How to set a wallpaper on an iPhone

Setting a wallpaper on an iPhone takes about a minute, and since iOS 16 the same screen also lets you style the lock screen and the home screen separately. The steps below match iOS 26 and later; older versions use the same path with slightly different wording.

Pick the right picture first

iPhone screens are tall, so choose a portrait frame. On WallpaperDuck the phone pictures are 1776 × 3840 pixels, which is sharper than any current iPhone display needs, and they are framed so the subject sits clear of the clock at the top and the dock at the bottom. Browse the phone-shaped pictures by choosing the tall aspect filter on the home page, or start from a topic such as /wallpapers/dark if you want deep blacks that look good on an OLED panel.

If you download a landscape picture, iOS will still accept it, but you will have to pinch and drag to choose a crop, and a lot of the image is lost. A portrait file avoids that.

Save the image to Photos

Open the wallpaper in Safari and tap the download button on its page.
When the file opens, press and hold it, then tap Add to Photos. If Safari shows a download banner instead, tap it and use the share sheet to save to Photos.
Check Photos, where the picture should now be at the top of Recents.

Apply it from Settings

Open Settings and tap Wallpaper.
Tap Add New Wallpaper, then Photos, and pick the picture you saved.
Pinch to zoom and drag to place the subject. Swipe sideways on the preview to try the available looks and filters.
Tap Add. iOS asks whether to use the picture as a pair or to customise the home screen separately.
Choose Set as Wallpaper Pair to use it on both screens, or Customize Home Screen to give the home screen a different picture, a plain colour or a blurred version.

Apply it straight from Photos

You can also open the picture in Photos, tap the share button and choose Use as Wallpaper. This opens the same editor, so you can still reposition it before confirming.

Tips that save time

Depth effect: iOS can place the clock behind a subject when the picture has a clear foreground. It works best on images with a distinct subject and plenty of empty space. If the clock looks cramped, look for the Depth Effect option in the editor and switch it off.
Different looks for different moments: each Focus can have its own lock screen. Swipe sideways on the lock screen to switch between saved ones.
Brightness at night: a very bright picture can glare on a dark lock screen. A darker frame, for example from the dark topic page, is gentler.
Replacing it later: go back to Settings, Wallpaper and add a new wallpaper to start again without losing the saved ones.

For the difference between the two screens and how to give each a different picture, see the guide on lock screen versus home screen wallpapers on this site.

If something looks wrong

If the picture appears too zoomed, it was probably a landscape file: download a portrait version or pinch out to see more of the frame. If it looks soft, you most likely applied a small preview or a screenshot instead of the downloaded file. Use the downloaded image, not a screenshot of the page.