Step 1 of 5Open wallpaper settings

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How to Change Your iPhone Wallpaper

Personalizing your iPhone wallpaper with a photo of family, a favorite landscape, or a simple color makes the phone feel more like yours. Here is how to set and customize it.

3 min read 5 stepsApril 19, 2026Verified April 2026

Open wallpaper settings

~15s

Go to SettingsWallpaper. You will see a preview of your current lock screen and home screen. Tap "Add New Wallpaper" to create a new one from scratch, or tap your current wallpaper to edit it.

Choose a wallpaper type

~24s

The top of the wallpaper picker shows categories: Photos (your camera roll), People (recognized faces), Live Photo, Emoji, Weather, Astronomy, Color (solid or gradient), and Apple's built-in collections. Tap "Photos" to use your own pictures, or "Color" for a simple, clean background.

Quick Tip

Quick Tip: If you want a photo of a grandchild or pet as your wallpaper, tap "People" — iPhone identifies faces in your library and shows them suggested for wallpapers.

Choose your photo

~15s

Tap "Photos" → browse or search for the photo you want. Tap the photo to preview it as a wallpaper. Pinch to zoom or drag to reposition the image within the frame. Tap "Add" when you are happy with how it looks.

Set it for lock screen, home screen, or both

~17s

After tapping "Add," you are asked: "Set as Wallpaper Pair" (uses the same image for both lock and home screen), "Customize Home Screen" (uses a different look for the home screen), or simply previewing it. Tap "Set as Wallpaper Pair" for the most common, simple option.

Add widgets to your lock screen (optional)

~17s

From the wallpaper preview, tap "Customize" on the lock screen. Tap the time area at the top to change the clock style and color. Tap the widget area below the time to add widgets: weather, calendar, battery level, fitness rings, or other apps. Tap "Done" when satisfied.

You Did It!

You've completed: How to Change Your iPhone Wallpaper

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Your iPhone has two wallpapers: the lock screen (what you see when you pick up the phone) and the home screen (the background behind your app icons). You can set them to different images or the same one.

Many people love using a photo of grandchildren, family, pets, or a favorite vacation spot as their wallpaper. Others prefer a clean, simple color or Apple's built-in designs.

On iPhones with iOS 16 or later, the lock screen has become especially customizable — you can add widgets that show the time, weather, calendar events, or battery level. The depth effect feature even puts the lock screen clock behind your subject (like a photo of a person), creating a layered look.

You can use any photo from your photo library, a live (animated) photo, a portrait photo for the depth effect, or one of Apple's many built-in wallpapers.

Changing the wallpaper takes about a minute and can be changed as often as you want — nothing is permanent.

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Official Resources

Apple Support — iPhone Google Help — Android Samsung Support

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