Live Wallpapers make your iPhone’s Lock Screen way more fun and personalized by turning your favorite memories into lively backgrounds. With a Live Wallpaper, iPhone Lock Screens will move slightly when you raise your phone or tap to wake it. Apple only has a few pre-set Live Wallpaper options like weather and bubbles, but you can turn any live photo into a moving wallpaper.

Why You'll Love This Tip

Create a live iPhone background for your Lock Screen using a live photo you took.
Turn your favorite memory into a live photo iPhone background.
Get weather information at a glance with the preset Weather iPhone Lock Screen wallpaper.

How to Get a Live Wallpaper on iPhone

System Requirements

This tip was performed on an iPhone 17 Pro Max running iOS 26.3. Find out how to update to the latest version of iOS.

Live iPhone backgrounds for the Lock Screen can be created from your very own Live Photos or by selecting from Apple’s preset wallpaper options. To discover more ways to personalize your iPhone, don't forget to sign up for our free Tip of the Day! Here’s how to set up moving wallpapers on iPhone:

On your iPhone, open Settings.
Tap Wallpaper.
Tap Add New Wallpaper.
Tap Photos.
Tap Live Photo to filter for them.
Tap the photo you want to use.
Make sure the Live button is turned on. It will show a play button when it's activated.
Add and adjust the widgets and font before tapping Add when you're finished.
From here, you can either set the wallpaper as a pair or set the Home Screen individually.
If you tap Set as Wallpaper Pair or once you finish customizing your Home Screen, the wallapper you just worked on will become your Current wallpaper.

To see your iPhone live wallpaper in action, simply raise to unlock your iPhone or swipe down for notifications. You will see your image move slightly for a brief moment before slowing. In the past, Apple had many more preset iPhone Live Wallpaper options but has since removed most of them. If you want to use one of Apple's Live Wallpaper choices you can pick between Weather and the blue bubbles under Collection. Don't forget that the first time you create a Weather wallpaper, you'll have to confirm that the app can use your location in order to display the correct weather for your exact location, so make sure to tap Allow While Using App. Next, learn h