How to Change Your Lock Screen on Any Device

Your lock screen is the first thing you — and anyone else — sees when they pick up your phone, tablet, or computer. Changing it is one of the most common personalizations people make, but the steps vary significantly depending on your device, operating system, and what exactly you want to change. Here's a clear breakdown of how it works across the most common platforms.

What "Changing Your Lock Screen" Actually Covers

The lock screen isn't just a wallpaper. Depending on your device, it can include:

• Wallpaper/background image
• Lock screen widgets (clocks, weather, notifications)
• Lock method (PIN, password, pattern, fingerprint, Face ID)
• Notification display settings (what shows up before you unlock)
• Always-on display behavior

Most people want to change the wallpaper, but the settings for all of these typically live in the same area of your system settings. It's worth knowing the distinction before you start digging through menus.

How to Change Your Lock Screen on iPhone (iOS) 🔒

Apple redesigned the lock screen experience significantly starting with iOS 16, giving users far more customization than before.

To change your lock screen on iPhone:

1. Long-press on the lock screen itself (don't swipe to unlock — just press and hold)
2. Tap Customize or the + icon to create a new lock screen
3. Choose a wallpaper, adjust fonts for the clock, and add widgets
4. Tap Done, then Set as Wallpaper Pair if you want it applied to both lock and home screens

If you're on iOS 15 or earlier, lock screen customization is more limited. You change the wallpaper through Settings → Wallpaper → Choose a New Wallpaper, but there's no widget or font customization.

Key variables on iPhone:

• iOS version (16+ unlocks the deepest customization)
• Whether you want separate home screen and lock screen wallpapers
• Whether you use Focus modes (each Focus can have its own lock screen)

How to Change Your Lock Screen on Android

Android is trickier to give a single answer for because manufacturers customize the OS heavily. A Samsung Galaxy device, a Google Pixel, and a OnePlus phone all run Android but have meaningfully different paths to the same setting.

General path on most Android devices:Settings → Wallpaper & Style (or Display → Wallpaper)

On Samsung One UI: Settings → Wallpaper and Style → Change Wallpapers → Lock Screen

On Google Pixel (stock Android): Long-press on the home screen → Wallpaper & Style → Lock Screen

What you can typically customize on Android:

• Background image or video (some manufacturers support video wallpapers)
• Clock style and color
• Shortcut buttons at the bottom of the lock screen
• Whether notifications show in full, condensed, or hidden form

Android generally offers more granular control over lock screen shortcuts and notification behavior than iOS, but the exact options depend heavily on which Android skin your phone runs and which version of Android it's on.

How to Change Your Lock Screen on Windows

On Windows 10 and Windows 11, the lock screen is separate from your desktop wallpaper.

Path: Settings → Personalization → Lock Screen

From here you can:

• Set a static image, a slideshow from a folder, or Windows Spotlight (Microsoft's rotating image service)
• Choose which apps display status information on the lock screen (calendar, mail, weather)
• Toggle whether the lock screen background also appears on the sign-in screen

Windows 11 adds some additional polish to the lock screen layout but the core options are the same.

How to Change Your Lock Screen on Mac

Macs handle this differently. The lock screen wallpaper is tied to your desktop wallpaper — you don't set them independently.

Path: System Settings → Wallpaper (on macOS Ventura and later) Or: System Preferences → Desktop & Screen Saver (on older macOS)

If you want a specific image on the lock screen, you set it as your desktop wallpaper and it carries over.

macOS Ventura and later added a lock screen customization section under System Settings → Lock Screen, but this primarily controls behavior — when to require a password, whether the screensaver shows, and Touch ID/Apple Watch unlock settings — not the visual appearance.

Comparing Lock Screen Customization Across Platforms

The Security Side of Lock Screen Settings 🔐

Changing the wallpaper is cosmetic, but the lock screen is also a security boundary. A few things worth understanding:

• Notification visibility on the lock screen is a real privacy consideration. Showing full message previews means anyone who picks up your phone can read them without unlocking it.
• Smart Lock features on Android (like trusted places or trusted devices) affect when the lock screen appears at all.
• On iPhone, features like Control Center and Siri access from the lock screen can expose functionality even when the device is locked. These are toggled under Settings → Face ID & Passcode (or Touch ID & Passcode).

Most platforms treat the lock screen wallpaper change as a cosmetic action that requires no authentication, but changing lock method or security settings will always require your current PIN, password, or biometric verification first.

The Variables That Determine Your Actual Steps

The steps that apply to you come down to a specific combination of factors:

• Which device you're using (phone, tablet, laptop, desktop)
• Which OS and version is installed
• Which manufacturer's skin is on your Android device (if applicable)
• What you actually want to change — wallpaper only, or the full lock screen behavior

Someone on a Samsung Galaxy S24 running One UI 6 has meaningfully different options than someone on a Pixel 7 running stock Android 14, even though both are "Android phones." And both of those experiences differ significantly from what an iPhone user on iOS 17 sees.

The right path through your settings depends on exactly what you're working with — and what you're trying to accomplish with the change.