How to customize your iPhone Lock Screen in iOS 16

While iOS 16 comes with various features, the revamped Lock Screen is what grabbed 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, have many wallpapers options and collections to choose from, or even add dedicated focus modes.

And that’s not it! You can change the 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’s a guide for you!

• How to create an iPhone Lock Screen in iOS 16
• Add a photo to your Lock Screen on your iPhone
• Use Photo Shuffle for iOS 16 Lock Screen
• How to change Lock Screen on iPhone
• How to customize iOS 16 Lock Screen
• How to delete a Lock Screen wallpaper in iOS 16
• Keep the 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 with iOS 16, the steps for that are almost similar. Hence I am mentioning the common steps here, and after that, you can continue with steps the Lock Screen you want from the following sections:

1. Wake your screen and tap and hold the Lock Screen.
2. Tap Add button (+) to add new wallpaper. 

You will be taken to the Add New page. From here, choose the type of wallpaper you want. The steps are mentioned in the following sections.

Note: You can also customize your Lock Screen by going to Settings → Wallpaper.

Set a Dynamic Astronomy and Weather Lock Screen wallpaper

Visit the Add New Wallpaper page after following the steps mentioned above. From here, you can choose any of the following options:

• Astronomy
• Weather
• Weather & Astronomy

And after that:

1. Give necessary permissions
2. If you have chosen an Astronomy wallpaper, swipe and choose between any of the following options:
   • Earth
   • Earth Detail
   • Moon
   • Moon Detail
   • Solar System
3. After making necessary changes, tap Add.

How to create an Emoji Lock Screen wallpaper

1. Open the Add New Wallpaper page.  
2. Tap Emoji.  
3. Add emojis of your choice and tap the x button.  
   You can add a total of 6 emojis   
4. Next, swipe to select any of these looks:  
   • Small Grid   
   • Medium Grid   
   • Large Grid   
   • Rings   
   • Spiral   
5. After customizing, tap Done.  

To change the background:  

1. Tap the three dots on the bottom right corner.  
2. Select the color of your choice and close it.  

How to change the color of your iPhone’s Lock Screen

Setting a pleasing color as your Lock Screen wallpaper might do the trick when you’re not looking for anything fancy. For that, go to the Add New Wallpaper page, and then:  

1. Select Color.   
2. Choose the color of your choice and close the window.   
3. After that, swipe and choose between these options:  
   • Vibrant   
   • Tone   
   • Deep   
   • Vapour   
   • Bright   
   • Solid   
4. After choosing your preferences, tap Add.  

Use wallpaper Collections in iOS 16

The steps to use wallpaper collections are the same as any other.

1. Visit the Add New Wallpaper page.
2. Scroll down to Collections and choose the one that you prefer.
3. Then tap Add.  

Wallpaper Collections feature popular wallpapers from different categories, as well as some old classics.   

Add a photo to your Lock Screen on your iPhone

1. Select Photos from Add New Wallpaper page.  
2. Choose the image of your choice.  
   You can choose between All, Featured, People, and Cities.  
3. Swipe across to select filters over these images. You can choose between:  
   • Natural  
   • Black & White  
   • Duotone  
   • Color Wash  
4. Tap Add.  

Set People wallpaper in iOS 16  

If you want to add images of people only, iOS 16 allows you to add photos of people as Lock Screen.   

1. Open the Add New Wallpaper page. 
2. Select People. 
3. Here, select the images of your choice.
4. Swipe across to select filters if you want any. You can choose between:  
   • Natural  
   • Studio  
   • Black & White  
   • Colour Backdrop  
   • Duotone  
   • Color Wash  
5. Tap Add.

How to set different wallpapers for iPhone Lock Screen and Home Screen

1. Tap and hold the Lock Screen.
2. Next, tap Customize.
   If you are on your first Lock Screen, you need to swipe right and tap Customize.
3. Now, tap Done.  
4. Here, tap Customize Home Screen.  
5. You can select any of the following:  
   • Original: Uses the same wallpaper as the Lock Screen and Home Screen.  
   • Color: Uses a common color from the image. To further customize it, tap the plus (+) icon and select the color of your choice.  
   • Gradient: Gives a common gradient to the image. To customize it further, tap the plus icon and select the gradient of your choice.  
   • Photos: Choose the photo of your choice on the Home Screen.  
   • Blur: Sets a blurred wallpaper.  
6. Tap Done.  

Use Photo Shuffle for iOS 16 Lock Screen

With iOS 16, it’s easier to change the Lock Screen wallpaper automatically, thanks to the Photo Shuffle feature. Here’s how: 

1. Visit the Add New Wallpaper page.  
2. Tap Photo Shuffle.  
3. You’ll be suggested a smart photo collection. Select from:   
   • People
   • Pets
   • Nature   
   • Cities
4. To customize any of the options, tap Choose next to it.  
5. Set the Shuffle Frequency.  
6. Now, either choose:  
   • Use Featured Photos: To continue with the suggested photos.  
   • Select Photos Manually: Select the photos of your choice.  
7. Tap Add.  

To change the shuffle frequency later, enter the customization screen → Tap the ellipsis (three-dot) button, choose any available Shuffle Frequency, and tap Done.  

How to change Lock Screen on iPhone

1. Tap and hold the Lock Screen.  
2. Swipe between the Lock Screens.  
3. Now, tap the Lock Screen of your choice.  

If you have used Apple Watch, it’s similar to how you change the watch faces. After landing on your favorite Lock Screen, tap the screen.   

iPhone Lock Screen based on Focus

With iOS 16, Focus gets interlinked with Lock Screen, making you much more productive. The related Lock Screen wallpaper is auto-enabled when you select a Focus mode. Reversibly, when you switch to a Focus-specified Lock Screen, the Focus mode is automatically turned on.   

Things don’t end there. When setting up a Focus mode, you can automate the Focus based on time, location, or even the app you use and automatically switch the Lock Screen wallpaper and widgets.     

To add Focus mode to dedicated Lock Screens:   

1. Tap and hold the screen.  
2. Select Focus.   
3. Now, select a mode  
4. Tap the cross button.  

How to customize iOS 16 Lock Screen

After setting up the Lock Screen, you may have some second thoughts. Like you could have added some more customizations or maybe, changed some. No worries. I have mentioned the steps on how you can customize the iPhone Lock Screen in this part.   

Customize the clock in Lock Screen

1. Enter the customization screen on your Lock Screen.  
2. Tap clock.  
3. Customize the Font & Colour according to your choice.  
4. After customizing, tap anywhere → Done.  

Apart from the above, on the Lock Screen, you can also see Live Activities like currently playing songs and cab tracking right from the Lock Screen.  

Add widgets to iOS 16 Lock screen

1. Tap and hold the Lock Screen.  
2. Now, tap Customize.  
3. Next, tap the top or lower row to add widgets.  
4. Under the Add Widgets screen, select the widgets of your choice.  
5. Once done, tap anywhere on the screen or x to close.  

If you want to add more widgets, tap and hold the screen → Customize → tap any row above or below the Lock Screen clock → select the widget.  

Many apps have started rolling out the new widgets for iOS 16, and you can choose the best widgets for your iPhone’s Lock Screen. If the space is already filled, you must delete those extra widgets.

How to crop a Lock Screen wallpaper

1. Tap and hold the lock screen and choose Customize.  
2. Now, zoom in on the wallpaper of your choice.  
3. Change the filter if you want.  
4. Next, tap Done.  

Enable Depth Effect in iOS 16 Lock Screen

Depth Effect is a feature where the iOS 16 Lock Screen differentiates the wallpaper into layers and places the clock accordingly. While this feature is turned on by default, you can still make sure if it’s enabled by:  

1. Enter the Customize screen.     
2. Tap the three dots at the bottom right.     
3. Make sure Depth Effect has a tick mark next to it.     

If you see the Depth Effect as grayed or don’t see the three dots, it means the particular wallpaper doesn’t support the Depth Effect.  

Note: Even after enabling the Depth Effect, it may not work on some images since iOS 16 still needs some polishing.   

How to disable Lock Screen Perspective Zoom

Just like, Depth Effect, Perspective Zoom is also enabled by default; you can still check if Perspective Zoom is enabled by:  

1. Enter the customization screen. 
2. Tap the three dots. 
3. Here, enable Perspective Zoom.  

How to delete a Lock Screen wallpaper in iOS 16

What if you didn’t like the Lock Screen and wanted to delete it completely? Here’s what you need to do:  

1. Tap and hold the Lock Screen.  
2. Swipe up and tap the Delete icon.  
3. Tap Delete This Wallpaper to confirm.  

You have deleted the Lock Screen and the Home Screen linked with it.  

Keep the iPhone display on longer

While the Lock Screen on iOS 16 is amazing, your iPhone getting to sleep frequently is annoying. So here’s how you can solve it.

Change when iPhone automatically locks  

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

Enable Always-On display on iPhone.  

With iPhone 14 series, Apple finally brought a long-awaiting feature to iPhone: an Always-On display. If you want it enabled on your iPhone 14 Pro and above, here’s how you can do it:  

1. Open Settings. 
2. Tap Display & Brightness. 
3. Toggle on Always On. 

Organize notifications on iPhone

1. Open Settings → Notifications → Display As.  
2. Select how you want to see your Notification appear.

Now, you can see the new notification style whenever you access your Lock Screen.  

Video: iOS 16 Lock Screen Customization

FAQs  

That’s it!  

With the iOS 16 update, you can customize your iPhone lock screen as per your preference. Which are your favorite widgets that you are using on your lockscreen? Do let me know in the comments.  

Other than that, you can also read these iPhone guides:  

• How to Collaborate on projects using Messages in iOS 16
• How to enable Personalized Spatial Audio for AirPods and Beats
• How to use Visual Look Up on iPhone and iPad
• Depth Effect not working in iOS 16 on iPhone? 8 Ways to fix it!