The Lock Screen is one of the first things you see when you pick up your iPhone, and Apple offers several ways to personalize it. While that’s great, ever since we received new personalization options in iOS, the wallpaper on your iPhone’s Lock Screen has often ended up looking blurry and devoid of colors. If you’re experiencing a similar issue, here are some fixes to try.
Why is My iPhone’s Lock Screen Wallpaper Blurry?
Several factors, including your Focus Mode settings, the resolution of the image, as well as how it’s cropped or zoomed, can cause the iPhone’s Lock Screen wallpaper to appear blurry or dim. However, sometimes incorrect display settings or bugs in iOS can also lead to this annoying issue. Addressing these common factors can help you restore the quality of the Lock Screen wallpaper on your iPhone.
How to Prevent Lock Screen Wallpapers from Looking Blurry on iPhone
1. Check the Focus Mode Settings
Apple provides a way to dim the Lock Screen whenever a certain Focus mode is activated. While it can help reduce distractions, it can make the Lock Screen wallpaper appear blurry. Hence, you might want to check the Focus mode settings on your iPhone to ensure the option to dim the Lock Screen is turned off.
- Open the Settings app on your iPhone and tap Focus.
- Select the Focus mode you would like to customize.
- Now, tap Options and toggle off Dim Lock Screen.
2. Ensure Your Wallpaper is High-Res
Sometimes, the issue may not be with your iPhone, but the image you’re using as wallpaper might be low-res, causing it to appear blurry or pixelated on your iPhone. To prevent this from occurring, tap the blue information button under the image and make sure its resolution is at least 1792 x 828 or higher.
In case the wallpaper’s resolution is lower than 1792 x 828, try looking for a high-resolution version of it. Alternatively, you can also use a free online AI image upscaler to improve the resolution of your image.
3. Don’t Zoom In or Extend the Wallpaper
When applying wallpapers on an iPhone, you can easily zoom in or out of an image to frame it as per your requirements. However, instead of zooming in or out manually, you should let auto-framing do its job. This can often prevent the wallpaper from losing its quality and appearing blurry or washed out.
Apart from that, your iPhone also offers an ‘Extend Wallpaper’ option that zooms into the subject and adds a subtle tinting effect to your wallpapers. While this effect only extends into the top of your Lock Screen, behind the clock, and the widgets to make them more legible, it can sometimes make the wallpaper look blurry. You can tap the three-dot icon at the bottom right to turn off the Extend Wallpaper option.
4. Try Switching to a Darker Wallpaper
Due to the white tinting effect on light-colored wallpapers, they can often appear washed out and blurry when zoomed in or when the ‘Extend Wallpapers’ option is enabled. Since there’s no way to change the default tint, the only way to avoid this issue is to use a darker wallpaper for a less noticeable effect.
Unlike light-colored wallpapers, dark-colored wallpapers do a much better job of reducing the overall contrast between elements in the background. This can help tone down the blurriness to an acceptable level. Besides, dark wallpapers also offer a way to hide the notch or the Dynamic Island on your iPhone.
5. Crop Images Using the Wallpaper Preset
I have noticed that most wallpapers downloaded from Pinterest and other platforms turn out to be blurry on the Lock Screen simply because they have an unusual aspect ratio that isn’t supported by my iPhone.
You can easily fix this issue by cropping the image using the wallpaper preset available in the Photos app. The preset is custom-made for your iPhone model to ensure all images fit perfectly.
- Open the Photos app and select the image you want to use as wallpaper.
- Tap the Edit button at the bottom of the screen. Then, tap the Crop icon.
- Tap the Crop Preset button located in the top-right corner of the screen.
- Scroll horizontally and select the Wallpaper preset from the bottom.
- Finally, crop the image as per your requirements and hit Done.
After cropping the image using the wallpaper preset, you can set it as your wallpaper as usual. Tap the Share button at the bottom left corner, select Use as Wallpaper, and then tap Add. Alternatively, you can set the cropped image as your wallpaper directly from the Lock Screen.
With the simple solutions mentioned in this guide, you’ll be able to quickly solve the issue in most cases. However, if your Lock Screen wallpaper appears to be blurry even after trying out everything, you should update your iPhone to the latest version of iOS to flush out any unwanted bugs or glitches. Additionally, you can reset all settings on your iPhone to revert any incorrect settings that could be causing the issue.