iPhone wallpaper keeps going black iOS 16.1

Mine was doing the same thing and I finally think I discovered how to fix it.

• Go to Settings>Focus>Personal>Options
• Turn off “Dim Lock Screen”

After I did that, my lock screen appeared as it should.

Did you ever find a fix? I have the same issue on 2 different 14ProMax. It was fine on my old XSMax. On new phone it will not allow a different lock n Home Screen. Also had the black out Home Screen issue.

When I reboot or restart my iPhone I lose my wallpaper picture to a solid black screen. I go to settings>wallpaper select add new wallpaper. Go to my pictures to select what I had before, but it gives me a blurry picture! This only started after last update.

Ok, so the best Answer written above worked - I’ve not had an issue since i followed those instructions. Basically, you can have multiple combinations of lock and Home Screen and switch between the options (see Apple’s own instructions on how to do this) but when setting them, I had set the Lock Screen first then customise the Home Screen - I used the same pictures as my original ones, but putting them in a new option meant they have stayed

I have the same problem that just started. I restarted once it came back. Six hours the same thing happened. I restarted it but the wallpaper did not come back. I deleted the photo and reinstalled it.

so essentially, whatever photo you put on your lockscreen, keep it somewhere safe outside of any Apple product, because it will be lost otherwise... one random update later or another. Apple "backup" is not a real backup, it's a mirage.

I don’t know that if I so much found a solution as it stopped happening. I changed the pictures in the wallpaper setting and deleted the others. Then I rebooted the phone. It’s been a month…so far it’s working.

Hello, I have experienced the black screen issue on my Home and Lock screens several times. Seems to happen with certain iOS updates. What worked for me was to select "Settings" (the silver gear icon) scroll down to "Wallpaper," select that and you may or may not see your previous photo before screen went black, it may be blank, looking more like a template waiting to be filled with an image. But hang in there. Touch the photo screen which will expand to "customize". You will see your original photo or you can add a new one. Once you've done your customizing then select "done" which returns to the previous screen now displaying your image. Then look to the lower left corner for a thumbnail image of your photo with the word "pair" beneath it. Select "pair" and the photo will once again be restored to your Lock and Home Screen. Exit out and hopefully this solved the black screen problem for you. Good luck.

Hi belcantoCali,

Your method works, but only if the lock screen wallpaper and the phone's wallpaper are the same. When I tried to change my lock screen wallpaper back to the original wall paper (how I had it before the IOS update), my main wallpaper in my phone turned black again. Before the update to IOS 16.1.1, my lock screen wall paper was different from my main wall paper and I had no issues with it. With this new update, it seems to want you to use the same wallpaper for the lock screen and the main wallpaper, which is ludicrous. I hope Apple will push out a patch to fix this soon!

Me too, it just started doing this today (11 Dec 22) after I had to power off. The highlighted work around isn’t great for me since my Home Screen isn’t a photo, it’s an ombré in grey. I can’t cope with a photo behind the widgets.

I’m wondering if part of this issue stems from importing the settings from my previous phone, rather than them being a choice on the new one? (I’ve gone from an 8+ to a 13pro). I can’t find any other screen setting allowing you to choose a colour over a photo. Honestly, not everything needs updating all the time!

For those who can’t find the original wallpaper photo on their phone, did you migrate your photos on a phone upgrade too?

edit: I’ve now found the colour choices but struggling to have colour on my Home Screen and photo on Lock Screen - even though it says customise them individually

After the update it seemed to have resolved. Is back to the same old crap. This is so frustrating and Apple needs to fix this! Way too much money for a phone and there is no one to reach out to in Apple for help wirh this ongoing issue.

Same issue. Lock Screen wallpaper changes to black - happens several times a day. I have to restart my phone to get “original” wallpaper back, which is an old photo that I do not have in my photos anymore, so I can’t “reset” it. Frustrating.

I've had this problem on version 16 then on 16.1 then on 16.2 then on 16.3 all the work arounds are temporary. I've contacted apple. Worked with an apple analyst and still this is not working so annoying. I've restored from backup and works for a time but goes back to black. This part may be helpful I've noticed that coming back from an app which may already have a black background the system keeps that background. I would have the Home Screen display the setup Home Screen every time there is an exist and return to Home Screen. Or the Home Screen will keep the last app appearance. Hope this is helpful ...... waiting for the fix .....

Well thanks for looking into this ..... It has stopped..... I no longer get black screen when I return from an app. And I don't remember if I had done something or ver 12.6.3 had taken care of it.

And after the an apple analyst...... is the following *******************

Worked with an apple analyst and still this is not working so annoying. I've restored from backup and works for a time but goes back to black. This part may be helpful I've noticed that coming back from an app which may already have a black background the system keeps that background. I would have the Home Screen display the setup Home Screen every time there is an exist and return to Home Screen. Or the Home Screen will keep the last app appearance. Hope this is helpful ...... waiting for the fix .....