To replace the picture on your iPhone Lock Screen, open Settings > Wallpaper, tap Add New Wallpaper, and choose Photos or Color. Finish with Add, then choose whether to use the same background on your Home Screen. To delete a saved Lock Screen on iOS 16 or later, open the Lock Screen wallpaper gallery, swipe up on its preview, and tap the trash button.
Changing wallpaper is separate from changing the system appearance. Use our iPhone Dark Mode guide to switch supported interfaces between light and dark without deleting a photo.
Removing a wallpaper configuration and deleting a photo from Photos are separate actions. You can stop displaying a personal picture without deleting the original photograph. This guide covers the wallpaper gallery introduced in iOS 16, including current customization options where your version supports them.
Before you change the background
Have your iPhone passcode available. The wallpaper gallery requires authentication, even though you open it from the Lock Screen. If Face ID does not recognize you, enter the passcode when requested.
Decide what you want to change: the Lock Screen appears when you wake the phone; the Home Screen sits behind your app icons. A wallpaper pair contains both backgrounds, but they can look different. Choosing a plain Home Screen alone will not remove a photograph from the Lock Screen.
If the existing setup includes widgets, a particular clock style, or a linked Focus, note those choices before deleting it. Creating a replacement first lets you compare the two designs and keep the old one until you are satisfied.
Replace the picture through Settings
- Open Settings on your iPhone.
- Tap Wallpaper.
- Tap Add New Wallpaper.
- Choose Photos, then select the picture you want. To remove photographic imagery altogether, choose Color instead.
- Adjust the preview before saving. With a photo, pinch to zoom and use two fingers to reposition the image.
- Tap Add when the Lock Screen looks right.
- Choose Set as Wallpaper Pair to use the design for both screens, or Customize Home Screen to choose a different Home Screen appearance.
After saving, wake the iPhone and check the actual Lock Screen. Then unlock it and inspect the Home Screen separately. This catches a common mistake: changing the background behind the apps while leaving the unwanted picture on the locked phone.
For a simple replacement, a solid color is useful because it does not depend on a photograph's crop. Choose a shade that keeps the clock and notifications readable. You can return to Wallpaper and adjust the Home Screen later without starting over with your Lock Screen.
Apple's wallpaper instructions describe the current Settings route and the choice between a wallpaper pair and a separate Home Screen.
Change an existing photo from the Lock Screen gallery
The gallery is convenient when you already have several saved designs or want to preserve an existing clock and widget arrangement.
- Bring up the Lock Screen and authenticate with Face ID, Touch ID, or your passcode as required.
- Touch and hold an empty area of the Lock Screen until the wallpaper gallery appears.
- Swipe left or right to find the design you want to edit.
- Tap Customize, then choose Lock Screen when the phone presents that choice.
- Use the photo control, if available for that wallpaper, to choose a different image. Adjust the crop and other supported options.
- Tap Done, then select the finished wallpaper in the gallery.
If the design does not offer the photo control you need, create a new Photos wallpaper with the plus button or use Settings. Wallpaper types have different controls; a Color or Weather design does not have the same editing options as a photo.
A brief tap usually selects a saved design. A sustained touch opens editing. If the gallery does not appear, authenticate first and try an empty part of the screen rather than a notification or shortcut.
Delete a saved wallpaper configuration
Create or select the wallpaper you want to keep before removing an unwanted setup. Deletion removes that saved design, including its customization, rather than simply hiding its preview.
- Open the authenticated Lock Screen wallpaper gallery.
- Swipe to the wallpaper you want to remove.
- Swipe up on that wallpaper's preview.
- Tap the trash button.
- Confirm Delete This Wallpaper.
Check the picture and widgets in the preview before confirming, especially if several designs use similar photos. Apple documents this process in Delete a wallpaper on your iPhone.
You do not need to delete the original picture from your photo library to change the background. Keeping it makes it easier to recreate the wallpaper if you change your mind. Deleting a saved wallpaper is not the same as an ordinary undoable change to its crop, so retain a setup you may want to reuse.
Stop a rotating picture or an unexpected wallpaper change
With Photo Shuffle, replacing one picture may not stop other photographs from appearing. The wallpaper is configured to rotate through a collection rather than display a single image.
To use only one picture, create a normal Photos wallpaper and select it. To keep shuffling but remove an unwanted image, customize that Photo Shuffle design and review its selected photos or album. Apple allows manually chosen photos or supported collections; the choices shown depend on the setup.
Photo Shuffle can change On Tap, On Lock, Hourly, or Daily. Review its frequency control if a picture seems to change whenever you touch or lock the phone. Changing the interval does not remove an image from the shuffle collection.
A linked Focus can also switch Lock Screens automatically. In the wallpaper gallery, inspect the Focus label associated with the design. Review the link and the Focus schedule if a previous background returns during work, sleep, or another scheduled mode. Changing the wallpaper once does not necessarily change that automation.
Make the replacement picture fit and remain readable
Check the subject's position before saving. Pinching changes scale; repositioning changes which part of the picture appears within the screen. A very wide photo may need substantial cropping on a tall display. Choose a different source image if the crop cuts off something important rather than expecting a single wallpaper size to fit every iPhone.
Supported photo wallpapers may offer filters when you swipe through the preview. You can also customize the clock's font or color and supported widgets. These controls vary by iOS version and wallpaper type, so use the options actually present on your phone.
Depth Effect, motion for eligible Live Photos, and newer spatial effects are optional features with their own image and device requirements. An unavailable effect does not mean the wallpaper failed. Start with a normal still photo, confirm the crop, and enable an effect only if your preview offers it and the result remains readable.
Widgets and visual effects can compete for space around the subject. If the clock is hard to see or a desired effect is unavailable, try another crop, fewer widgets, or another photograph. Avoid putting important private information in the image: anyone who can see the locked display can see the wallpaper.
Apple's custom Lock Screen guide explains the available customization choices for the selected iOS version.
Troubleshooting and common questions
Why did only my Home Screen change?
Return to Settings > Wallpaper and inspect the Lock Screen preview. Customize that screen or create a replacement Lock Screen. The Home Screen's Color, Gradient, Photos, and blur choices are separate from the image displayed while locked.
Why is there no wallpaper gallery?
The gallery requires iOS 16 or later. Check Settings > General > About for the iOS version. On older releases, use the wallpaper controls in Settings; the gallery deletion steps above do not apply. Our guide to deleting a wallpaper on iPhone covers both the gallery method and the older one. On a supported version, authenticate and hold an empty area of the Lock Screen.
Can I have no wallpaper at all?
The display still needs a background. Choose a plain Color wallpaper for the simplest appearance. Deleting photos from Photos is unnecessary for this result and risks losing pictures you wanted to keep.
Will changing the wallpaper hide messages or remove Camera?
Notification privacy and Lock Screen shortcuts have their own controls. See how to show or hide Lock Screen messages for message previews, or how to open Camera from the Lock Screen for camera access.
When you finish, check the locked and unlocked screens, then lock and wake the phone again. If a Focus or Photo Shuffle is involved, review that configuration too. A replacement that stays selected and displays the intended image on both screens is the result you want.
Matthew Burleigh has been writing tech tutorials since 2008. His writing has appeared on dozens of different websites and been read hundreds of millions of times.
After receiving his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Computer Science he spent several years working in IT management for small businesses. However, he now works full time writing content online and creating websites.
His main writing topics include iPhones, Microsoft Office, Google Apps, Android, and Photoshop, but he has also written about many other tech topics as well.