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The lock screen on your iPhone is more than just a way to protect your phone from prying eyes. The screen can also display helpful tidbits, including the date and time, notifications, widgets for key features, and your favorite photos.
I like to tweak the lock screen not only to provide useful information but to give it a personal and distinctive appearance. You've long been able to customize the lock screen, but iOS 26 adds several new tricks to make it your own. Here are five cool ways to do just that.
Before you proceed, make sure you've updated your iPhone to iOS 26. Go to settings, select General, and then tap Software Update. Choose the iOS 26 option and then tap the Update now button.
With its OS 26 updates, Apple kicked off its new Liquid Glass aesthetic, which gives icons, folders, menus, and other elements a translucent effect as if you're eyeing them through glass. If you like the look, you can apply it to the clock on your lock screen.
Also: You can update your iPhone to iOS 26 for free right now - here's which models support it
To try this, move to the lock screen on your phone. Press down on any empty area and then swipe left or right until you see the screen you want to tweak. Tap Customize and then tap the time at the top of the screen. At the bottom panel, change the look from Solid to Glass. You can also then adjust the font, thickness, and color. When finished, tap the X to close the panel and then tap Done.
You're also able to alter the size of the clock to make it larger or smaller. However, this works only if there's enough room on the wallpaper image to increase the size. For this, press down on any empty area of the lock screen, swipe to the screen you want to modify, and then tap Customize. If the clock can be resized, you'll see a drag handle in the lower right corner. Drag and drop the handle until you've resized the clock the way you'd like. When finished, tap Done.
By default, the widget dock appears near the top of the lock screen. But perhaps you'd like to place it further down. You can now do that, courtesy of iOS 26.
Also: iPhone battery worse after updating to iOS 26? Here's why, and how I fixed it
Again, press down on any empty area of your lock screen, move to a screen with widgets at the top, and tap Customize. Drag the widget dock down the screen and release it. The dock will nestle in at the bottom. When finished, tap Done.
With iOS 26, you can apply a spatial effect to a lock screen photo, which essentially turns a 2D image into a 3D one. Moving your phone around then makes it appear as if the foreground is shifting against the background, providing depth to the image.
To try this one, you'll need to set up a lock screen with a photo that can take advantage of the spatial effect. You may need to test a few different photos until you find the right one. When ready, press down on any empty area of your lock screen, move to the screen with the photo, and tap Customize. If you've chosen the right image, a hexagonal icon appears lower in the screen. Tap that, and the 2D photo will be transformed into a 3D image. Tap Done. Return to the lock screen and move your phone around to see the effect.
A few albums available through iTunes and Apple Music support animated album art. This means that the image in the album cover art animates as you view it. With iOS 26, you can now view such album art on the lock screen. Since most albums don't yet support this option, you may have to play around with different ones. On my end, I chose Marvin Gaye's classic album "What's Going On."
Also: This iOS 26 feature makes your screenshots so much more useful - here's how it works
To try this, start playing the album through the Apple Music app. Segue to the lock screen. The mini music player appears toward the bottom. Tap the small thumbnail of the album, and the album art expands to the entire screen, where you'll see it animated. To return to the small thumbnail, tap the larger album art.
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