Phones have become like extensions of ourselves. Our phone cases can match our mood or our outfit. Our apps are as organized as our homes (or sometimes more organized), and many of us spend a long time choosing the perfect photo for our background.
Apple’s iOS16 update addresses our background needs by taking lock screen customization even further, expanding the number of lock screen backgrounds you can have and their appearance.
How to customize the lock screen
To customize your lock screen:
- Unlock your phone but don’t open it
- Loud press in the background
- Tap the plus sign
- Choose between suggested backgrounds or choose your own
Try zooming in on the background image if it has a person or a pet. When you reach a certain point, the top of the image appears in front of the clock.
Only so much of the clock can be blocked, so the image will fall behind the clock again if you zoom in too much. This depth mode feature is only available on iPhone SE or later.
Swiping left and right on your background photo will flip through the different photo styles you can add to your photo.
Tapping on the clock lets you change the font face and color.
You can also add widgets above and below the clock that display the weather, reminders, alarms and more.
When you’re satisfied with your new lock screen, tap “add” in the top right corner.
Change backgrounds
You can create many customized lock screens to suit many moods, seasons or needs.
Apple hasn’t specified how many lock screens the phone allows, but a Reddit user claims the limit is 200.
To switch between lock screens:
- Unlock your phone but don’t open it
- Loud press in the background
- Swipe between options
- Tap what you want
If you want to delete the lock screen, long press the locked background and find the background you want to delete. Then, swipe up and tap the trash can icon.
Change lock screens automatically
Custom backgrounds can be connected to focus modes and automatically change when the focus mode is turned on.
To connect the background to focus mode:
- Unlock your phone but don’t open it
- Loud press in the background
- Find the background you want to use
- Tap “focus” near the bottom of the custom background
- Choose which focus mode you want to connect it to
You can also customize focus modes and create new ones that best suit your needs.