How to add widget picture to home screen

One of the best ways to personalize your iPhone is to add custom icons and tiles of various shapes and sizes for apps, widgets, and folders, anywhere on your home screens. You can also swap in images you choose and design in place of standard icons. This feature has been available since iOS 14, and in the upcoming iOS 16, you'll be able to make your customized home screen change automatically based on your Focus mode, as well as customize the lock screen.

Table of Contents Show

How to Create Custom Icons for Your iPhone
Recommended by Our Editors
How to Create a Custom Photo Widget with Widgetsmith
How to Add Photo Widget to iPhone Home Screen
How do I add a widget photo to my home screen?
How do I pin a picture to my home screen?
How do I change the featured picture on my iPhone widget?

As an example of how far you can go with icon customization, one user on Twitter used MS Paint(Opens in a new window) to produce amusingly amateur-looking icons. The secret here is the Shortcuts app. Read on to find out how to create a unique iOS home screens with custom icons and widgets.

How to Create Custom Icons for Your iPhone

Open the Shortcuts app(Opens in a new window) on your iPhone and tap the plus sign (+) in the upper right corner of the screen, which takes you to the New Shortcut page.

Choose Add Action.

(Credit: PCMag)

Tap on the Scripting icon. (If you're tempted to click on Apps, you'll only see actions created by the app maker, such as starting a tweet, rather than just opening the app.)

Select Open App, then select the three-dot menu icon at the top right to show Details.

Choose Add to Home Screen. Tap the lower, smaller icon next to the name of your new shortcut. The default name is New Shortcut; tap the circled X to rename it.

(Credit: PCMag)

Here we get to the meat of the tip: The mini Edit Icon menu lets you choose a file, a photo from your camera roll, or snap a picture with the iPhone's camera to replace the icon.

Tap Add to Home Screen and select the icon next to your shortcut under Home Screen Name and Icon.

In the pop-up window that appears, select File, Photo, or Take Photo. You can crop an image to customize what will show, but happily, the image needn't be square or a specific size.

(Credit: PCMag)

Tap Add > Done.

You can see my new icons for Acrobat and AccuWeather. I used Windows 10's Paint 3D to create the mock Acrobat icon.

(Credit: PCMag)

Note that while it's fun to create custom icons, there are drawbacks. For one, when you tap the custom icon to open the app, you don't go directly to the app. Instead, the action first opens the Shortcuts app, which then shunts you to the app you want.

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Also, you lose any long-press menu options the official icon provides. For example, the WhatsApp icon offers starting a chat or taking a picture on a long tap. The only options you get when you long-press a custom icon are to delete it (it's called a Bookmark in this menu rather than an App) or edit the home page.

Custom icons are fun, but I'm far more excited by widgets on the home screens. Adding a widget to a home page is extremely simple.

Long-tap on the home page, then tap the plus sign (+) button at the top—it's on the left on some iPhone models and the right for others.

Select the widget you want. You can then scroll through whatever size and design choices are available by swiping to the right.

(Credit: PCMag)

To make a selection, press the big blue Add Widget bar along the bottom of the screen. You may have to allow privacy information the app widget requires. That's it! Enjoy your new widget.

For more on iOS customization and other tweaks, read Hidden iPhone Tips and Tricks to Make You an iOS Pro.

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Khamosh Pathak / How-To Geek

There are some memories that you want to relive and remember forever. The best way to do that is by placing them right on your iPhone’s home screen. Here’s how to add photos to your iPhone home screen using widgets.

With iOS 14 and higher, you can add widgets right to the home screen. Home screen widgets are quite versatile, and you can see your reminders, calendar, and yes, even photos, right on your home screen.

RELATED: How to Add and Remove Widgets from the Home Screen on iPhone

Apple has a built-in Photos widget that shows random photos from your photo library. But if you have 20,000 photos in your iCloud Photos, this isn’t going to be that useful. It’s better to create a custom widget to only show a specific image or a couple of your favorite photos.

This can be done quite easily using the free Widgetsmith app.

Widgetsmith lets you create and customize widgets based on templates. You can either use a single photo, or an album (that the widget will cycle through).

After downloading the Widgetsmith app, first, open the app, and navigate to Settings > Permissions to grant the permission for Photos access.

Now, when you go to the “Widgets” tab, you’ll see that Widgetsmith already has templates for small, medium, and large widgets. To create a new widget, tap the “Add (Size) Widget” button. Now, select a widget that you want to edit.

Once again, tap the widget preview from the middle of the screen.

Now, from the “Style” tab, scroll down to the Custom section. Here, you’ll see two options: Photo, and Photos in Album.

If you want to add a single photo, choose the “Photo” option.

Tap the “Selected Photo” tab, and from here select the “Choose Photo” option.

Now, browse through your library and select a photo.

After selecting the photo, tap the “Back” button to go back to the widget preview.

If you want to choose an album, choose the “Photo in Album” option.

Then, from the “Selected Album” section, choose an album that you want to feature on your home screen. Tap the “Back” button to go back to the widget preview screen.

Here, you can rename the widget if you want. Tap the “Save” button to save the name. Then select the “Save” button once more to save the widget.

Now that we have created the photo widget, it’s time to add it to your home screen.

Go to your iPhone’s home screen page where you want to add the widget, and tap and hold on the home screen till you enter the home screen editing mode (where the icons start to jiggle).

Now, tap the “+” icon from the top-left corner of the screen.

Here, choose the “Widgetsmith” app.

Now, switch to the size of the widget that you created above (small, medium, or large), and tap the “Add Widget” button.

You’ll now see the Widgetsmith widget on your home screen, but it might not show photos. To edit the widget, simply tap on it while still in Juggle mode.

From the menu, choose the “Widget” option.

Here, switch to the widget we created in the section above.

You’ll now see your photo (or photos) in the widget. You can move the widget anywhere on the home screen. Now, just swipe up from the Home bar, or press the Home button to exit the editing mode.

And, that’s it. You have just added some photos to the iPhone home screen!

You can repeat this process to create multiple widgets, of multiple sizes. You can even stack a couple of photos widgets on top of each other!

RELATED: How to Create a Widget Stack on Your iPhone Home Screen