Apple has redesigned the iOS 26 Lock Screen to take full advantage of Liquid Glass, its new unifying UI vision that encompasses all its operating systems. With dynamic fonts, 3D effects, and an animated Now Playing interface, Apple really knocked this one out of the park. Here’s what’s new.
Dynamic clock
Let’s start with the most immediate change: the Lock Screen clock. Apple has replaced the old static layout with one that feels more alive.
The numerals now subtly morph in weight, width, and height depending on your photo, intelligently tucking themselves around subjects using what Apple says is a custom version of the San Francisco typeface.
Parallax effect
Top comment by Mark Langston
The animated album art on the front screen is gonna be awesome!! I donned a Joker smile when it came up during the keynote.
The most impressive, stunningly gorgeous and designed album art animation on Apple Music, I believe, is on the album "Studio City" by 90's Child Actor. It's a looped animation of a slow drone-like flight across a "city" comprised of music equipment like amps, keyboards, equalizers and headphones that are alive with blinking lights and flickering wave patterns. It also features Florida-looking palm trees and a day and night cycle that softly transitions from pink to navy blue to purple and back again. It looks absolutely amazing on an iPhone 16 Pro Max.
Sometimes I'll play the album just to watch the animation.
The album is also fire. A smooth, downtempo, lo-fi collection of tracks that's great for chillin', cleaning, studying or even falling asleep to.
I've yet to see better album animation but I'd love to be proven wrong. Animated album art is one of features I love most about Apple Music.
Apple is also applying on-device computer vision to generate spatial depth maps from your photos. The result: an almost 3D-like parallax effect that reacts as you move your iPhone.
Animated Now Playing widget
As 9to5Mac had exclusively reported last week, music lovers now get a full-screen Now Playing widget, which gently animates in sync with the playback UI. It’s a small touch, but it makes the Lock Screen feel even more alive and personalized.
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What did you think of the new iOS 26 lock screen? Let us know in the comments.
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