When Apple released iOS 16 in 2022, it significantly improved lock screens and significantly improved the iPhone.
With iOS 16, you may quickly and easily change the clock typeface, lock screen widgets, and background on your lock screen. Without having to go into settings, I can always change the appearance of my iPhone from the identical screen I see each time I start it up. And even better, the page offers a ton of options and ideas when you begin to create a new wallpaper to aid in your decision-making.
Do you desire a lock screen that is weather-related? Apple advises against doing that. Want an elaborate emoji design? You may choose from a wide variety of designs, and Apple even lets you use up to six different emojis in your wallpaper. (May I suggest the emoji for a waffle or a yawn?) You may even create a rotating gallery of positive feelings as your iPhone’s background if you really want to get fancy.
Personally, I adore Apple’s selection of background-color or shade-filled wallpaper selections. My background is usually a gradient color of some kind, and in the past, I’ve resorted to scouring the web for good-looking images that often weren’t quite right. Now, I can pick from a huge swath of colors right from the wallpaper menu, tweak the intensity of the gradient, and mess around with different shades.
Even better, you can now match distinct emotions by connecting wallpapers to Focus modes. To help me remember to unwind, I’ve assigned a soothing blue to my „Vacation“ Focus.
What about homescreens?
The brand-new iOS 16 lock screens are the best, as my colleague Allison Johnson reported. But now that Apple has given up some authority over the lock screen, it’s time for Apple to provide consumers with more homescreen customization options.
What if app icons were easily customizable? Yes, it is now feasible to achieve that, although it takes some effort. I’d want something more akin to the simple theming options you can select on Android, however you can follow our helpful advice. I personally don’t need to create a noticeably distinct theme; I’m not trying to turn my iPhone into a Windows device; I simply want everything to have a consistent color scheme to go with my gradient wallpapers.
I also desire more icon organization options. I usually limit the number of rows of apps on my homescreen to three or four and move the rest to the App Library. (I won’t be using widgets; I don’t think they’re that useful.) But it would be wonderful if I could position my homescreen apps lower down on the screen rather than higher up without adding more space with customized widgets or invisible app icon hacks.
Chaim Gartenberg, a former coworker, asserted in 2020 that Apple is unlikely to ever allow us to create our own app icons. I agreed with him entirely at the time. But now that Apple has opened the door with iOS 16 and its excellent lock screen tools, I believe there’s a not-so-far future where the company will make it a lot easier to mess around with the things on our homescreens, too. Fingers crossed for iOS 17.