iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 let you place the Lock Screen widgets at the bottom of your iPhone or iPad display for easy one-handed use or to make the clock bigger.
In previous versions of iOS, if you added one or more app widgets to the Lock Screen, they would stick under the clock, and you had no option to change that.
The latest iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 change this and allow you to move the widgets area down, just above the flashlight and camera controls. This makes it easy to tap the widgets when using the phone with one hand. Secondly, the widgets are pushed down mandatorily if you change the Lock Screen clock size and make it bigger.
Move Lock Screen widgets to the bottom of your iPhone or iPad display
- Touch and hold anywhere on your iPhone or iPad screen and tap Customize. Remember to hold your iPad in portrait orientation, as widgets in landscape orientation are displayed on the left side of the screen and cannot be changed.
- Touch the widget area under the digital clock and drag it down. If you don’t have widgets on this Lock Screen, add them and then pull the entire area down.
- Make other adjustments if needed and tap Done from the top.
You’ll now see that the added widgets are at the bottom of the screen. New notifications and Live Activities will appear above the widgets.
Here’s how this looks on iPad, running iPadOS 26:
One more thing to note is that even if you remove the flashlight and camera controls from the iPhone Lock Screen, the widgets will remain at their original spot and won’t move further down, as evidenced by the screenshots below.
Additionally, when you increase the Lock Screen clock size by even the slightest amount, it will automatically move the widgets to the bottom of the display. You can’t force the widget to appear at the top under the big clock.
Furthermore, when you go to iOS 26 Settings > Wallpaper > Add New Wallpaper and select an option like Photo Shuffle, you may notice that the widget area is at the bottom of the screen. This is because the Lock Screen clock automatically adjusts its size based on the image subject, and iOS is prepared for this by keeping the widgets at the bottom. But if you don’t want a dynamic clock with your photo shuffle wallpapers, you can drag the widget area to the top.
Which is your preferred position for the iPhone or iPad Lock Screen widgets? Is it at the top or the bottom?
Also, check out: 18 settings to change and new features to try in iOS 26