How to customize your iPhone’s lock screen on iOS 26

If you’re giving the iOS 26 beta a test run or just want to know how different it is, chances are you’re customizing your iPhone to your liking. (As a reminder, these iPhones can download the iOS 26 beta now, or you can wait until the initial version is released, likely in September.) That includes personalizing your lock screen, because let’s be honest, you probably look at it a lot. Don’t worry, I’m in the same boat. This week I’m already averaging 55 pickups per day — checking notifications and the time really adds up!

Since you have to see your lock screen to open your phone, you might as well make it as useful as possible — and potentially eliminate the need to actually unlock your phone. From adding helpful widgets (think: checking the weather) to swapping in your most-used apps as your quick control buttons, you can actually make your phone time more productive. It’s pretty simple to do on the latest operating system, so we’ll walk you through it.

Read on to see how you’ll customize your lock screen in iOS 26.

How different is the new iOS 26 lock screen

With Apple‘s upcoming OS, you’ve got several new options when it comes to changing the appearance of your lock screen. Apple mostly kept the structure the same as iOS 18, so the new changes aren’t hard to find.

Here’s what’s noticeably different: there’s more depth and a glassy finish to the bottom buttons, as opposed to iOS 18 where the icon background is grey. Speaking of glassy finish, when customizing the clock, there’s a new Glass option to give it the Liquid Glass aesthetic — the glass appearance can only be applied to the clock on the lock screen.

Additionally, when you swipe up to your Notification Center, you’ll notice that instead of the original grey background of your notifications, it’s now clear. The same goes for swiping down to the Control Center. That’s because the glass effect has been added here, too. If you don’t like how clear the background is, you can go to Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size and then toggle on Reduce Transparency. This will apply to your notifications and other drop-down screens.

Now, let’s get into personalizing your lock screen.

How to start customizing your iPhone’s lock screen

Just like the current iOS, you can change the appearance by pressing and holding the lock screen. Doing this will open the collections of lock screens you’ve created, where you can choose to customize the current screen or create a new one. For now, tap the Customize button.

Choose your wallpaper

First things first — and arguably the most fun part of this process — select a photo to set the tone on your iPhone. Whether that’s a personal photo of your child, significant other, a pet or one of the iPhone stock options is up to you. If you don’t want to use a personal photo, the live weather wallpaper is pretty cool — if it’s cloudy, your background will be cloudy; if it’s sunny, well, you get the idea. This option is under the Weather & Astronomy category when choosing a wallpaper — you may have to scroll down to see it but on my phone, it’s located under the Featured section.

Can’t decide on just one? You can set up a photo shuffle to rotate throughout the day.

And if you don’t want your wallpaper covered by the clock, you can turn on Depth Effect which layers the time behind the most important parts of your picture. For instance, my toddler’s head is displayed in front of the clock but it doesn’t interfere with seeing what time it is. To turn it on, just tap the three dots menu on the lower right and then select Depth Effect. Alternatively, do the same to turn it off.

Make your clock bigger and glassy

Here’s one that’s 100% new to iOS 26: you can make the clock even larger on your lock screen. That’s right, no more squinting to see what time it is. While in editing mode, tap on the lower right corner of the clock (you’ll see a little notch) and drag it down. At its largest, it takes up nearly half the screen.

Also new to the clock, as I mentioned earlier, is the ability to give it a glassy finish. Just tap on the time while editing and you’ll see the option at the bottom for Glass or Solid. In this setting, you can also change the font, boldness and color.

Change your Quick Controls

The choices here really aren’t much different from iOS 18 — you still have the option to swap out the quick controls at the bottom. If you haven’t changed them, you likely still have the flashlight and camera buttons. To update them, tap the minus symbol and then tap the plus sign. The idea is to add an app or function you use regularly, like Visual Intelligence/Siri, Snapchat or Calculator. Not all apps are options here, but you can use the Shortcuts button to add other apps like Amazon or Starbucks.

Ideally, doing this will save you time from scrolling through pages of apps to find what you’re looking for — or from forgetting what you were doing and clicking on a completely different app.

Add widgets

Below the clock, you can add widgets to your screen so you can take a quick peek at things like the weather or calendar events without opening the apps. All you have to do is tap the box and then drag and drop (or just tap) the widget you want to add.

The newest addition added to widgets in iOS 26 is the Shortcuts app. You can choose from any shortcuts you’ve already created and apply them to your screen.

Connect your lock screen to Focus Mode

Since we’re talking about keeping our screen time productive, one of the best ways to do so is by enabling Focus Mode. When you connect this feature to your lock screen, it can change the widgets that appear and your notifications. The options in iOS 26 are Do Not Disturb, Reduce Interruptions (new), Work, Personal and Sleep.

To turn it on, long press the lock screen and the Focus button should appear. You can then make your selection for which type of focus you need: Personal, work, etc. If you don’t yet have them set up, click Focus Settings at the bottom to get started.

You can set up a schedule for when your focus time should start and end, and you can also silence chatty people and apps that are constantly dinging your phone. You’ll also select the lock screen that’ll turn on when it’s time to focus.

When you’re finished customizing your lock screen, make sure to select Done in the top right corner so your changes are saved. You’ll also be asked whether you want to save the image to your home screen as well or if you want to customize it instead. I like to use different photos, but that’s up to you.

How to create multiple lock screens in iOS 26

Ready for a new lock screen but would still like to keep your current one? Just press and hold the lock screen until you see the carousel again. From here, you can either swipe right or tap the plus sign button at the bottom right. When the screen opens, you’ll see the Photos icon at the top left. Click that and scroll through your photos until you find the one you want to use. Once you make a selection, you’ll be taken back to the lock screen to finish customizing.

You can crop the image so it fits better — it’s usually awkwardly zoomed in. Once you do get it adjusted, do not touch that hexagon icon! It will zoom back in and mess up any cropping you did.

When you’re satisfied with your lock screen, tap Add in the top right corner. You can then choose whether to add the same photo to your home screen or to customize it.

That’s it! You now have a lock screen that’s unique to you — and hopefully a bit more useful.

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