How to Customize iPhone Lock Screen in iOS 16

Things to Know Before Customizing the iOS 16 Lock Screen on iPhone

• To use the new lock screen on your iPhone, it must be running iOS 16 or later.
• Now you can set multiple lock screens and home screens.
• In iOS 16, you can link Focus to your lock screen.

While iOS 16 comes with various features, the revamped lock screen is what caught everyone’s attention. Now you can personalize your iPhone lock screen like never before. And if that’s not all, you can make multiple lock screens, choose from a variety of wallpapers and collections, or even add special focus modes.

And it’s not! You can change font and font color and add widgets accordingly. I would call this one of the biggest features added to iOS in terms of customization. If you want to customize the lock screen on your iPhone, here is the guide for you!

• How to Create an iPhone Lock Screen in iOS 16
• Add a photo to the lock screen on your iPhone
• Use Photo Shuffle for iOS 16 Lock Screen
• How to change the lock screen on iPhone
• How to Customize iOS 16 Lock Screen
• How to Remove Custom Lock Screens on iPhone
• Keep your iPhone display on longer
• Organize notifications on iPhone

How to Create an iPhone Lock Screen in iOS 16

While you can create different types of lock screens since iOS 16, the steps to do so are almost the same. So I mention here the general steps and after that you can continue with the lock screen steps you want from the following sections:

1. Wake up the screen, touch and hold the lock screen.
2. Click the Add (+) button to add a new wallpaper.

You will be taken to the add new page. From here select the type of wallpaper you want. The steps are mentioned in the following sections.

Note. You can also customize the lock screen by going to Settings → Wallpaper.

Set dynamic wallpaper for astronomy and weather lock screen

Visit the Add New Wallpaper page by following the steps above. Here you can choose from any of the following options:

• astronomy
• Weather
• Weather and astronomy

And after that:

1. Give the necessary permissions
2. If you chose Astronomy wallpaper, swipe the screen and select one of the following options:
   • Earth
   • Earth detail
   • Moon
   • moon detail
   • solar system
3. After making the necessary changes, click Add.

How to Create an Emoji Lock Screen Wallpaper

1. Open the page for adding new wallpapers.
2. Touch emoticons.
3. Add emoticons of your choice and press the x button. You can add 6 emoticons in total.
4. Then swipe to select any of these looks:
   • Small grid
   • Medium grid
   • Large mesh
   • Rings
   • spiral
5. After setting, click “Finish”.

To change the background:

1. Touch the three dots in the lower right corner.
2. Select the desired color and close it.

How to Change iPhone Lock Screen Color

Setting a nice color as your lock screen wallpaper can help when you’re not looking for anything out of the ordinary. To do this, go to the “Add New Wallpaper”page, and then:

1. Choose Color.
2. Select the desired color and close the window.
3. After that, swipe the screen and select one of the following options:
   • Bright
   • Tone
   • Deep
   • Steam
   • Bright
   • Solid
4. After selecting your preferences, click Add.

Use Wallpaper Collections on iOS 16

The steps for using wallpaper collections are the same as for any other.

1. Visit the page for adding new wallpapers.
2. Scroll down to “Collection”and choose the one you like best.
3. Then click Add.

The wallpaper collections feature popular wallpapers from different categories as well as some old classic wallpapers.

Add a photo to the lock screen on your iPhone

1. Select Photos on the Add New Wallpaper page.
2. Select an image of your choice. You can choose between “All”, “Favorites”, “People”and “Cities”.
3. Swipe your finger across the screen to select filters for these images. You can choose between:
   • Natural
   • black and white
   • Duoton
   • color wash
4. Tap Add.

Set Wallpaper “People”on iOS 16

If you only want to add pictures of people, iOS 16 allows you to add pictures of people as your lock screen.

1. Open the page for adding new wallpapers.
2. Select People.
3. Here select images of your choice.
4. Swipe across the screen to select filters if you need them. You can choose between:
   • Natural
   • Studio
   • black and white
   • Background color
   • Duoton
   • color wash
5. Tap Add.

How to Set Different Wallpapers for iPhone Lock Screen and Home Screen

1. Press and hold the lock screen.
2. Then click “Setup”. If you’re on your first lock screen, you’ll need to swipe right and tap Customize.
3. Now click Done.
4. Here, click “Customize Home Screen”.
5. You can choose any of the following:
   • Original: Uses the same wallpaper as the lock screen and home screen.
   • Color: Uses the overall color of the image. For further customization, tap the plus sign (+) and choose the color you want.
   • Gradient: Gives an overall gradient to the image. To customize it further, tap the plus icon and choose the gradient of your choice.
   • Photos: Select a photo of your choice from the main screen.
   • Blur: Sets the blur of the wallpaper.
6. Click Done.

Use Photo Shuffle for iOS 16 Lock Screen

iOS 16 makes it easier to automatically change your lock screen wallpaper with Shuffle Photo. Here’s how:

1. Visit the page for adding new wallpapers.
2. Tap Shuffle Photo.
3. You will be presented with a smart collection of photos. Choose from:
   • People
   • Pets
   • Nature
   • Cities
4. To customize any of the options, tap Select next to it.
5. Set the stir frequency.
6. Now either choose:
   • Use Featured Photos: To continue with suggested photos.
   • Select Photos Manually: Select photos of your choice.
7. Tap Add.

To change the playback frequency later, open the settings screen → tap the ellipsis (three dots) button, select any available playback frequency, and click Done.

How to change the lock screen in iOS 16

1. Press and hold the lock screen.
2. Swipe between lock screens.
3. Now tap on the lock screen of your choice.

If you’ve used an Apple Watch, this is similar to how you change watch faces. Landing on your favorite lock screen, tap the screen.

Focus based screen lock

In iOS 16, Focus interacts with the lock screen to make you more productive. Appropriate lock screen wallpapers are automatically enabled when you select a focus mode. Conversely, when you switch to the lock screen specified in focus, focus mode is automatically enabled.

It doesn’t end there. By setting the focus mode, you can automate focusing based on time, location, or even the app you’re using, and automatically switch wallpapers and lock screen widgets.

To add focus mode to dedicated lock screens:

1. Touch and hold the screen.
2. Select Focus.
3. Now choose a mode
4. Touch the cross.

How to Customize iOS 16 Lock Screen

After setting up the lock screen, you may have some doubts. For example, you could add a few more settings or maybe change some. No problem. In this part, I have mentioned the steps to set up the iPhone lock screen.

Set the clock on your lock screen

In addition to changing wallpapers and adding widgets to your lock screen, you can also customize the clock. For this:

1. Enter the settings screen on the lock screen.
2. Touch the clock.
3. Customize the font and color of your choice.
4. Once configured, tap anywhere → Done.

Apart from the above, on the lock screen, you can also see live activities such as currently playing songs and tracking a taxi directly from the lock screen.

Add widgets to your iOS 16 lock screen.

1. Press and hold the lock screen.
2. Now click “Customize”.
3. Then tap the top or bottom row to add widgets.
4. On the Add Widgets screen, select the widgets you want.
5. After that, touch the screen anywhere or touch x to close.

If you want to add more widgets, tap and hold the screen → Customize → tap any line above or below the lock screen clock → select a widget.

If the space is already filled, you must remove these extra widgets.

How to crop your lock screen wallpaper

1. Press and hold the lock screen and select Customize.
2. Now enlarge the wallpaper of your choice.
3. Change the filter if you like.
4. Then click Done.

Enable depth effect on lock screen

Depth Effect is a feature by which the iOS 16 lock screen separates wallpapers into layers and positions the clock accordingly. Although this feature is enabled by default, you can still make sure it is enabled:

1. Enter the setting screen.
2. Touch the three dots in the lower right corner.
3. Make sure there is a checkmark next to Depth Effect.

If you see a grayed out depth effect or don’t see three dots, it means certain wallpapers don’t support depth effect.

Note. Even after turning on the depth effect, it may not work on some images as iOS 16 still needs some work.

How to disable lock screen zoom

Like the depth effect, perspective scaling is also enabled by default; you can still check if perspective scaling is enabled:

1. Enter the setting screen.
2. Touch three dots.
3. Here, enable perspective scaling.

How to Remove Custom Lock Screens in iOS 16

What to do if you don’t like the lock screen and want to completely remove it? Here’s what you need to do:

1. Press and hold the lock screen.
2. Swipe up and tap the Delete icon.
3. Click “Remove this wallpaper”to confirm.

You have removed the lock screen and its associated home screen.

Keep your iPhone display on longer

While the lock screen in iOS 16 is great, your iPhone often falls asleep and is annoying. So, here is how you can fix this issue.

Change When iPhone Automatically Locks

1. Open settings.
2. Tap Display & Brightness.
3. Select Auto-Lock.
4. Here select the time of your choice.

Turn on always-on display on iPhone.

With the iPhone 14 series, Apple has finally brought a long-awaited feature to the iPhone: the always-on display. If you want it enabled on your iPhone 14 Pro and up, here’s how you can do it:

1. Open settings.
2. Tap Display & Brightness.
3. Turn on Always On.

Organize notifications on iPhone

1. Go to Settings → Notifications → Display As.
2. Choose how you want to see your notification.

Now you can see the new notification style every time you access the lock screen.

Video: Customize the iOS 16 Lock Screen

FAQ

While there’s no direct option, if you’re using an iPhone running iOS 16, you can add a reminder widget to your lock screen, where you can add your name.

If you have updated your iPhone to iOS 16, you can add multiple wallpapers to your lock screen. Tap and hold the screen → tap the + icon. Select the wallpaper of your choice and click Finish.

As of now, there has been no official confirmation of how many lock screens you can have on your iPhone.

That’s all!

With the iOS 16 update, you can customize your iPhone lock screen to suit your preferences. What are your favorite widgets that you use on your lock screen? Let me know in the comments.