Apple’s flagship iOS 16 feature is staring you in the face every time you pick up your iPhone: For the first time, you can customize your iPhone’s lock screen, and boy, is it a welcome change. You can even set up multiple lock screens for different purposes or times of day, each with different wallpapers and widgets (yes, there are widgets on the lock screen now). In addition, lock screens can be linked to Focuses, helping you separate work life from personal life.
Note: At the time of writing, the new lock screen customization in iOS 16 is only available if you install the public beta and will roll out to all supported iPhones in fall 2022.
It all starts with a wallpaper
Screenshot: Khamosh Pathak
To get started with your customizations, turn on your iPhone and press and hold an empty area of the lock screen to enter the editor. Tap the small Plus icon to add a new lock screen (you won’t be able to customize the default screen). Each lock screen is linked to a specific wallpaper, which starts this process.
Apple offers a ton of suggestions, but here’s a taste, though as always, you can also use any image you like.
- Astronomy: Live, animated wallpapers of the Earth, Moon, and Solar System, including sunset time and current moon phase information.
- Photo Shuffle: This wallpaper selects multiple photos from an album, then shuffles them every hour, every day, or every time you wake up your iPhone.
- People: Apple loves to highlight this feature, and we can see why: after choosing a photo (even if it’s not in portrait mode), you can create a cool depth of field effect where the digital clock hovers over the subject, with a good shadow effect.
- Photos: Apple has made the simple photo picker pretty smart. You’ll see different sections for featured photos, people, pets, nature, cityscapes, and more. The Featured section does a great job of highlighting wallpaper-worthy photos from your gallery.
- Emoji: Create a pattern-based emoji wallpaper with up to 6 emojis of your choice.
- Weather: This wallpaper affects the background effects of the Weather app on the lock screen of your current location.
- Color: Choose a color, any color, and watch your iPhone turn it into a beautiful gradient wallpaper (swipe to try different effects).
Each wallpaper has different options that you can access via the three-dot menu button at the bottom right. The most common options allow you to turn off “Depth Effect” and “Perspective Zoom”.
Personalize the digital clock
Screenshot: Khamosh Pathak
Not only did Apple update the default digital watch font, but they also added a whole new customization option that lets you change the font and font color. After choosing your wallpaper, you will be taken to the customization screen above. Tap the digital clock icon to change to a different font and color.
And now, the widgets
On the Personalization screen, you’ll see an empty rounded rectangle below the time and around the date. Tap the empty space to find the new widget selection menu. You can add up to four square widgets (similar to Apple Watch complications) or two rectangular widgets. Only Apple widgets are available at the moment, so it’s a slim pickings, but third-party developers will no doubt have their own options too, once the OS is at launch general
To add a widget to your lock screen, simply tap on it, then use drag and drop to move it around. Press the small Minus icon to remove a widget. Don’t forget, you can also customize the date at the top. The widget there will be purely textual; widget data will be displayed after the date. Still, very useful for viewing your activity data or remembering an upcoming appointment.
Set a couple of wallpapers
Screenshot: Khamosh Pathak
When you’re done customizing, tap “Done” to see the pairing options: You can tap the “Set as Wallpaper Pair” button to set the wallpaper for both your lock screen and lock screen start Now when you switch to a different lock screen, your home screen wallpaper will also change.
Or, you can tap the “Customize Home Screen” button for extended controls. Here, you can turn on “Readability Blur” which makes app labels easier to read. If you want to choose a different photo for your home screen, tap the Photos button. You can also create a color-based home screen wallpaper using the color picker icon and set your own gradient. Tap the “Done” button again and your lock screen will be ready to go.
Link a lock screen to a focus (if you want)
When you’re done creating and customizing, you’ll see a “Focus” button at the bottom of the editor for each of your lock screens. Using the “Focus” feature, you can link any of your focuses, which will activate that focus every time you switch to that particular lock screen.
Once you’re done creating your lock screen, you can switch between them with a tap. Just like on an Apple Watch, you can swipe between and choose a lock screen to instantly activate it (along with associated widgets and Focus mode).