iOS 27 brings these five new features to your iPhone’s lock screen

Apple unveiled iOS 27 at WWDC this week, and while the headline-grabbing Siri redesign received the most attention, the lock screen picked up several improvements you may have missed.

Some are brand new additions, while others are changes to features Apple introduced in iOS 26, but together they give you more control over how your lock screen looks and behaves.

Here are five to try if you plan to install the public beta next month or when iOS 27 becomes generally available in the fall.

Extend your wallpaper

A new Wallpaper Expansion feature in iOS 27 uses Apple Intelligence to automatically enlarge a photo beyond its original bounds so that it fills the entire lock screen more naturally. If a photo is cropped too much, doesn’t fit your iPhone’s aspect ratio, or leaves empty space when positioned on the lock screen, iOS 27 can generate additional image content around the edges with the “Extend” option. It will analyze the existing image and create matching background details that blend with the original photo, so there is no need for aggressive cropping. The Extend option can also be found in the Photos app.

Make the clock tiny

A new compact clock mode is available as a new lock screen layout option in iOS 27. Located in the upper-right corner of the Font & Color panel, the option moves the time from its traditional large and centered position to a much smaller format next to the date and widgets at the top of the screen. It’s a nice option if you like a cleaner lock screen look that highlights your wallpaper more completely, and it’s the completely opposite effect introduced in iOS 26 which stretches the clock across the screen.

Generate wallpapers with AI

iOS 27 also expands Image Playground with support for AI-generated lock screen wallpapers. You can create custom backgrounds using text descriptions, and the app will generate entirely new images tailored to your preferred style, subject or aesthetic, allowing you to set them directly as your lock screen wallpaper.

Change Liquid Glass Opacity

In iOS 27, Apple added a full Liquid Glass slider under Settings ➝ Appearance ➝ Liquid Glass. This changes the translucency of Liquid Glass elements, and you can choose a clear version of Liquid Glass that lets some of the background show through, select a more opaque, tinted version that improves text readability, or choose something in between. Granted, this is more of a system-wide customization feature than a lock screen-exclusive feature, but it has a direct impact on the appearance of your clock setup, buttons, widgets, and notifications.

New Siri interface

To accompany Apple’s “Siri AI” chatbot-style redesign, iOS 27 introduces a redesigned Siri experience. Instead of the glowing light effect that previously traced the edges of the screen, a swirling Siri orb now expands and animates within the dynamic island. Siri requests and responses are also now presented in a more compact interface surrounding Dynamic Island, so interactions should be more focused rather than completely taking over your lock screen.