How to make a quote wallpaper on iPhone
Saving a quote as a picture takes a few seconds. The two things that decide whether you keep it are where the clock lands on the words, and what happens the fortieth time you read the same line. This guide covers both, along with the steps.
Wallpaper or widget?
Worth a moment before you start, because they are different things to live with.
| A quote wallpaper | A Lock Screen widget | |
|---|---|---|
| Changes | Never, unless you set up Photo Shuffle | About once an hour, by itself |
| Looks | Full color, the photo and typeface you chose, filling the screen | A short line under the clock, in the single tone iOS gives every Lock Screen widget |
| Best for | One line you want to live with for a while | Something new every time you pick your iPhone up |
If you want both, pick one for the Lock Screen and put the other somewhere else, because a widget sits right where the words of a wallpaper usually are. The widget route, and the third way (quotes that arrive as notifications), are in how to put quotes on your iPhone Lock Screen.
Making the wallpaper
Dailies is the example here, because it saves a quote as a picture in the tall shape of a phone screen. A picture from anywhere else works from step four on.
- Choose the look first. The saved picture carries the background and typeface you are reading the quote in, so set those the way you want them in the app before you save.
- Find the quote and tap the share button, or press and hold the quote.
- Tap Save image. The first time, iOS asks to let Dailies add to your photos; allow it. The picture lands at the end of your photo library.
- Open Settings → Wallpaper and tap Add New Wallpaper, then tap Photos and choose the picture. (Or open the picture in the Photos app, tap the share button, and tap Use as Wallpaper.)
- Check the words clear the clock, pinching or dragging the picture if they do not, then tap Add.
- Tap Set as Wallpaper Pair to use it on the Home Screen as well, or Customize Home Screen to give the Home Screen something calmer.
Pictures saved on the free version carry a small Dailies wordmark near the bottom edge; pictures saved with an active Premium subscription do not. Either way the picture is yours to use as a wallpaper or send to a friend.
Keeping the clock off the words
This is the step to take slowly. The clock sits high on the Lock Screen and is drawn on top of whatever is underneath, so a quote that runs into the top third of the picture ends up behind the time.
- Short quotes are safest. Dailies sets the quote a little above the middle of the picture. A line of a sentence or two stays well clear of the clock; a long paragraph climbs toward it.
- Leave the clock small. Recent versions of iOS let you stretch the time taller and make it see-through. Lovely over a landscape, and exactly wrong over a sentence. Tap the time while customizing to change its font and color, and keep it to its smallest size.
- Leave the sides alone. An iPhone screen is a little narrower than the saved picture, so iOS trims a sliver off each side to fill it. Pinch out only if a word is actually cut off.
- Turn off any depth or 3D effect. If iOS offers to lift part of the photo in front of the clock, it is guessing at a subject, and in a quote picture the subject is the words. Tap the … button while customizing and switch it off if it does anything strange.
- Mind the widgets. A Lock Screen widget sits just under the clock, right on top of the words. With a quote wallpaper, leave that row empty.
- Swipe for a filter if you like, but check the words still read. Some styles darken or tint the whole picture, text included.
Rotating several with Photo Shuffle
The honest problem with a quote wallpaper is that it never changes, and a line you have read four hundred times stops being read at all. Photo Shuffle fixes that: iOS swaps the wallpaper for another picture from an album you choose, as often as you like.
- In the Photos app, make an album of the quote pictures you have saved.
- Open Settings → Wallpaper, tap Add New Wallpaper, and choose Photo Shuffle from the top row.
- Choose your album, and a shuffle frequency: On Tap, On Lock, Hourly or Daily.
- Tap Use Album, check the result, and tap Add.
Daily suits quotes best: one line for the day, a different one tomorrow. On Tap is the other good choice, a new picture whenever you tap the Lock Screen. iOS frames each picture in the shuffle on its own, so keep the album to short quotes and the clock will stay clear of every one of them.
You can also keep a handful of separate Lock Screens, each with its own quote, and swipe between them by touching and holding the Lock Screen. And if you would like a different one for work and for evenings, iOS can switch for you: how to link a Lock Screen to a Focus.
The Home Screen side
A quote behind your apps rarely works. The icons land on the words, and neither reads well. When iOS asks after you tap Add, choose Customize Home Screen and pick Blur, or a plain color, so the Lock Screen keeps the quote and the Home Screen stays clean.
If you want a quote on the Home Screen too, a widget does it better than a wallpaper: it sits in a box of its own, in color, and changes through the day. See how to add a widget to your Home Screen.
When it goes wrong
Save image does nothing, or asks for photo access
iOS needs your permission for an app to add pictures. Open Settings → Apps → Dailies → Photos and allow it to add photos, then save again.
I cannot find the picture I saved
It is at the end of your photo library, under the newest pictures, and in Recents. Searching Photos for the date you saved it also finds it.
The quote looks blurry
Usually the picture has been zoomed in. Remove the wallpaper and add it again without pinching, so iOS shows the picture at its natural size.
The wallpaper stopped shuffling
Photo Shuffle only uses the album you gave it, so check the pictures are still in it.
Something else? help@mydailies.app reaches a person, and the help page covers the rest of the app.
Questions
How do I make a quote my wallpaper on iPhone?
Save the quote as a picture, then open Settings, tap Wallpaper, then Add New Wallpaper, choose Photos and pick it. Check the words clear the clock before you tap Add. In Dailies, tap the share button on a quote and choose Save image to get the picture.
Will a quote wallpaper change by itself?
No. A wallpaper is a picture and stays until you change it. To rotate several, put them in an album and use Photo Shuffle, which can swap them daily, hourly, every time you lock your iPhone, or when you tap the Lock Screen. For a quote that changes through the day without any of that, use a Lock Screen widget.
Why is the clock covering my quote?
The clock is drawn on top of the wallpaper, high on the screen. Use a shorter quote, keep the clock at its smallest size, and drag the picture down slightly if you need to. Turning off any depth effect also helps.
Can I remove the Dailies logo from the picture?
Yes. Pictures saved with an active Dailies Premium subscription carry no wordmark. Pictures saved on the free version have a small one near the bottom edge.
Can I use a different wallpaper on the Home Screen?
Yes. After you tap Add, choose Customize Home Screen instead of Set as Wallpaper Pair, and pick a color, a blur or another photo. A blurred or plain Home Screen keeps your app icons off the words.
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