How to change photo on iphone widget

One of the best ways to personalize your iPhone is to add custom icons and tiles of various shapes and sizes for apps, widgets, and folders, anywhere on your home screens. You can also swap in images you choose and design in place of standard icons. This feature has been available since iOS 14, and in the upcoming iOS 16, you'll be able to make your customized home screen change automatically based on your Focus mode, as well as customize the lock screen.

As an example of how far you can go with icon customization, one user on Twitter used MS Paint(Opens in a new window) to produce amusingly amateur-looking icons. The secret here is the Shortcuts app. Read on to find out how to create a unique iOS home screens with custom icons and widgets.

How to Create Custom Icons for Your iPhone

Open the Shortcuts app(Opens in a new window) on your iPhone and tap the plus sign (+) in the upper right corner of the screen, which takes you to the New Shortcut page.

Choose Add Action.

PC hardware is nice, but it’s not much use without innovative software. I’ve been reviewing software for PCMag since 2008, and I still get a kick out of seeing what's new in video and photo editing software, and how operating systems change over time. I was privileged to byline the cover story of the last print issue of PC Magazine, the Windows 7 review, and I’ve witnessed every Microsoft win and misstep up to the latest Windows 11.

Prior to my current role, I covered software and apps for ExtremeTech, and before that I headed up PCMag’s enterprise software team, but I’m happy to be back in the more accessible realm of consumer software. I’ve attended trade shows of Microsoft, Google, and Apple and written about all of them and their products.

I’m an avid bird photographer and traveler—I’ve been to 40 countries, many with great birds! Because I’m also a classical fan and former performer, I’ve reviewed streaming services that emphasize classical music.

For years and years, Apple has left the Home Screen of the iPhone largely untouched. For better or worse, this has just been the way for far too long, and it seems that the company has finally seen the error of its ways.

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iOS 14 brings a slew of new Home Screen changes, to go along with not-as-important updates to the underbelly of iOS. After seeing so many bugs and quirks, and even a new jailbreak, for iOS 13, Apple played it safe for the most part with iOS 14.

Contents

• What are Widgets in iOS 14?
• How to customize the Photos Widget
  • How to add the Photos Widget to the Home Screen
  • Customize the Photos Widget

What are Widgets in iOS 14?

While you may be thinking that Widgets are brand new to iOS, that’s not the case, as they have been around for a few years now. The difference is that the “old” widgets were tucked away in the Today View, which means they can easily be forgotten if you aren’t used to swiping to the right on the main screen.

With iOS 14, Apple has made it possible for you to use various widgets for some of your favorite apps. During the beta, these were limited to only Apple applications, as developers were still working on updating existing apps and widgets. However, more and more developers have jumped on board, meaning that it shouldn’t be long before some of your favorite third-party apps are updated with new widgets.

How to customize the Photos Widget

Sometimes it’s just nice to scroll through the Photos app in an effort to relive those glory days or those good times at a party. Well, with iOS 14, you don’t have to worry about going into another app. The Photos Widget is now here with three different sizes to choose from, and plenty of memories and pictures to share.

How to add the Photos Widget to the Home Screen

Before you can try to customize the Photos Widget, you’ll need to make sure you have the widget on your Home Screen. This is pretty easy, as you’ll just need to follow a few steps before adding it.

1. Long press a blank space on your Home Screen until you enter “Jiggle” mode (icons start jiggling).
2. Tap the + button in the top left-hand corner.
3. Scroll until you find the Photos widget.
4. Tap on the Photos Widget.
5. Select which size you want to have on your Home Screen.
6. Tap the Add Widget button at the bottom.
7. Tap Done in the top right-hand corner.

Voila! Now the new Photos Widget is available on your Home Screen! You can either stack it with other widgets, leave it by itself, or move it around to somewhere else more fitting. After you’ve placed the Photos Widget where you want, it will cycle through (over time) various pictures and moments that you can see at a glance. And if you come across a memory or series of Photos you forgot about, just tap the widget and you’ll be taken right to it in the Photos app.

Customize the Photos Widget

Currently, there is no way for you to select which albums are available via the Photos Widget. Instead, you rely on the Memories and “Featured Photos” albums that are available in the Photos app.

Since there is no way to add more Photos to either of those albums manually, the only way to “customize” the widget is by removing photos you don’t want to see. Here’s how you can do so for both Memories and Featured Photos:

1. Open the Photos app on your iPhone.
2. Tap the For You tab at the bottom.
3. Under Featured Photos, scroll to the right to find the picture you want to remove.
4. Long-press on the photo and tap Remove from Featured Photos.
5. Under Memories, tap the See All button.
6. Find the Memories you want to have removed.
7. Long-press and tap Delete Memory.

Another option if you are trying to customize what Memories are being shown is to select the option for Suggest Fewer Memories Like This. That helps your iPhone determine what type of photos and Memories should actually be shown. For example, you don’t want to have a slew of memes appear as a memory, only to miss out on that day at the park.

Andrew Myrick

Andrew is a freelance writer based on the East Coast of the US.

He has written for a variety of sites over the years, including iMore, Android Central, Phandroid, and a few others. Now, he spends his days working for an HVAC company, while moonlighting as a freelance writer at night.