Change your iPhone wallpaper

You can choose a suggested wallpaper or one of your own photos for your Lock Screen and Home Screen wallpapers. You can also add widgets or customize controls for your Lock Screen.

Add a new wallpaper for your Lock Screen or Home Screen

  1. In the Settings app, tap Wallpaper.

  2. Tap Add New Wallpaper.

  3. Tap Photos, People, Photo Shuffle, or Live Photo to choose your own photo. You can also select a wallpaper from categories like Weather & Astronomy, Emoji, or Color.

  4. If you want, you can customize your wallpaper further. Then tap Add.

  5. Tap Set as Wallpaper Pair and your selection will be seen on both the Home Screen and Lock Screen. Tap Customize Home Screen to create a separate Home Screen wallpaper that you can edit.

Delete a wallpaper on your iPhone in iOS 16 or later

Change your wallpaper from the Lock Screen

  1. On the Lock Screen, touch and hold your Lock Screen to open your wallpaper gallery.

  2. To select a wallpaper you already created, swipe left and right. To add a new wallpaper, tap the Add buttonNo alt supplied for Image.

    When you view your wallpaper options, you can link a wallpaper with a specific Focus setting.

From the Lock Screen wallpaper options, you can also tap the Focus button to link a Focus to a specific wallpaper, customize existing wallpapers, or swipe up on a wallpaper and tap the trash icon to delete it.

If you can't log in to your wallpaper gallery with Face ID, touch and hold the Lock Screen again, then enter your passcode.

Customize a Lock Screen wallpaper with filters, widgets, styles, and controls

  1. In the Settings app, tap Wallpaper.

  2. Within the preview of your Lock Screen, tap Customize.

  3. Tap the boxes to add favorite widgets and choose a font for the time. Swipe to try different options for your wallpaper image. Tap on the icons to choose a different photo, turn Live Photo motion on or off, or to change the available Lock Screen controls in iOS 18.

    In iOS 18, you can change what controls appear on your Lock Screen when you customize your wallpaper.
  4. Tap Done to save your customizations.

  • To choose a font and text color, tap the time.

  • To add or remove widgets — like Calendar, Clock, Weather, Fitness, or Reminders — tap the boxes above or below the time.

  • To try different photo styles — like Black & White — swipe left or right. Tap the More button for additional photo wallpaper options, like Depth Effect that enables layering with the subject of your photo.*

  • To crop and move your photo, pinch and drag your photo.

  • To choose controls for the Lock Screen with iOS 18, tap the minus button on your current controls. Then, tap the plus button to reveal and select different controls. Controls let you turn on features like Flashlight or Camera or quickly take actions like Ping My Watch or Quick Note.

  • To select wallpaper options, tap the Depth Effect button to turn that feature on or off. Tap the Dark Mode button to change your wallpaper's appearance between Light, Dark, or Automatic.

Lock Screen wallpaper customization is available in iOS 16 and later.

Set a Live Photo as your Lock Screen wallpaper in iOS 17 and later

* You can't use Depth Effect on wallpapers with widgets.

Rotate multiple photos as your Lock Screen wallpaper

  1. In the Settings app, tap Wallpaper.

  2. Tap Add New Wallpaper.

  3. Select Photo Shuffle from the top row of options.

  4. On the Photo Shuffle screen, set a frequency (On Tap, On Lock, Hourly, or Daily). Then choose a set of photos that will shuffle as you use your iPhone throughout the day.

  5. Tap Done.

    You can set a Photo Shuffle as your iPhone Lock Screen if you'd like multiple photos to rotate after some amount of time.
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