# Lock screen wallpaper ideas: clean backgrounds for your phone [Canonical HTML page](https://gradiently.design/guide/lock-screen-wallpaper) The lock screen is the image you see dozens of times a day, usually with a clock, widgets and notifications on top. The best wallpapers are designed around those, not in spite of them. ## The short version - The clock and widgets sit in the top third of a phone lock screen, notifications fill the middle, and shortcuts sit in the bottom corners. - A lock screen wallpaper keeps the clock readable when the area behind it is calm and evenly dark or evenly light. - Calm gradients, single colours with grain, minimal shapes and soft, low detail photos make the cleanest lock screens. - Make the wallpaper at your phone's exact resolution, which you can read from the dimensions of any screenshot. - Leave a margin around anything important, because some phones zoom or shift the wallpaper slightly. The cleanest **lock screen wallpaper ideas** are designed around what the phone puts on top: the clock and widgets in the top third, notifications in the middle and shortcuts in the bottom corners. Keep the area behind the clock calm and evenly dark (for white type) or evenly light (for dark type), put any detail lower down or at the edges, and choose quiet styles such as soft gradients, a single colour with grain, or one simple shape. Make it at your phone's exact resolution, which any screenshot will tell you. ## Where things sit on a lock screen Every phone arranges the lock screen a little differently, but the pattern is broadly the same. Design for it and your wallpaper will look intentional rather than covered up. | Zone | What sits there | What to put behind it | | --- | --- | --- | | Top third | Clock, date, widgets | An even, calm tone with strong contrast for the time | | Middle | Notifications, music controls | Soft colour; it is often covered anyway | | Bottom | Torch and camera shortcuts, home bar | Detail, texture or the brightest colour | The three bands of a phone lock screen. The more calm the top third, the better the clock reads. The size depends on your phone. Take a screenshot and check its dimensions in your photo app: that is the resolution to design at. Most current phones are tall, around 9:19.5 to 9:20; [phone wallpaper size](https://gradiently.design/guide/phone-wallpaper-size) explains how to check and why 1080×1920 is usually too short. ## How to keep the lock screen clock readable The time is the reason you look at the lock screen at all. Most phones show it in white by default, and some let you pick its colour. Either way, the rule is the same: the area behind the clock should be one even tone, clearly darker or clearly lighter than the digits. A bright cloud in a dark sky, or a face right behind the time, is where lock screens go wrong. A tall phone lock screen where the time crosses a bright part of the gradient and is partly hard to read Colour moving straight through the clock area: some digits sit on light, some on dark. The same tall phone lock screen with an even, calm area of colour behind the time, which reads clearly The same wallpaper with a calm, even area behind the clock. > **Darker at the top** If your clock is white, choose or build a wallpaper that is deepest at the top and lightens towards the bottom. It keeps the time crisp and still lets the wallpaper feel bright. ## Lock screen wallpaper ideas Clean does not mean boring. Each of these leaves the top third calm and still gives the phone a look. 1. **Dusk gradient.** Deep navy at the top fading to a warm horizon at the bottom. White clock, no contest. 2. **Light from below.** A dark ground with one glow of colour rising from the bottom edge. 3. **Pastel wash.** Pale pink into lilac, with a dark clock. Soft and readable in daylight. 4. **Single colour with grain.** Your favourite colour, flat, with fine noise. Looks like paper, not a default. 5. **One shape at the bottom.** A circle, arch or wave sitting low, leaving the top empty. 6. **Horizon photo, low.** Sea, field or desert with the horizon in the lower third and plain sky behind the clock. 7. **Depth effect friendly.** A subject at the bottom with a plain background above, so the clock can sit behind or in front of it on phones that support it. 8. **Monochrome.** Black into charcoal for a phone that disappears into a desk. 9. **Seasonal colour.** Change the palette with the season: greens in spring, ambers in autumn. 10. **Matched pair.** A lock screen and a home screen in the same colours, the home screen calmer still. - 1. Dusk: `linear-gradient(180deg, #0b1230 0%, #3b2a6b 50%, #f08a5d 100%)` - 2. Light from below: `radial-gradient(ellipse at 50% 100%, #22d3ee 0%, #0e4f66 35%, #050b14 75%)` - 3. Pastel wash: `linear-gradient(180deg, #fde2f3 0%, #e9d5ff 55%, #c7d2fe 100%)` - 8. Monochrome: `linear-gradient(180deg, #0a0a0a 0%, #1c1c1e 60%, #2c2c2e 100%)` - 9. Spring green: `linear-gradient(180deg, #052e16 0%, #166534 55%, #86efac 100%)` - 9. Autumn amber: `linear-gradient(180deg, #1c0f05 0%, #78350f 55%, #f59e0b 100%)` Vertical blends that are deepest or calmest at the top, ready to copy. The pastel wash wants a dark clock; the others suit white. For more colour, [gradient wallpaper](https://gradiently.design/guide/gradient-wallpaper) has a wider collection, and [dark gradient backgrounds](https://gradiently.design/guide/dark-gradient-backgrounds) is worth reading before you choose a very dark one, since that is where stripes show most. ## How to make your own lock screen wallpaper 1. **Screenshot your lock screen** The screenshot gives you the exact size and shows where your clock and widgets sit. 2. **Plan the three bands** Calm at the top, soft in the middle, detail at the bottom if you want any. 3. **Build the background** Pick a ground colour and one or two related colours. Keep the top area even in tone. 4. **Leave a margin** Keep anything important away from the edges, because some phones zoom or shift the wallpaper slightly. 5. **Save as PNG and test** Set it, lock the phone, and look at it with notifications showing. Adjust until the time reads at a glance. Gradiently's Studio has wallpaper templates and custom sizes from 200 to 8,000 pixels, so you can match your screenshot exactly. A Mark's background knows where words sit and keeps that area calm, which is exactly what a clock needs, and on Pro it can export as a seamless MP4 or WebM loop if you want a [live wallpaper](https://gradiently.design/guide/live-wallpaper) on phones that support video. ## Lock screen wallpaper mistakes to avoid ### Avoid - Faces or bright detail behind the clock - Busy patterns that fight notifications - Images too small, so the phone zooms them - Pure white, which glares at night - Important detail right at the edges ### Do - An even tone behind the time - Calm colour through the middle - Your phone's exact resolution - Deep or muted tones for night use - A margin on every side Want matching backgrounds on your other screens? See [iPad wallpaper size](https://gradiently.design/guide/ipad-wallpaper) and [desktop wallpapers](https://gradiently.design/guide/desktop-wallpaper-ideas). ## FAQ ### What makes a good lock screen wallpaper? A calm, even area behind the clock with strong contrast, quiet colour through the middle for notifications, and any detail kept towards the bottom. ### What size should a lock screen wallpaper be? Your phone's exact resolution. Take a screenshot and check its dimensions; most current phones are around 9:19.5 to 9:20, taller than 1080×1920. ### Why can't I read the clock on my lock screen? The wallpaper behind it changes from light to dark, so part of the time loses contrast. Choose an image with an even tone in the top third. ### Should my lock screen and home screen wallpaper match? They work well as a pair in the same colours, with the home screen calmer still, because app icons cover most of it.