iOS lock screen photo shuffle showing same small number of photos

Hi rick_L123,

You are right that the 'Photo Shuffle' doesn't act like a traditional randomizer. By default, iOS uses on-device machine learning to select what it considers 'High Quality' or 'Featured' photos, which is why it keeps looping the same small subset.

To bypass the AI curation and force it to use all 100 photos in your folder, try this specific setup:

1. Delete the current Lock Screen: Long-press your Lock Screen, swipe up on the Photo Shuffle one, and tap the Trash icon to start fresh.
2. Manual Selection: Create a new Lock Screen, but instead of choosing 'Photo Shuffle' and letting it 'Use Featured Photos,' select 'Select Photos Manually' at the bottom.
3. Use the Album Tab: In the picker, tap the Albums tab, find your specific folder, and tap 'Select All' or manually tap every photo in that folder.
4. Shuffle Frequency: Tap the '...' icon in the bottom right and set the frequency to 'On Tap' or 'On Lock.' By manually selecting the images rather than letting the 'Smart' algorithm pick them, you override the 'curation' and force the system to cycle through the entire manual list you've provided. It's an extra step, but it's the only way to prevent the AI from filtering your folder.

julius,

try to set up several different manually selected lock screens with 50 photos each. That is what I have done. Then you can switch to a different set of photos whenever the photos start to repeat.

I avoid the automatically selected random photos. Photos tends to pick the photos that are not fit to be shown publicly, or is cropping them badly.

Unfortunately, adding photos manually caps at 50 photos. Also, there is no "select all" button.