You can tailor your iPhone to your own interests and preferences. Personalize your Lock Screen, customize the appearance of apps on your Home Screen, keep your favorite features handy, change the sounds and vibrations for calls and messages, and more.
Start with the Home Screen, where app icons and widgets can be small or large, light or dark, clear, or tinted. You can also add widgets to your Home Screen, add personality to your phone calls, and check your privacy settings.
Here’s how to make your iPhone your own.
Customize your Home Screen
The app icons and widgets on your Home Screen can have a new look and feel: small or large, light or dark, clear, or tinted.
Touch and hold the background on any Home Screen page until the icons jiggle. Tap the Customize button, then tap Customize to choose options for your app icons and widgets. Tap the Large Apps button to make icons bigger or smaller. Tap the Customize button, then tap Edit Wallpaper to select a different background image.
Personalize your Lock Screen
Showcase a favorite photo, then turn it into a spatial scene with a depth effect. You can add widgets, too, change the size of the clock, or swap out the controls for options like Voice Memo or Timer.
Touch and hold the Lock Screen, then tap the Add New button. Browse the gallery of wallpaper options, then tap an option to select and customize it.
Set your favorite controls
Many iPhone features—like the timer and flashlight—are just a swipe away in Control Center. To quickly open Control Center on an iPhone with Face ID, swipe down from the top-right edge; on an iPhone with a Home button, swipe up from the bottom of the screen.
After you open Control Center, tap the Add New button. Tap Add a Control at the bottom of the screen, then swipe up to view the controls gallery. When you see a control you want to add, tap it.
Add widgets to your Home Screen
With widgets, it’s easy to see the information that’s most important to you, like upcoming calendar events and the current weather. You can complete tasks with them, too, like checking off an item in your Reminders to-do list or playing a song in Music.
Touch and hold the background on any Home Screen page until the apps jiggle, tap Edit, then tap Add Widget.
Add personality to your phone calls
A unique call poster of your own personalizes what people see when you call them. Pair your favorite photo, Memoji, or emoji with your preferred font, then add colors to make it pop. Your call poster then appears on the screen of the person you’re calling when you make a phone call.
To get started, open the Contacts app , tap your name at the top of the list, then tap Shared Name and Photo.
Choose sounds and vibrations
Your iPhone can play different sounds and vibrations for phone calls, text messages, calendar alerts, and other notifications. Go to the Settings app , then tap Sounds & Haptics. To set the volume for alarms or alerts separately from the ringtone, turn off Match Ringtone Volume.
You can also change the sounds your iPhone plays for certain people; in the Contacts app , tap a person’s name, tap Edit, then tap Ringtone or Text Tone.
Use built-in accessibility features
To support your vision, mobility, hearing, speech, and cognitive needs, your iPhone provides many accessibility features. You can change text size, make it easier to use the touchscreen, control your iPhone using just your voice, and more.
To customize these settings, go to the Settings app , then tap Accessibility.
Check your privacy settings
iPhone is designed to protect your privacy and information. You can grant or deny apps permission to track your activity across other companies’ apps and websites. To deny requests from apps to track your activity, go to the Settings app , tap Privacy & Security, tap Tracking, then turn off Allow Apps to Request to Track.
These guides cover more ways to make iPhone your own:
- Customize apps and widgets on the iPhone Home Screen
- Create a custom iPhone Lock Screen
- Use and customize Control Center on iPhone
- Add, edit, and remove widgets on iPhone
- Get started with accessibility features on iPhone
- Control what you share on iPhone
According to Apple, not all features are available for all iPhone models.
