iOS 16.1 Lock Screen Wallpaper Display

I just updated my iPhone 11 to iOS 16.2 and now my lock screen is displaying just a black screen with the time, flashlight, and camera icons. I restarted the phone and verified that Settings/Wallpaper is set to select the wallpaper image that I have been using for years. After restarting the iPhone, the correct wallpaper was displayed but the next time the display went to sleep, it was again just showing the black background image.

iPhone 11

Posted on Oct 25, 2022 11:24 AM

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Question marked as Best answer

I have worked around this issue by going to Settings/Wallpaper/+Add New Wallpaper and then selecting the wallpaper image I used in the past.

Posted on Oct 29, 2022 8:44 AM

334 replies

Jun 24, 2023 10:11 PM in response to gestler

Think like an apple dev. That means break something that intuitively works. In this case, make the DO NOT DISTURB function black out the screen wallpaper but not the white text. To fix, simply turn DO NOT DISTURB off. This will restore your lock screen. This is why the problem returns after people "fix" it. Because your apple dev thinks he/she knows better than the user. Welcome to iPhone ****. Thanks Tim.


I suggest an alternative, like a message "Do Not Disturb will back your screen click here to undo that." OR better yet, let them opt in to it. There a UIX feature that apple would never dream of thinking, because of course, they know better than their consumers.

Jul 11, 2023 1:46 AM in response to gestler

I ran into exactly this problem immediately after applying today’s security update. Why has this never been fixed by Apple? I note THOUSANDS of people checking “Me too” on this incredibly long term bug.


And yes, I ran through all the workarounds, all failing. I’ll be reinstalling the OS. If that also fails, I’ll anesthetize myself and slog through Apple “Support”. (o_0)

Jul 21, 2023 7:42 AM in response to gestler

I chose a photo to be my wallpaper. It asks me what I want to pair it with. I don’t wanna pair with anything I want that photo in the background. All I can choose from is a series of solid colors in varying gradients.

Where is the photo I chose for backy except in my camera. It’s nowhere to be found!

Oct 25, 2023 1:10 AM in response to gestler

Yes I’m having this problem too. Just bought a refurbished iPhone 13 mini, which arrived yesterday. I erased everything, then used quick start to transfer everything from my old phone. I then updated to the latest iOS 17. Worked fine on my old SE for years, running iOS 16.1 I think. I don’t want the wallpaper I’ve had for years, time to update with a photo of my son, now I have a bigger 5.4” screen. It looked like everything was working nicely, I mean it won’t let me either customise or delete my old generic image wallpaper, but okay I made a new one and another for my Lock Screen.


Then as you say, sleep focus came on and now there’s just black wallpaper on my Lock Screen. And my Home Screen reverted to the one from before the one I didn’t want. In fact sleep mode hasn’t been working properly since I updated iOS on my old phone to 16.1 from memory, I know it was one starting with 16 anyway. It does not switch off in the mornings, as my sleep schedule tells it to.


I did find a possible solution I need to work through. I discovered when I went into sleep focus settings (… menu) I could select my new wallpaper for sleep mode. But then when I tried to select it from the wallpaper screen it put my phone straight into sleep focus. Possibly I need to make a different set of wallpapers for sleep mode, and keep the set I made just for normal mode. I don’t know. It just feels like iOS got broken at 16 and now they’re having trouble fixing it. They really did a good sell on iOS 17 but it still doesn’t deliver.


EDIT: black wallpaper again on my Lock Screen as it’s just gone into sleep mode. I did just go back into it and I saw my actual wallpaper flash up briefly but then it was gone again. So it’s still in there somewhere.

Oct 25, 2023 1:08 AM in response to diosel

Yes I’m feeling like the solution might be on that screen somehow. I did find I can set my desired wallpaper to come up only in sleep focus, although it just went into sleep mode tonight and it’s black again. Just got a new (to me) phone yesterday so I haven’t quite worked it all out yet. My last phone ran out of storage long ago, so I hadn’t updated iOS since 16.1 so 17.3 or whatever it is now is a bit of a learning curve. I don’t recall this issue with iOS 16.1 but I do recall they broke sleep mode with that one so it no longer turns off in the morning as it’s meant to.

iOS 16.1 Lock Screen Wallpaper Display

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