How to Extend Your Lock Screen Wallpaper in iOS 27 With Apple Intelligence

YOUR LOCK SCREEN PHOTO DOESN’T FIT? iOS 27 CAN FIX THAT FOR YOU.

With iOS 27, Apple Intelligence can now help you extend a photo when you use it as your Lock Screen wallpaper. This is especially useful when your favorite photo is cropped too tightly or when you want a little more space around the subject.

Instead of zooming in and cutting part of the photo away, you can simply zoom out and let Apple Intelligence create the missing area for you.

How to extend your Lock Screen photo in iOS 27

It only takes a few steps:

1. Tap and hold your Lock Screen.

2. Swipe left and tap the + icon to create a new Lock Screen.

3. Select the photo you want to use.

4. Use two fingers to pinch the photo and zoom out.

5. Keep zooming out until Apple Intelligence starts extending the image.

Your iPhone will then generate extra space around the original photo so it fits the Lock Screen better.

Why this is useful

Sometimes you have the perfect photo, but it just doesn’t work as a wallpaper. The subject might sit too close to the top of the image, or the Lock Screen crop might cut off part of the photo. With this new iOS 27 feature, you have much more freedom when choosing your wallpaper. You can keep more of the original photo visible while still filling the entire Lock Screen.

Apple Intelligence does the work for you

The best part is that you don’t need to edit the photo first. There’s no need anymore to open another app, resize the image or manually add extra space. Just pinch to zoom out and Apple Intelligence takes care of the rest.

I love this new Apple Intelligence feature and it really is helpful to make your photos fit to your Lock Screen.

Which iPhones support this?

Because this feature uses Apple Intelligence, you need an Apple Intelligence-supported iPhone running iOS 27.

Supported iPhones include:

• iPhone 15 Pro

• iPhone 15 Pro Max

• iPhone 16 series

• iPhone 16e

• iPhone 17 series

• iPhone Air

• iPhone 18 series

• Newer Apple Intelligence-supported iPhones

Regular iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus models do not support Apple Intelligence, so they can’t use this feature.

Final thoughts

I really like features like this because they make everyday iPhone customization a little easier. If you have a photo that never quite worked as a Lock Screen before, it’s definitely worth trying again in iOS 27.

Have you tried extending a Lock Screen photo yet?

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