The Lock Screen in iOS 16 has been completely reimagined by Apple and will increase your ability to view information quickly right from the moment you pick up your device. Not only can you customize your Lock Screen with widgets and change the color or fonts like on watchOS watch faces, but you can also create more than one Lock Screen, allowing you to swap between Lock Screens for work, home, vacation or anything in between.
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Let’s look at how to customize a Lock Screen in iOS 16, and how to create multiple Lock Screens and assign them to Focus modes so they can change automatically depending on which Focus you’ve selected.
How to customize your Lock Screen
Customizing the Lock Screen in iOS 16 allows you not only to choose the background of your choice, but also to customize the font, color and widgets that are on the Lock Screen as well. To begin customizing the Lock Screen, follow these steps:
Figure A
- Lock your device to go to the Lock Screen, then tap and hold on the screen to show the Lock Screen picker (Figure A).
- Select Customize at the bottom of the first Lock Screen.
- Select a new wallpaper from the gallery that includes both Apple-selected images and iOS 16 picked images from your Photo Library.
- Tap on the text to customize the colors and fonts, or tap on the + button in the widget area to add a widget from the widget picker (Figure B).
- Tap Done when you’re done customizing the colors, background and widgets.
Once you’ve done this, your new customized Lock Screen will be used on your device.
Figure B
How to create additional Lock Screens
Using the same method as above, multiple Lock Screens can be created. Swipe left or right in the Lock Screen gallery after long-pressing on the Lock Screen to view all of your created Lock Screens, or press the + button to create a brand new Lock Screen.
Single tap on any Lock Screen in the picker to activate it as your current Lock Screen manually, or set up your Lock Screens using Focus modes in the section below.
How to assign Lock Screens to Focus modes
Multiple Lock Screens are a great way to easily switch between various times of day, such as work, home or vacation mode, so that you only see the details you need.
To assign a Lock Screen to a Focus Mode:
- Open the Settings app.
- Navigate to Focus.
- Select the Focus mode you’d like to assign a Lock Screen to.
- Select Choose under “Customize Screens” for the Lock Screen option (Figure C).
- Select the Lock Screen to use, then tap Done.
Whenever you activate this Focus mode on your device, then the Lock Screen will automatically change to reflect the selected Lock Screen in these preferences.
Figure C
Note these tips in this article relate to iOS 16, currently in beta. iOS 16 will be released to the public as a beta in July 2022, and in final product form in Fall 2022.