How to manage your iPhone lock screen

Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge

Compared to other operating systems, iOS has been more of a you-get-what-you-get system. It has come a long way, with options that weren't available three or four years ago. You can do more with your lock screen than you think.

How to change what you see and how it looks on your lock screen is here. This was tested on an Apple device.

First: the basics.

The time, date, and current notifications are on the default view of your lock screen. We all love it.

Other features can be accessed on the lock screen if they are enabled. Touch ID and Passcode can be used to choose which features appear. The control center, Today View, and other features can be disabled until you unlock your phone, if you scroll down. They're all enabled except for the accessories.

If it is enabled, you can use Face ID or Touch ID on a phone if you want to, but the control center shows you how to do it. You will find quick access to things like screen brightness, volume, and wi-fi there.

The phone's best guess as to what apps you might be looking for at that particular time is brought up by Swiping down from the middle of the lock screen. Older notifications can be seen from the middle of the screen. You can get into the camera with a right-to- left and a left-to-right move. Today View is ripe for personalization because you have some customization options for all of these features.

Today View

The Today View panel is where you can see things you might want to see on your phone. In addition to the usual suspects like weather and calendar, you can add a note or featured photos to your gallery. Some of thewidgets require the phone to be unlocked to use them, like the one in Chrome that will perform a quick search, but others offer content that can be enjoyed without the phone being unlocked. There is a daily calendar with a picture of a cat. It's great.

Today View is available from the home screen, so you need to go there to add more features. You can access Today View on your home screen. From there:

• Touch and hold one of the widgets on Today View and tap Edit Home Screen when a little menu appears.
• Tap the plus sign at the top left of the screen
• From here, you can use the search bar to look for a particular app or widget or scroll down and browse some suggested widgets
• Tap one of the widgets or one of the items in the list of apps below it to see all of the options available for that specific widget
• Swipe through the options and tap Add Widget to put it on your Today View screen
• Once a widget is on Today View, you can touch and hold to drag it around the screen and place it where you want

Control Center

If you have enabled access to the control center from your lock screen, you can add more functions to it. Go to the Control Center and scroll down to see your options.

You can rearrange the order in which your favorites appear on the control panel once you have your favorites selected. Touch the three bars to the right of the feature you want to move, then drag it up or down the list. Controls appear in rows of four below the Focus mode, brightness, and volume controls, starting with whatever is at the top of your list in the upper left position.

If you press and hold your control center controls, they can do more for you. The camera icon can be used to bring up additional options, such as starting the camera app in portrait mode or recording video.

Notifications

The reason we reach for our phones five thousand times a day is to check the notifications on our lock screens. You can change what they look like and where they appear.

To change the settings for individual notifications, go to the settings and scroll down to the notification style section. You can find another screen of options if you select the app you want to adjust the notifications for. You can turn off the notifications completely here. If you want that app to stop nagging you with notifications but you don't want to use the nuclear option, you can use the options below.

When a notification arrives, you can choose how you are notified. You can turn off lock screen notifications for that app if you tap the blue checkmark underneath the Lock Screen alert option. If the Notification Center option is checked, those notifications will not show up on your lock screen. It's a good way to reduce the notification noise in your life.

You can get $5 off your next DoorDash order if you want certain notifications from some apps delivered immediately. When you set the Time Sensitive Notifications to be on, urgent notifications will always appear on your lock screen, regardless of the alert style that you choose. Not all apps offer this option.

The lock screen has one more option: preview on or off. You will see the full text of the notification if the phone is unlocked. If you want a little more privacy, you can choose to have the preview only appear once the phone is unlocked, not the full text of the notification.

Certain app notifications can be delivered in a daily summary in order to reduce the notification overload on your lock screen. You specify when you want to receive the apps. Time-sensitive notifications from those apps will still go straight to you, but the rest will be collected quietly and sent to you in your summary.

To set up the scheduled summary, go to settings and follow the instructions to set up your summary time and Frequency.

How to change your lock screen wallpaper

Ah, the lock screen wallpaper. It may be the modern equivalent of having your child's class picture in your wallet. It might be your favorite picture from a hike you took five years ago that brings you a calm moment when you see it. You can go for high-impact graphics without nostalgia attached. It's your world, and here you can modify it.

Go to settings and choose a new wallpaper.

You can choose from one of Apple's Still or Dynamic, moving wallpapers, or a photo from your phone gallery. Press set if you want to zoom the image or tap the one you want. You can display it on your lock screen, home screen, or both. Enjoy a lock screen that is a little less demanding and a little more you.