How to Edit Your iPhone Lock Screen

To edit your iPhone lock screen, long-press the lock screen for 1 second until it zooms out, tap Customize below your active wallpaper, make your changes, then tap Done. Requires iOS 16 or later — iPhones on iOS 15 or older use a different path through Settings → Wallpaper.

How to Enter Lock Screen Edit Mode

Long-pressing the lock screen is the fastest way in. If Face ID unlocks before you can long-press, authenticate normally, then go to Settings → Wallpaper → tap your lock screen preview → Customize. Both paths open the same editor.

The editor has 3 interactive zones:

The wallpaper image itself (tap to change photo)
The clock (tap to change font and color)
The widget row above the clock and the widget bar below it

Nothing else on the lock screen is repositionable — Apple fixes the layout. The date always sits above the clock; notifications always appear below the widget bar.

Now that you're in the editor, the biggest upgrade is the wallpaper itself. Skip hunting for a Live Photo — Lockimate turns any still in your camera roll into one in about 30 seconds.

Make my wallpaper move

Changing the Wallpaper

Tap the wallpaper photo in the editor. The wallpaper picker opens with these categories across the top:

Photos — your camera roll, including Live Photos
People — faces iOS has identified in your library
Photo Shuffle — rotates through a selection every hour, day, or on tap
Emoji — tiled emoji patterns
Weather — real-time animated weather scenes (requires location access)
Astronomy — Earth, Moon, and Solar System views
Color — solid and gradient backgrounds
Spatial Scenes (iOS 26+) — 3D depth-mapped scenes

For an animated lock screen, choose a Live Photo from your library. Make sure the Live toggle at the bottom of the preview turns yellow — that confirms animation is enabled. If you want to turn a still photo into a Live Photo, Lockimate generates one in about 30 seconds.

Editing the Clock

Tap the clock in the editor. A panel slides up with 2 controls:

Font — 6 options: SF Pro (default), Rounded, Serif, Monospaced, Condensed, and Stylized. iOS 17 added Arabic Indic and Devanagari numeral variants within each font style.

Color — A horizontal palette with preset colors. Slide left to see more. The rightmost swatch is a color picker (eyedropper icon) that lets you sample any color from your wallpaper. Opacity is not adjustable.

The clock size scales automatically; there is no manual size control.

Adding and Editing Widgets

The lock screen editor shows 2 widget areas:

Above-clock slot — accepts 1 circular (small) widget. Commonly used for time in a second time zone, next calendar event, or current temperature.

Below-clock bar — accepts up to 4 small circular widgets or up to 2 large rectangular widgets, or a mix. You cannot exceed 4 widget units total.

Tap either zone → the widget picker opens → browse by category or scroll the app list → tap a widget to add it. To remove a widget, tap the minus (−) badge on it in the editor.

See the full iPhone lock screen widgets guide for the complete app list and size breakdown.

Changing Notification Style

Notification style is not inside the lock screen editor — it lives in Settings → Notifications → Display As. Three options:

Style	Appearance	Best for
Count	Single badge with a number	Maximum wallpaper visibility
Stack	Fanned pile of notification cards	Quick scan of app sources
List	Expanded list (iOS 15 behavior)	Detailed previews at a glance

Changed notification style applies immediately across all lock screens in your gallery.

Managing Multiple Lock Screen Profiles

iOS 16 introduced the wallpaper gallery. Long-press the lock screen → swipe left/right to browse saved lock screens → tap one to preview it → tap the lock icon at the bottom to activate it. You can create a new one by swiping to the far right and tapping the + button.

Each lock screen can have its own wallpaper, widgets, clock style, and linked Focus mode. To link a Focus: long-press → tap the Focus label at the bottom of a lock screen card → choose a Focus. That lock screen activates automatically whenever that Focus is on.

Feature	Available since
Lock screen editor (long-press)	iOS 16
Clock font and color	iOS 16
Lock screen widgets	iOS 16
Wallpaper gallery + profiles	iOS 16
Spatial Scenes wallpapers	iOS 26
More numeral variants for clock	iOS 17

Editing a Live Photo Lock Screen

If your current wallpaper is a Live Photo, tapping the wallpaper area in the editor shows an additional Live toggle at the bottom of the preview. Toggling it off converts the lock screen to a still image from the Live Photo's key frame. Toggle it back on to restore animation.

You can also pinch-to-zoom and drag to reposition the Live Photo within the frame without leaving the editor — the change applies to the still preview but the full Live animation always plays at its original field of view.

Lockimate-generated Live Photos are standard Apple Live Photos and behave identically to those shot on iPhone's camera. The 4 animation vibes (Warm, Playful, Cinematic, Lively) are baked into the .mov at generation time; to change the vibe you generate a new wallpaper. For what changes in the latest release, see the iOS 26 lock screen guide.

FAQ

Why can't I edit my lock screen — there is no Customize button?

The Customize button requires iOS 16. Go to Settings → General → Software Update to check your iOS version. If you are on iOS 16+ and still see no button, Screen Time restrictions may be blocking wallpaper changes: Settings → Screen Time → Content & Privacy Restrictions → Allow Changes → Wallpaper → Allow.

Can I change the date format on the lock screen?

No. Apple does not expose date format customization in the lock screen editor. The date always displays as day-of-week + month + date (e.g., Tuesday, 17 June). Your iPhone's Region setting (Settings → General → Language & Region) controls the order of month and date elements.

How do I edit a lock screen I'm not currently using?

Long-press the lock screen → swipe to the wallpaper you want to edit in the gallery → tap Customize below it. You do not need to activate it first. Changes are saved to that profile and take effect the next time you switch to it.

Does editing the lock screen reset my widgets?

No. Editing the wallpaper, clock font, or clock color does not remove widgets. The only way to remove a widget during editing is to tap the − badge on it explicitly. Switching to a different lock screen profile does change widgets, since each profile stores its own widget configuration independently.

For next steps, see how to customize your lock screen, lock screen widgets, and iOS 26 wallpaper changes.