One of the ways to customize the look and feel of your iPhone or iPad is by changing the default wallpaper on the Lock screen, Home screen or both.
You can either set one of the still or dynamic wallpapers that are included with the iPhone or iPad, or you can set any photo from the Photos app.
How to change the wallpaper on your iPhone or iPad using the Settings app
- Launch the Settings app from the Home screen on your iPhone or iPad.
- Tap on Wallpaper (On iOS 7.x.x or lower, tap on Wallpapers and Brightness).
- Tap on Choose a New Wallpaper.
- Tap on Dynamic, Stills, or All Photos (or Camera roll on iOS 7 or lower or iCloud Photo Library is disabled in iOS 8.1 or higher).
Dynamic Wallpapers
At the time of writing this post, iPhone and iPad comes with only 7 Dynamic wallpapers, which have “bubble” designs with different colors. The bubbles in the wallpapers move based on the device’s accelerometers and gyroscope. Please note that Dynamic Wallpapers can have some impact on battery life.
Static Wallpapers
Static wallpapers also move with the gyroscope if the Reduce Motion in Accessibility settings is not turned on.
Parallax Effect
This is because iOS uses a parallax effect to create the perception of depth on your Home screen and elsewhere. So wallpapers and icons shift slightly as you move your iPhone or iPad. You can disable the parallax effect by enabling Reduce Motion in Accessibility settings (Settings > General > Accessibility)
- Tap on the Wallpaper or Photo that you want to set as the wallpaper.
- You will see a preview, which gives you a good idea of how the wallpaper will look on the Lock screen with the date and time. If you’ve selected the still wallpaper or a photo, then you also get an option to disable Perspective Zoom. If you don’t want the wallpaper to be magnified then disable Perspective Zoom.
What is Perspective Zoom?
iOS magnifies your wallpaper in order to give it space to move around when you tilt your device. Perspective Zoom is a new setting in that appears when setting a new wallpaper. With Perspective Zoom disabled, iOS no longer magnifies your wallpaper.
- Tap Set.
- Then tap on Set Lock Screen to set the wallpaper on the Lock screen, tap on Set Home Screen to set the wallpaper on the Home screen, or Set Both to set the wallpaper on both the Lock Screen and the Home screen.
You can also set any photo as the wallpaper from the Photos app.
How to change the wallpaper on your iPhone or iPad using the Photos app
- Launch the Photos app from the Home screen on your iPhone or iPad.
- Tap on the photo you want to use as the wallpaper.
- Tap on the Share button at the bottom left corner.
- Then tap on Use as Wallpaper at the bottom.
- You will see a preview, which gives you a good idea of how the wallpaper will look on the Lock screen with the date and time. You also get an option to disable Perspective Zoom. If you don’t want the wallpaper to be magnified then disable Perspective Zoom.
- Tap Set.
- Then tap on Set Lock Screen to set the wallpaper on the Lock screen, tap on Set Home Screen to set the wallpaper on the Home screen, or Set Both to set the wallpaper on both the Lock Screen and the Home screen.
That’s it. Let me know if you’ve any questions.
Don’t forget to check our Wallpapers page to download our favorite wallpapers for iPhone and iPad.
Related
