There’s no doubting the biggest change in iOS 16 — Apple allows you to customize your phone’s lock screen, even adding the ability to place widgets on the screen you see before you unlock your phone.
It’s quite a departure from previous versions of iOS, which enforced a somewhat standardized approach to the lock screen. In iOS 15, you can select your own background, whether it’s an Apple-provided photo or one of your own, but that’s just how much customization is allowed.
You can still change wallpapers in iOS 16, although your options are expanded further in this new version of Apple’s software. In addition, you can adjust fonts, colors, apply filters to backgrounds, and add those widgets mentioned above above and below the clock screen on the lock screen. Oh, and you can actually create multiple lock screens that you can switch to at will.
It’s probably an amazing array of options. Although only up to a point – Apple does maintain some restrictions on how many gadgets you can add and where you can put them.
To help you get started, here’s a look at what you can change on the iOS 16 lock screen based on Apple’s iOS 16 lock screen preview and what people who’ve downloaded the iOS 16 developer beta have to say about the new feature. This way, you can be ready to customize your iOS 16 lock screen, whether you download the public beta in July or the full iOS 16 release when it arrives later this fall.
iOS 16 Lock Screen: Wallpapers
The current lock screen wallpaper selections in iOS 15 are grouped into dynamic, static, and live categories. iOS 16 instantly expands these selections to include different combinations and colors. There’s also an emoji category, which turns your lock screen into a swirl of different icons as well as weather and astronomy options that display real-time conditions.
No matter what category and background you choose, you have a selection of different views. Choose an emoji background with tennis balls, for example, and you can decide to place them in different grid patterns, spirals or rings. Astronomy wallpaper will allow you to focus on the earth, the moon or your current position in the solar system.
If you prefer pictures, you can still select them. In fact, iOS 16 will use internal intelligence to suggest photos stored on your camera that are well suited to act as wallpapers on your lock screen. You are given the option to apply different filters – natural and black and white seem to be the most popular – and you can switch between selections showing people and nature scenes. If the iOS 16 suggestions don’t bother you, you can always sort the entire list of photos.
Can’t decide between pictures for your wallpaper? Photo Shuffle will rotate between photos, either at the frequency of your setting or at random intervals.
If you’ve seen typical wallpapers from Apple on file iOS 16 preview page (Opens in a new tab)On the iOS 16 lock screen, you may notice that some photos cover the display of the clock. This feature is called multi-layer photo effect, which is another way to put your own stamp on the background image. iOS 16 seems to automatically pick out the photos and wallpapers that look best with multi-layered effects, so don’t expect to be able to manipulate this aspect of the lock screen.
iOS 16 Lock Screen: Patterns
The clock screen remains the mainstay of the iOS 16 lock screen, only in iOS 16 you can put a little of your own stamp on it. Specifically, you can change the font and the color in which the clock appears.
In terms of font, you have six different options to choose from. The color gives you a virtual rainbow of options with a slider that lets you adjust the gradient and opacity so that the clock is legible against the background wallpaper.
Widgets are one of the notable additions to the iOS 16 lock screen, largely because you couldn’t add them before (You could only add widgets to your iPhone home screen starting with iOS 14 two years ago.) In iOS 16, There are two places to deposit gadgets – just above the clock and just below the clock.
There is space for one additional widget above the clock, where it fits the day and date. We’re talking about a very small widget here like the current temperature, current reminders, or upcoming events, among other options.
It’s less than an hour where you get a little more flexibility, as iOS 16 offers tools both small and large. There is enough space for four small tools or two large ones. You can also mix and match sizes.
The widgets under the watch are a little more detailed, with activity loops from the new activity tracker in the Health app and current alerts from Clock joining other popular widgets like weather conditions, upcoming calendar appointments, and battery information for your phone or Apple watch. In one of my favorite iOS 16 hidden features, you can also add widgets from the Home app that let you control your smart home devices.
At this point in the beta process, all available gadgets include built-in iPhone apps. But Apple is giving developers the tools to create their own lock screen widgets, with the idea of expanding the number of widgets available once iOS 16 ships in the fall.
One tool you won’t see now is something Apple previewed at WWDC. Live Widgets provide constant updates, replacing that constant stream of notifications that are used to cluttering your lock screen. Think about the live scores of a sports event or the status of an Uber/Lyft you’ve requested – these kinds of things will appear in a widget at the bottom of the lock screen that updates automatically as the status changes. Once again, app makers are given a tool by Apple that allows them to create Live Widgets when required.
iOS 16 Lock Screen: Multiple Wallpapers
You don’t have to settle for just one lock screen in iOS 16. You can set up multiple options, switch between them by tapping on the lock screen and sorting through the circle of different lock screens you’ve created. There is also a plus button to create a new lock screen on the go.
This feature is more than just letting people change their wallpaper on a whim. You can also associate specific wallpapers with different focus modes — an iOS feature that lets you eliminate external distractions to focus on the tasks you do and the apps that let you complete them. For example, you can load a single lock screen with widgets and wallpaper associated with your work; This way, when you enable your work focus, it displays widgets that are relevant to what you’re waking up to.
iOS 16 Lock Screen: Outlook
We’ll know more details, including the ins and outs of setting up a custom lock screen once the iOS 16 public beta arrives in July, and we’ll have a chance to follow the process ourselves. Until then, these numbers will be the first iOS 16 feature most people check when they download the software.
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