The Lock Screen appears when you turn on or wake iPhone. From the Lock Screen, you can see notifications, open Camera and Control Center, get information from your favorite apps at a glance, control media playback, and more.
You can also follow Live Activities there, like directions from Maps or order updates from food delivery apps. And you can personalize your Lock Screen by choosing a wallpaper, showcasing a favorite photo, changing the font of the time, adding widgets, and more.
Here’s how to access features from the iPhone Lock Screen.
Access features and information from the Lock Screen
Even while iPhone is locked, the Lock Screen gives you quick access to useful features and information.
Go to the Lock Screen, then do any of the following:
- Open Camera: Swipe left. On supported models, you can touch and hold the Camera button, then lift your finger.
- Open Control Center: Swipe down from the top-right corner (on an iPhone with Face ID) or swipe up from the bottom edge of the screen (on other iPhone models).
- See earlier notifications: Swipe up from the center.
- View more widgets: Swipe right. You can interact with widgets on the Lock Screen and the Home Screen to perform tasks—for example, tap an item in the Reminders widget to check it off, or tap the Play button in the Podcasts widget to play an episode.
- Control media playback: Use the playback controls (Now Playing) on the Lock Screen to play, pause, rewind, or fast-forward media playing on your iPhone.
Show notification previews on the Lock Screen
- Start the Settings app on your iPhone.
- Tap Notifications, then tap Show Previews.
- Choose one of the following:
- Always: Previews appear on the Lock Screen, even when iPhone is locked.
- When Unlocked: Previews appear only after iPhone is unlocked.
- Never: Previews never appear on the Lock Screen.
Details about Calendar invitations, lines from Mail messages, and text from Messages can all show up in notification previews.
View and control Live Activities on the Lock Screen
With Live Activities, you can follow the progress of app activities right on your Lock Screen. That includes directions from Maps, order updates from food delivery apps, live sports updates from the Apple TV app, and more.
Music, a movie, or other media you play on your iPhone also becomes one of these Live Activities, with playback controls on your Lock Screen to pause, play, fast-forward, or rewind. You can even control playback on a remote device like your Apple TV 4K or HomePod from your iPhone Lock Screen.
To change your Live Activity settings, go to Settings, tap Apps, tap the app with the settings you want to change, then tap Live Activities.
Note: Not all apps have a Live Activities setting.
