iPhone XS and iOS16: how do I customize the lock screen?

[Sill]

I've watched the videos, I've read the articles, I still can't figure out how to customize this lock screen.

The wife upgraded her phone despite me warning her not to, and now I get to fix everything she doesn't like about the new iOS. Starting with the lock screen. Wake the phone, hold down on the screen, see the "Unlock to Edit" message. Unlock the phone, see the home screen. No way to edit the home screen from there. Go to Wallpaper, it shows a Customize button under the existing lock wallpaper. I click that, it tells me to add another Wallpaper to customize. I'm trying to customize the existing one. She has a pinkish orange one with lighter colored bubbles on it that she's had since she bought the phone, and all she wants to do is change the font and size on the lock screen clock so it looks like iOS 15.

 

[Paddle1]

You can't do that. You MUST create a new lock screen in order to customize.

I know... it doesn't really make sense.

 

[Sill]

You can't do that. You MUST create a new lock screen in order to customize.

I know... it doesn't really make sense.

Thank you for both helping and agreeing with me on that.

 

[Sill]

Next up: The widgets are pretty useless. The only thing I'd think she'd want would be the weather, but it won't display. It says "Location services turned off". What would that have to do with anything? The widget polls the Weather app for info. The thumbnail for the widget in the "Add Widgets" list shows that very weather with no trouble. But she needs location services on for the weather to work in the Lock screen?

 

[iStorm]

The weather widgets on the Lock Screen are for your current location, so you'd need location services on for it to know where you are. (Can't specify a location manually.) The thumbnails you see are just examples, not the actual weather info.

 

[antiprotest]

Right, the lock screen from iOS 15 is incompatible with iOS 16 customization features. You will have to make a new one.

 

[Sill]

The weather widgets on the Lock Screen are for your current location, so you'd need location services on for it to know where you are. (Can't specify a location manually.) The thumbnails you see are just examples, not the actual weather info.

At first I thought "no way, this can't be". When I was looking at the widget in the "drawer" yesterday it was displaying the weather in the area my wife had set at the top of her Weather app. At least I thought it was. I just checked now and confirmed what you said. The phony numbers in that widget placeholder were identical to yesterday's weather! 😆

So thats really odd. Why do you think its done that way? It seems to me it would be easy to have it copy the Weather.app info, just like the Watch does.

Right, the lock screen from iOS 15 is incompatible with iOS 16 customization features. You will have to make a new one.

I could see why there'd be an iOS compatibility between elements of the lock screens, but not the wallpaper. And unfortunately Apple isn't offering that wallpaper on iOS 16, which reduces the WAF.
This reminds me of when Apple would change the desktop wallpaper on successive versions of OS X. I had to manually move the previous ones to my new installs on each successive version. Yes some of them were exceedingly cheesy and/or monotonous but I liked a lot of the nature shots.

 

[iStorm]

She has a pinkish orange one with lighter colored bubbles on it that she's had since she bought the phone, and all she wants to do is change the font and size on the lock screen clock so it looks like iOS 15.

And unfortunately Apple isn't offering that wallpaper on iOS 16, which reduces the WAF.

Are you referring to this one?

If so, it's still available in iOS 16. It's found in one of the Collections. Super obvious, I know...
(They need to show the bubbles in the thumbnail to differentiate it from the 'Color' ones below it.)

So thats really odd. Why do you think its done that way? It seems to me it would be easy to have it copy the Weather.app info, just like the Watch does.

Yeah, it seems odd we can't manually specify a location like we can with the weather widget on the Home Screen. Other Lock Screen widgets can be customized. For example, we can specify which battery to show for the battery widget, or which time zone to display for the clock widget. Maybe Apple will offer this option in a future update.

 

[Sill]

Are you referring to this one?
View attachment 2088937

If so, it's still available in iOS 16. It's found in one of the Collections. Super obvious, I know...
(They need to show the bubbles in the thumbnail to differentiate it from the 'Color' ones below it.)
View attachment 2088938


Yeah, it seems odd we can't manually specify a location like we can with the weather widget on the Home Screen. Other Lock Screen widgets can be customized. For example, we can specify which battery to show for the battery widget, or which time zone to display for the clock widget. Maybe Apple will offer this option in a future update.

That is the one, thanks! I saw that blue gradient screen when I was looking through the gallery but I just glossed over the word "collections" and didn't realize that meant there were multiple screens in there. I'm fixing it right now. The wife will be happy about this, but she'd be happier if the previous widget she used, from a radio show app, was still allowed on the lock screen. She used to be able to see the show playing and set the volume, but now its gone. I guess it doesn't fit Apple's new lock screen rules.

I'm hoping there's more to the lock screen development than what we're seeing now. These things seem just like placeholders. So far I feel like I'm watching the SteveNote where iCards were announced. The show went on and on about how cool these cards were, and Steve seemed visibly irritated. Later on it leaked out that there was a major product that was meant to be announced at the show and they just couldn't keep it functioning long enough for a consistently working reveal. Maybe there was going to be more available for the lock screen but this was all they could get to work for now?

 

[anitak1982]

I hate the lock screen at night that turns black. i have other wallpapers but its that ugly black screen I hate.