iOS 16 brings a ton of new features over the last version with a focus on how your iPhone looks and feels. One of the elements that get a makeover is the Lock Screen which has been redesigned from top to bottom. You can change the clock style, and font, bring the subject of your wallpaper into focus, add widgets, apply new wallpapers from Apple’s gallery, and more.
Among these changes is a Photo Shuffle option that lets you apply chosen pictures from your library as your wallpaper in a way that it shuffles throughout the day upon your chosen interval. In this post, we’ll explain what Photo Shuffle is all about and how to create and use it inside iOS 16.
What is Photo Shuffle in iOS 16?
Photo Shuffle on iOS 16 allows users to create a playlist of wallpapers that they can apply on their Lock Screen as well as the Home Screen. Users can choose a bunch of pictures from their library that iOS will shuffle across at various intervals of their choice. You can either set a specific interval after which iOS applies a new wallpaper or you can customize the Photo Shuffle to set a new background every time you wake your iPhone up from sleep or every time you tap on your Lock Screen.
You can do all that without losing out on other features that the new Lock Screen on iOS 16 has to offer. You can toggle Depth Effect and Perspective Zoom on/off, apply different clock colors and styles, and widgets at any time without a hassle.
Related: iOS 16 Unsend Button: Where Is It and How to Use It
How to create Photo Shuffle for your lock screen on an iPhone
There are two ways you can create a Photo Shuffle on iOS 16; you can either do it directly from your Lock Screen or using the Settings app. We’ll explain both of these methods and the steps involved below.
Method #1: From the Lock Screen
To create a Photo Shuffle, unlock your iPhone without leaving the Lock Screen.
After unlocking the device, tap and hold on anywhere on the Lock Screen until it’s zoomed out.
Next, with the Lock Screen panned out, tap on the + icon at the bottom right corner.
In the Add New Wallpaper overflow menu that appears, select Photo Shuffle at the top.
iOS 16 automatically analyzes and categorizes your images for use with Photo Shuffle. You will now be shown the categories available on your device and all should be selected by default. Tap and exclude categories that you don’t wish to use as wallpapers.
Now tap Shuffle Frequency.
Tap and choose your preferred frequency to switch between wallpapers.
Tap Use Featured Photos.
However, sometimes Photo Shuffle can take its sweet time processing your photos especially if you have more than 5k captures on your device. In such cases, you will be shown a screen that says Photo Shuffle is Processing. You can tap Choose Photos Manually and choose your desired wallpapers. You can choose up to 50 wallpapers when selecting manually.
Now tap and select the photos you wish to use. Tap Add in the top right corner once you’re done.
You will now be shown your lock screen preview. Set up your lock screen as needed by adding widgets, customizing your clock, applying filters, and more.
Once done, tap the 3-dot () icon in the bottom right corner.
Tap and select your desired frequency to change your wallpapers.
Tap Done.
Depending on how you’ve set them, the phone will switch between the selected images after a specific period of time.
Method #2: From Settings app
You can also apply Photo Shuffle from iOS settings in case you find method #1 inconvenient. To apply Photo Shuffle to your Lock Screen, open the Settings app on iOS.
Inside Settings, select Wallpaper.
On the next screen, tap on Add New Wallpaper.
In the “Add New Wallpaper” overflow menu that appears, select Photo Shuffle at the top.
iOS 16 automatically analyzes and categorizes your images for use with Photo Shuffle. You will now be shown the categories available on your device and all should be selected by default. Tap and exclude categories that you don’t wish to use as wallpapers.
Now tap Shuffle Frequency.
Tap and choose your preferred frequency to switch between wallpapers.
Tap Use Featured Photos.
However, sometimes Photo Shuffle can take its sweet time processing your photos especially if you have more than 5k captures on your device. In such cases, you will be shown a screen that says Photo Shuffle is Processing. You can tap Choose Photos Manually and choose your desired wallpapers. You can choose up to 50 wallpapers when selecting manually.
Now tap and select the photos you wish to use. Tap Add in the top right corner once you’re done.
You will now be shown your lock screen preview. Set up your lock screen as needed by adding widgets, customizing your clock, applying filters, and more.
Once done, tap the 3-dot () icon in the bottom right corner.
Tap and select your desired frequency to change your wallpapers.
Tap Done.
Depending on how you’ve set them, the phone will switch between the selected images after a specific period of time.
How to edit a Photo Shuffle on iOS 16
iOS doesn’t just let you apply pictures from your library as your lock screen and home screen wallpaper but you can customize it to change at a specific interval, add depth effect, perspective zoom and modify other aspects of it. You can make these changes when applying a Photo Shuffle for the first time but in case you haven’t, you can customize them later directly from your Lock Screen.
To edit a Photo Shuffle on iOS 16, unlock your iPhone without leaving the Lock Screen and then tap and hold anywhere on it.
Once the lock screen zooms out, tap on Customize at the bottom.
You can tap on the screen to change the current wallpaper. To change the frequency of the Photo Shuffle, tap on the 3-dots icon at the bottom right corner.
In the overflow menu that appears, select Shuffle Frequency.
You can choose from the following options based on how often you want the pictures to be shuffled:
- Daily – iOS will change the Lock Screen picture every day, 24 hours after the last change.
- Hourly – iOS will change the background once every hour.
- On Wake – A new background will be applied every time you wake your iPhone display.
- On Tap – You can apply a new background by tapping on your Lock Screen.
Besides how often you can change the background, you can toggle the Multilayered photo effect on/off depending on whether or not you want iOS to dynamically display subjects in your photos in front of the digital clock to make them pop out. You can enable or disable this feature inside the Customize screen by tapping on the 3-dots icon and selecting Enable/Disable Depth Effect.
You can also choose to apply Perspective Zoom from the same overflow menu depending on whether or not you want the wallpaper to move around according to how you’re holding your iPhone.
If you wish to add more pictures to the current Photo Shuffle, tap on the grid icon at the bottom left corner when customizing your Lock Screen.
On the screen that appears, tap on Add Photos and select the pictures you want to add to the current shuffle batch.
Like with any other wallpaper on iOS 16, you can change the clock style by tapping on the clock and adding widgets to the screen.
Once you’ve made all these changes, tap on Done at the top right corner to apply them.
You can continue to use your iPhone and iOS will change your Photo Shuffle at your chosen time.
That’s all there is to know about Photo Shuffle on iOS 16.
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