iPhone Lock Screen Customization Tips: 8 Worth Setting Up

Apple's own guide sums up what the Lock Screen editor is for: "choosing a wallpaper, showcasing a favorite photo, changing the font of the time, adding widgets, and more." The useful part is the "more": several Lock Screens, each with its own widgets and its own Focus, so the phone you pick up at 9 a.m. can show different things from the phone you pick up at 9 p.m.

Everything here comes from Apple's Create a custom iPhone Lock Screen page and its notification settings page, read on October 20, 2026 (the guide's current edition). Menu names shift a little between iOS versions; check yours in Settings > General > About.

Every Lock Screen change starts from the same editor, not from Settings. Wake the iPhone, touch and hold the Lock Screen, and either tap Customize on the screen you want to change or tap the add button to create a new one. These are Apple's steps:

Apple lets you create more than one Lock Screen and switch between them: touch and hold the Lock Screen, swipe to the one you want, and tap it. A second screen is the safe way to experiment, and it is the basis of the Focus tip below. A simple split is a busy personal screen and a plain work screen with only the widgets you act on.

In the current guide, you drag the clock's bottom right corner to make it taller, then tap the time to change the font, switch to a more transparent look and more. Some options depend on the wallpaper you chose. A slimmer, smaller clock leaves more of the wallpaper visible, which matters if the wallpaper itself carries information.

Tap your existing widgets or Add Widgets to change them. The list only shows apps that offer a Lock Screen widget, so what you see depends on what you have installed. Pick widgets that answer a question you would otherwise unlock the phone for: the next calendar event, today's reminders, the weather before you leave.

Remember that widgets are public. Whatever a widget shows, such as a calendar title or the text of a reminder, is readable by anyone who glances at your phone while it is locked. Keep sensitive lists in an app, not on the Lock Screen.

Since iOS 18, the flashlight and camera buttons at the bottom of the Lock Screen are replaceable. In the editor, tap one of the controls, tap the remove button, then add another from the controls gallery. Apple's iOS 18 announcement gave Timer and Calculator as examples, and the gallery also includes controls from apps you install. Choose the two things you reach for most often.

Linking a Focus means the Focus settings apply whenever that Lock Screen is in use, and in Apple's words "that Lock Screen appears whenever that Focus is on." Set up the Focus first in Settings > Focus. Then touch and hold the Lock Screen, tap Focus near the bottom of the wallpaper, and pick one such as Work or Sleep.

With a photo wallpaper, Apple documents a multilayered Depth Effect for photos that support it, a Live Photo that plays when the iPhone wakes, color filters you swipe through, and Photo Shuffle with a shuffle frequency you set. They look good, but a busy or moving photo competes with your clock and widgets. If you set the wallpaper with an Apple Shortcut, Photo Shuffle, Weather and Astronomy wallpapers are worth ruling out when the Shortcut seems to do nothing; our guide to a Shortcut that won't change the Lock Screen wallpaper covers that and five other causes.

Apple's notification settings page gives two controls worth setting once. In Settings > Notifications, tap Show Previews to choose whether message text shows on the Lock Screen; Apple notes that previews can include text from Messages and Mail and invitation details from Calendar, and you can override the setting per app. Under the display options, choose Count, Stack or List; you can also pinch notifications on the Lock Screen to change the layout.

If alerts bury your Lock Screen, turn on Scheduled Summary in the same place (Settings > Notifications > Scheduled Summary) and pick the apps whose notifications can wait for a set time. Our lock screen productivity tips walk through that setup.

iOS gives you widgets, but no editor for writing your own text onto the wallpaper itself. If you want a line such as "Call the bank before Friday" in large type every time the screen lights up, you can make an image with that text and set it as the wallpaper, or use an app that does it for you.

NoteWall is our app for that second route. It turns the notes you type into a wallpaper and applies it through an Apple Shortcut called Set NoteWall Wallpaper; during setup it asks whether you use Lock Screen widgets, so your notes don't land underneath them. The Shortcut step takes some patience the first time, and a subscription is required. Our guide to keeping a note on your iPhone Lock Screen covers both routes.

Can I have more than one Lock Screen on iPhone? Yes. Apple's guide says you can create several custom Lock Screens and switch between them during the day by touching and holding the Lock Screen and swiping. Each one can have its own wallpaper, clock style, widgets and linked Focus.

Which iOS version do I need to change the flashlight and camera buttons? iOS 18 or later. Earlier versions let you customize the wallpaper, clock and widgets but not the two bottom controls.

Can I hide notification text on the Lock Screen? Yes. Go to Settings > Notifications > Show Previews and choose a setting other than always; you can still change it for individual apps.

Can I write my own text on the iPhone Lock Screen? Not with a built-in iOS setting. Make an image with your text and set it as the wallpaper, or use a wallpaper app such as NoteWall, which needs a subscription and an Apple Shortcut.

Keep Reading: iOS 18 Lock Screen Features: What Changed · Lock Screen Productivity Guide