How to customize the lock screen in Android 14

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Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge

You spend a lot of time looking at your lock screen, so it’s worth making sure that it’s tailored to your tastes — and with the right information on display, it can save you several dozen phone unlocks a day as well. While Google’s new Android 14 OS is hardly packed full of headline-grabbing new features — most of the upgrades are subtle and incremental — one area that has seen a noticeable revamp is the options for customizing the lock screen.

These extra customization options follow what Apple did with iOS 16: you’ve now got more control over the way the clock and the widgets look on your lock screen, alongside all the settings that were already in place, which I’ll recap.

Here’s how lock screen customization works now, as tested on a Google Pixel 6 Pro running Android 14.

Clock and widgets

Take your pick of clock styles.

Beneath the color choices are more options for your lock screen.

You can change the style of the lock screen clock to really stamp your personal taste on it. You can also now change the shortcuts in the corners of the display, giving you easier access to the Android tools you use the most.

• Start by opening Settings, then tap Wallpaper and style > Lock screen. You can get to the same screen by tapping and holding on the lock screen, then choosing Customize lock screen.
• Swipe left or right on the lock screen image to cycle between the different analog and digital clock styles that are available.
• Tap Clock color and size, then Color to pick a shade for the clock font. You can adjust the lightness of the shade using the slider at the bottom.
• Switch to Size to select a Dynamic clock (which changes size based on what else is on the lock screen) or a Small clock (which always stays small).

More lock screen options

For more lock screen options, head back to the Lock screen tab in the Wallpaper & style page.

Another new one: scroll down to and tap Shortcuts to choose the quick links that will appear in the lower left and right corners of the lock screen. You can pick from Camera, Do Not Disturb, Flashlight, Home, Mute, QR code scanner, Video camera, Wallet, or None.

It’s up to you which shortcuts appear on the lock screen.

You can also manage lock screen notifications and text.

That’s the new Android 14 customization options covered, but you still have the previous set of options to play around with, too. Still on the Lock screen tab, toggle Show notifications on the lock screen to either show notifications (for extra convenience) or hide them (for extra privacy).

Tap More lock screen options to get to a bunch of additional settings.

• Select Privacy to show or hide “sensitive content” in notifications (such as previews of incoming messages and emails).
• If you’ve set up your phone for multiple users, you can enable Add users from lock screen.
• Tap Add text on lock screen to have a message displayed — maybe your contact details (for if your phone gets lost) or a personal mantra to get you through the day.
• The Use device controls toggle switch determines whether or not you can control various Google Home devices (like smart lights) from the Quick Settings panel without unlocking your phone.
• The Double-line clock toggle switch controls whether or not the clock expands to fill two lines when the lock screen is empty.
• Tap Now Playing (if you have a Pixel phone) to control whether or not recognized song titles are shown on the lock screen; if the songs aren’t immediately recognized, there will be a search icon you can tap.
• If your Android phone supports an always-on display, you’ll see an Always show time and info toggle switch. Turn this on to always have the clock and any notifications shown on screen, but be aware that this will have some impact on battery life.
• If you have a Pixel, you can also enable Tap to check phone or Lift to check phone to more easily check your notifications.
• Lastly, there’s a Wake screen for notifications toggle switch you can enable if you want the screen to momentarily brighten up when notifications come in.

Back to the basics

Of course, basic lock screen customizations are still present and correct in Android 14. Head back to Wallpaper & style > Lock screen, and you’ll see a selection of wallpapers to pick from. Tap More wallpapers to see the full range of provided backdrops or to pick one from your phone’s gallery.

Pick a wallpaper from Android’s built-in selection, or choose a photo of your own.

Colors can match the wallpaper you’ve chosen — or not.

When you go into More wallpapers and choose a new image, you’ll be asked if you want to set it as the backdrop for the lock screen, the homescreen, or both screens.

Above the wallpaper thumbnails on the Wallpaper & style page are the color swatches: tap any icon to apply that color scheme, or tap the three dots for more choices on the System colors page.

Android now lets you set the colors of the operating system (menu backgrounds, fonts, accents and so on) using a palette based on your wallpaper pick. On the System colors page, tap Wallpaper colors if you want to use this approach. Tap Other colors if you’d rather have the color scheme fixed independently of the wallpaper you’ve chosen.

There’s also a Dark theme toggle switch you can use to opt for a darker version of the selected color scheme. All of these changes are previewed in the images above as you cycle through the different options.