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With the release of iOS 16, Apple has undertaken a complete redesigning of the Lock Screen, now offering tons of options for you to personalize it as per your choice. Emojis, photographs, and pre-installed backgrounds are all options, along with widget selection and color customization. This iOS 16 Lock Screen guide covers every update Apple is making to the iPhone’s Operating System.
Customizing or Editing the Lock Screen
Editing a Lock Screen in iOS 16 is largely the same if you are familiar with the widget and home screen editing interfaces. If you unlock your iPhone using Face ID or Touch ID, swipe downward if you are not already on the Lock Screen, and then long press the screen to access all the controls.
From there, you can easily tap the ‘+’ button in order to add a new and unique lock screen, or you can access the ‘Customize’ option so as to change the Lock Screen that is already there. As we will cover below, you can select from a variety of backgrounds, colors, and widgets.
If you already have several Lock Screens built and wish to alter one of them, you may also swipe through your Lock Screens. After finishing all of your adjustments, simply swipe up or tap to leave and return to your newly customized Lock Screen.
Wallpaper
In iOS 15, your available live, static, and dynamic lock screen wallpaper options are categorized. With iOS 16, those options are automatically expanded to include other collections and colors. You can switch it to another picture from Apple’s portfolio, one of a few motion wallpapers, or even a Live Photo that animates when you long-press it.
Read More: iOS 16.1: Dynamic Island Brings Live Sports Scores to iPhone 14 Pro
When modifying an existing Lock Screen or creating a new one, tap the ‘+’ button to access the wallpaper interface, from where you may select the wallpaper you wish to use. Following are the available alternatives for the same:
- Photos: Uses a single picture from your photo library as the wallpaper.
- People: Uses a picture of a particular individual as your wallpaper.
- Photo Shuffle: Automatically alternates between images of specific people, animals, locations, or objects at a set frequency. Additionally, you have the option to manually pick a few images to cycle through. To adjust the shuffle frequency after selecting, hit the ‘…’ symbol.
- Emoji: To create a lock screen pattern, type any combination of emojis into the keyboard. After selecting some emoji, swipe to the right to change patterns, and then hit the ‘…’ to select a backdrop color.
- Weather: Displays a moving wallpaper that depicts the current weather.
- Astronomy: Displays a globe that’s dynamic, with images of the earth and even an up close view of your specific location on it (along with live and precise cloud data, and cent percent accurate sunlight), the moon or a close-up of it (with an accurate moon phase), or the entire solar system.
- Color: The background color you choose will produce a soft gradient effect in six different forms.
- Collections: Allows you to choose from a collection of wallpapers created by Apple for your Lock Screen called ‘Collections’. Each wallpaper produced by Apple has a distinct aesthetic, specifically built for the iOS 16 Lock Screen, connecting with the time in interesting ways.
Customize Your Time
Time is the first element you will want to customize once you have picked a style. It takes up the most space on your Lock Screen, and you are provided with a lot of customization possibilities for the same.
The Font & Color picker will appear when you tap the time. There are more than a dozen colors available, six different font styles, and a full-color wheel that allows you to select any hue. Tap the globe to switch to Arabic Indic or Devanagari if you do not use Arabic numerals.
Lock Screen Focus Mode
Accordingly, you can set up a dark wallpaper without any widgets for Sleep mode and a more vibrant wallpaper with reminders and calendar events for Work mode in iOS 16.
Each Focus mode can have its own lock screen. Simply long-press your lock screen to bring up the Focus mode selection menu. From there, pick the desired mode by tapping the ‘Focus’ button at the bottom of the screen. Under iOS Settings > Focus, you can configure any Focus modes that you already haven’t.
Add Widgets
Both, the rectangular ‘shelf’ located below the clock and the line with the date located above the clock, are viable spots for widget addition; you simply need to press one of them.
The region above the clock is quite constrained in terms of both space and possibilities. They are more akin to informational bites, such as a percentage and umbrella indicating the likelihood of precipitation for the day.
Widgets You Can Add Above Time: On the Lock Screen, you can add a widget above the digital clock to the right of the date, and many of these widgets show a single data point, next to the date, alongside text and symbols. Below is a list of Apple’s pre-built widget possibilities.
- Calendar
- Clock
- Fitness
- Reminder
- Stock
- Weather
Widgets You Can Add Below Time: A wider variety of widget alternatives with the ability to display more information are available in the widget box below the time.
- Batteries
- Calendar
- Clock
- Fitness
- Home
- News
- Reminder
- Stock
- Weather
Multiple Lock Screens
The Watch Faces on the Apple Watch are very similar to the Lock Screens in iOS 16. You may arrange a number of them and quickly switch between them with a swipe. iOS 16 has several lock screens. After unlocking, simply long press the screen to access the interface for customizing the lock screen. Swipe left or right to navigate through the various lock screens you have created.
Notification Settings
Changing the way notifications are displayed, is the final adjustment you can make to the iOS 16 lock screen. You have a few choices if you go to Settings > Notifications > Display As:
- Stack: The default display mode, which layers fresh notifications from numerous applications.
- List: More like iOS 15, this displays fresh alerts in a list that does not overlap.
- Count: With no additional information, this merely displays the total number of missed alerts.
For each of the three scenarios, swiping up will display the complete list of alerts, which appear at the bottom of the screen.
Click Here to know how to delete an existing Lock Screen to add a new one!
Frequently Asked Questions
Are iPhone lock screen widgets interactive?
No. iPhone’s lock screen widgets are not interactive; touching any one of them launches the associated app.
Does Your iPhone Lock Screen Support Third-Party Widgets?
Yes, iPhones support third-party widgets. In order to enable developers to make lock screen widgets for their apps, Apple has provided the WidgetKit API. As a result, you will soon have a huge selection of lock screen widgets to pick from.
How to delete a customized lock screen?
Additionally, on iOS 16, you can remove your personalized lock screens. Simply hold down the lock screen for a long time and then tap on the ‘Delete Wallpaper’ button located at the bottom of the screen.
Bottom Line
The inability to add widgets was one drawback in all iPhone models. However, widgets may now be added to your lock screen and the wallpaper can be changed. Moreover, you may now create and customize your lock screen with enhanced ease.