Learn how to remove the blur effect from your iPhone’s Home Screen wallpaper for a clear appearance, especially if you prefer high-quality photographs as backdrops.
When you set a wallpaper pair, your iPhone uses the original, unblurred image for the Lock Screen wallpaper. For your Home Screen, however, iOS automatically applies a blur effect. Blurring makes the image more subdued, creating less distractions and making app icons and widgets stand out.
But if you’d like to set that golden hour portrait or a nature photo you took on a recent trip as your Home Screen background, you may want to turn off blurring. The good news is, Apple lets you do that and we have the steps showing you how it’s done!
Set the original, unblurred wallpaper
Launch the built-in Photos app and open an image, then touch the share icon and choose Use as Wallpaper from the menu. Adjust the wallpaper crop optionally, then hit the Add button in the top-right corner.
Select Customize Home Screen in the popup that appears and be sure to touch the Blur option in the bottom-right corner to unblurr the wallpaper, then hit Done to apply it. If you swipe up from the bottom edge to go to the Home Screen, you’ll find that your wallpaper no longer has the blur effect.
I use the blur for some of my Home Screen backdrops, like these “Now or Never” wallpapers, to reduce unwanted distractions and focus my attention on app icons. Like many others, however, in most cases I set my wallpapers without the Blur option—especially for a minimal Home Screen you see at the top of this post.
Also, check out: How to set different images as iPhone Lock Screen and Home Screen wallpaper