How to Put Reminders on iPhone Lock Screen (So They Stay)

There are only two ways to keep a reminder visible on an iPhone lock screen: a widget that reads from Apple's Reminders app, or text that is part of the wallpaper. Notifications are what most people try first, and they are the reason most people end up searching for this, because a notification is built to be dealt with and cleared. This guide covers all three, using Apple's own setting paths, and says honestly where each one falls short. If it's notes rather than reminders you want in view, the same routes are covered in putting notes on your iPhone lock screen.

Disclosure: NoteWall is our app. It appears below as one of three options, and the comparison table says plainly when you don't need it.

Yes. Since iOS 16 the iPhone Lock Screen accepts widgets, and Apple's Reminders app offers one, so your reminders can sit under the clock without unlocking the phone. Without that widget, reminders show up on the lock screen only as notifications when they are due. A reminder with no alert set (no date, time or location) never appears there on its own, which is why an undated to-do is so easy to forget.

So the real question is which kind of visibility you need. A reminder tied to a time ("call the dentist at 3") is well served by a notification. A reminder that matters all day ("pick up the prescription") needs to be on the screen every time you pick up the phone, and that means a widget or the wallpaper.

The built-in way is the Reminders widget, added from the Lock Screen editor. It costs nothing, updates by itself whenever you tick something off or add an item in the Reminders app, and works on any iPhone that runs iOS 16 or later. Apple's support article How to add and edit widgets on your iPhone gives these steps:

Source: Apple Support, How to add and edit widgets on your iPhone (steps for iOS 16 or later, lightly condensed). Apple's iPhone User Guide page Create a custom iPhone Lock Screen covers the last step people miss: when you tap Add or Done on a new Lock Screen, iOS asks whether to Set as Wallpaper Pair or Customize Home Screen.

Open the Lock Screen editor and tap the widget. Apple's Lock Screen guide says to tap your existing widgets to change them, and its widget article notes that "some widgets offer different configurations": for Reminders, that is the list the widget shows. So touch and hold the Lock Screen, tap Customize, tap the Reminders widget, and pick the list. Answers in Apple's Community forums add a detail that trips people up: if the widget shows several reminders, a whole list is selected, and one reply says the Today view has to be chosen while you are adding the widget. If you can't find the option, look for it as you add the widget again.

Lock Screen widgets are small on purpose. Apple pitches them for glanceable details such as the temperature, battery level or the next calendar event, not for a full to-do list. Threads in Apple's Community forums describe the Reminders widget showing only the first couple of entries, with the rest a tap away in the app, and ask how to limit it to today's items. The practical fix is a shorter list rather than a bigger widget, which leads to the next section.

iOS has no button to pin a single reminder to the Lock Screen. A reminder stays visible there in only two ways: it sits at the top of the list the Reminders widget is showing, or it is part of the wallpaper image. Notifications don't count: they leave the Lock Screen once you open or clear them, and the ones you have already seen get tucked into Notification Center.

Because notifications are designed to be handled and then get out of the way. Apple's guide View and respond to notifications on iPhone describes swiping them away, clearing a whole group, or muting an app for an hour or a day, which sends its notifications straight to Notification Center so they never reach the Lock Screen. Swipe up from the middle of the Lock Screen and older notifications are still there in Notification Center; they just no longer greet you.

Two settings make reminder notifications easier to miss, and both are worth checking. In Settings > Notifications, the Lock Screen display can be set to Count, which shows only a number; List or Stack shows the reminders themselves (you can also pinch the notifications on the Lock Screen to switch layout). In Settings > Notifications > Reminders, under Alerts, make sure Lock Screen is selected. Both paths come from Apple's iPhone User Guide page Change notification settings on iPhone. Even set up perfectly, a notification only appears when the reminder is due, so it can't keep an all-day reminder in view.

A notification is an event: it arrives when the reminder is due and leaves when you deal with it. A widget is a small live window into one Reminders list: always there, but limited to a few lines. A wallpaper note is part of the picture: always there and as large as you make it, but it only changes when the wallpaper is rebuilt. Most people end up combining two of them.

The wallpaper method writes the reminder into the image, so there is nothing to dismiss and no widget list to configure. It suits short, high-stakes reminders that stay relevant for a day or a week. You can do it by hand with nothing but your iPhone, or let an app rebuild the wallpaper whenever the text changes.

It works and costs nothing, but every change means a new screenshot and a new wallpaper, and the text can end up under the clock or the widgets. A design app such as Canva gives you more control over layout, at the price of even more steps per update.

NoteWall automates the wallpaper method. You type your notes and reminders in the app, and it generates the wallpaper; an Apple Shortcut called Set NoteWall Wallpaper then applies it, because, as the app's FAQ explains, iOS doesn't let apps change your wallpaper directly. After an edit, the Update Wallpaper button runs the Shortcut again; the FAQ puts that at about 5 seconds and the first setup at about 2 minutes. You type the reminders into NoteWall itself; its App Store listing doesn't describe importing lists from Apple's Reminders app. Beyond the wallpaper it has its own reminders, habits and streaks.

Two honest caveats. The Shortcut step is where many people get stuck; if the wallpaper doesn't change, the guide to a Shortcut not changing the lock screen wallpaper walks through the usual causes. And a wallpaper is the wrong tool for time-based alerts: a reminder that has to go off at 3 pm still belongs in Apple's Reminders app with a notification. On the App Store (listing checked October 15, 2026) it appears as Lock Screen Notes: NoteWall, subtitled "text & reminders on wallpaper", from developer Karol Billik, version 2.4.1 updated October 6, 2026, rated 4.4 from 109 ratings.

Match the method to how the reminder fails you. If you forget things that happen at a time, keep using notifications and switch the Lock Screen display to List. If you have a short list you actually look at, add the Reminders widget and point it at a dedicated list. If two to four things must be impossible to miss all day, put them in the wallpaper: by hand if they change once a week, with NoteWall if they change daily and you'd rather not redo a screenshot each time.

Keep Reading: How to show reminders on the lock screen without notifications · Lock Screen widgets vs wallpaper notes

For the bigger picture, visit the Lock Screen Productivity Guide.