) - When Apple released iOS 16 in September, it introduced the ability to customise an iPhone lock screen. We're not talking about simply changing your wallpaper. Now, you can change a lock screen's entire look, from colors to fonts, and you can add widgets that display information from your favorite apps. You're also able to create more than one lock screen to switch between if you want to change up your aesthetic. Plus, if you've set up what Apple calls a Focus, you can link that Focus to your new custom lock screen. The idea is, when you want to reduce distractions such as notifications, you can switch to a specific custom lock screen with a Focus enabled.
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Confused? No worries. Pocket-lint has detailed how to personalise your iPhone lock screen, step by step.
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How to add widgets to your iPhone lock screen
You can add widgets to your lock screens, including one for the temperature, battery level, upcoming calendar event, and so on.
- Touch and hold the lock screen until the Customise button appears.
- Tap Customize.
- Tap the box below the time to add widgets to your lock screen.
- Tap or drag the widgets you want to add.
Simple!
How to add a Focus to your iPhone lock screen
Focus is a feature that helps you reduce distractions. You can customise one of the provided Focus options - like Work, Personal, or Sleep - or create a custom Focus. You can use Focus to temporarily silence all notifications, for instance. Then, you can set up a Focus right on your lock screen. When a Focus is linked to your lock screen, you can turn it on by swiping to the corresponding lock screen.
- First, you need to set up a Focus. Go to Apple's support page to learn how.
- Touch and hold the lock screen until the Customise button appears.
- Tap Focus near the bottom to see the Focus options (for example, Sleep or Work).
- Select a Focus, then tap x.
How to customise your iPhone home screen aesthetic
There was once a time when Apple wouldn't let its users customise the home screen. But the company is much more lenient these days. You can completely control the aesthetic of an iPhone, like by changing your home screen app icons to custom ones and by using widgets. If you want to get super spicy, you can even add a video clip of something to your lock screen. It's simple to do.
Just follow Pocket-lint's separate guide: How to customise your iPhone home screen with shortcuts and widgets
Looking for more help?
Apple has an entire support hub dedicated to the iPhone lock screen.
Pocket-lint also has the following guides on iOS 16:
- iOS 16: All the features coming to your iPhone
- Apple iOS 16 system requirements: Will it run on your iPhone?
Writing by Maggie Tillman.