How to Change the iPhone Lock Screen

How do you change your lock screen wallpaper on the iPhone? We’ll show you how to customize your lock screen to show a picture you want, and how to limit access to information on your lock screen.

You can set a lock screen wallpaper that is different from your home screen, and you can also turn off the small motion on the lock screen if it bothers you. We’ll also walk you through all the ways you can customize the iPhone lock screen.

The iPhone lock screen is basic, but it does allow you to set a custom photo as the background, check notifications, launch a flashlight or a camera and open the Notification center.

This works on any iPhone running iOS 8, iOS 9, iOS 10 and iOS 11, which includes devices as old as the iPhone 4 up to the iPhone X.

How to Change the iPhone Lock Screen

Apple bundles in a number of wallpaper options for your lock screen, but you can also use your own photo.

Unlike the home screen that covers up most of the photo, you can use the lock screen to show off a photo of your pets, kids or favorite vacation. It’s a great place to put a calming or happy photo, especially since you will likely see it 100 times a day.

You can change your iPhone lock screen in less than a minute once you know where to look. Here’s where to tap on your iPhone.

Go to Settings -> Wallpaper -> Choose New Wallpaper to get to a photo library where you can pick the iPhone lock screen.

You can tap on Dynamic to choose from seven options from Apple that include moving backgrounds or on Stills to choose from over two dozen built-in high-resolution photos that you can make your iPhone lock screen.

You can also check out the Live Photos that animate when you 3D Touch them.

If you want to use your own photo as the iPhone lock screen you can tap on All Photos or another album lower in the menus.

Wherever you go, you will need to find the photo you want to use as your iPhone lock screen and then tap on it. If it is your own photo you can move and scale it to fit. Move the photo with one finger on your screen and use pinch to zoom in or out.

Choose Live Photo, Perspective or Still. Perspective shows some motion as you move the iPhone. Still is a normal photo and with Live Photo you can 3D Touch to show motion.

Tap Set. Next tap on Set Lock Screen. This allows you to only change the iPhone lock screen.

Many users prefer a pattern or simple color for the iPhone home screen so that it is easier to see the app icons and names, but a photo on the lock screen.

How to Change iPhone Auto-Lock Time

If the iPhone locks too fast for you, it’s easy to change the iPhone lock time so that you don’t need to re-enter your passcode or use Touch ID or Face ID to unlock it.

1. Go to Settings
2. Display & Brightness
3. Tap on Auto Lock
4. Tap on the time you want up to 5-minutes or Never.

After you pick your time, tap on Display & Brightness in the upper left corner to go back to settings and save your time.

How to Change iPhone Lock Screen Shortcuts

The iPhone lock screen also includes fast access to the Control Center. This lets you quickly launch apps like the flashlight, calculator and clock, control music playback, change iPhone settings and more. This should be on by default, but some users may have turned it off to prevent someone from changing iPhone settings.

Go to Settings -> Face ID (or Touch ID) & Passcode -> enter your passcode -> Scroll to Allow Access When Locked -> Turn Control Center to Off. This will turn the Control Center off, but you can also turn it on if it is not already on.

You can edit the Control Center shortcuts to customize the Control Center on iOS 11 and up.

There is no way to easily disable the camera shortcut on the iPhone lock screen without also disabling the camera completely.

How to Change iPhone Lock Screen Widgets

There is no way support for iPhone lock screen widgets like Google offers on Android, but if you use the Notification Center widgets you can still use widgets when the iPhone is locked.

When the iPhone is locked swipe from the left edge of your screen to see your Today screen. Here you will see various widgets and at the bottom of this screen an edit option to change the widgets.

Many apps include widgets that you can install on your iPhone or iPad as part of customizing your access to information. On iOS 10 and iOS 11 the lock screen includes a swipe right to use lock screen widgets.

How to Turn Off Notifications on the Lock Screen

You can turn off Notifications on the lock screen if you don’t want people to be able to see your notifications. On the iPhone X, there is a new setting that won’t show the content until it verifies you are looking at the iPhone using Face ID, but for other iPhones this can keep your information secure.

1. Open Settings.
2. Tap on Notifications.
3. Tap on the app or notification you want to keep off the lock screen.
4. Switch the option to off.

You will need to do this for each of the apps that you don’t want to show on your lock screen.

How to Turn Off Recent Notifications on Lock Screen

You can also turn off Recent Notifications on the lock screen on iOS 11 and higher. To do this,

1. Go to Settings.
2. Tap on Touch ID & Passcode
3. Enter your Passcode
4. Scroll to Allow Access When Locked
5. Set Recent Notifications to Off.

This will stop you from seeing recent notifications on the Lock Screen. Turn it back on to see them again.

How to Turn Off Today View on the Lock Screen

If you don’t want to see the Today view with widgets and calendar information on the lock screen you can turn it off.

1. Go to Settings.
2. Tap on Touch ID & Passcode
3. Enter your Passcode
4. Scroll to Allow Access When Locked
5. Set Today View to Off.

Reverse these steps to turn Today View on the Lock Screen back on.

How to Turn Off Siri on the Lock Screen

You can disable Siri form the Lock Screen if you don’t want someone to be able to use Siri features when your iPhone is locked.

1. Go to Settings.
2. Tap on Touch ID & Passcode
3. Enter your Passcode
4. Scroll to Allow Access When Locked
5. Set Siri to Off.

This will also prevent you from using Siri with your iPhone locked. You can flip the toggle to on to reverse this.

How to Turn Off Reply with Message from the Lock Screen

You can turn off the ability to reply with a message from the lock screen if you don’t want anyone to be able to reply to a message when the iPhone is locked.

1. Go to Settings.
2. Tap on Touch ID & Passcode
3. Enter your Passcode
4. Scroll to Allow Access When Locked
5. Set Reply with Message to Off.

Switch the toggle back to on, to allow this feature.

How to Turn Off Return Missed Calls from the Lock Screen

By default someone can return a missed call on your iPhone without unlocking it. You can disable that if you want to lock down the phone more.

1. Go to Settings.
2. Tap on Touch ID & Passcode
3. Enter your Passcode
4. Scroll to Allow Access When Locked
5. Set Return Missed Calls to Off.

Reverse this in the settings to enable this feature.

How to Turn Off Smart Home Control from Lock Screen

You can control your smart home devices from the lock screen if they are part of the Home app on your iPhone. If you don’t like that level of security, you can turn it off.

1. Go to Settings.
2. Tap on Touch ID & Passcode
3. Enter your Passcode
4. Scroll to Allow Access When Locked
5. Set Home Control to Off.

Go back into the settings and turn it to On, if you want to enable this feature later.

iOS 12.4.1 Features and Fixes

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The iOS 12.4.1 update focuses on security fixes for a major bug that Apple fixed once before, but that is back in iOS 12.4. This security issue would allow an app to essentially gain full control over your phone.  Available for: iPhone 5s and later, iPad Air and later, and iPod touch 6th generation Impact: A malicious application may be able to execute arbitrary code with system privileges Description: A use after free issue was addressed with improved memory management This is what allows people to jailbreak iOS 12.4, which is a plus for some users, but most users will want the security that comes from iOS 12.4.1.

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