iPhone 12 mini wallpaper colors and gradients not working after iOS 26.3

I upgraded my 12 mini to iOS 26.3, and wallpaper colors and gradients do not seem to be working.


When I first woke it up, the background was black, which hadn’t been my previous setting.


When I select color or gradient in my wallpaper customization, the wallpaper briefly shows my selection, then reverts to showing a blurred version of my lock screen.



^ both of those selections result in the following actual display


When I look at wallpaper in settings, the phone shows my selection, even though that’s not what it’s actually displaying.


Also, sometimes changing other display settings will change the wallpaper back to black again.


Is there a solution for this? I googled around and couldn’t find anyone having this same problem. I remember hearing about a similar bug with custom color wallpapers in the desktop version of 26, but I’m surprised to see it on iPhone too.


(And yes, I could just download a solid color photo to be the background, but…)

iPhone 12 mini, iOS 26

Posted on Feb 22, 2026 7:21 AM

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Posted on Feb 22, 2026 4:42 PM

I had to break it again, but it seems like


turn off Reduce Transparency > set wallpaper > turn Reduce Transparency back on


is the sequence that lets you both use a wallpaper color/gradient and Reduce Transparency at the same time.


Still obviously a problem, but this isn’t something I’m changing frequently.

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iPhone 12 mini wallpaper colors and gradients not working after iOS 26.3

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