What is happening
Between the release of iOS 16, the upcoming expansion of the company’s Glance for lock screen content in the US, and updates to Google’s Pixel phone widgets, it’s clear that the lock screen is about to change.
Why it matters
The lock screen is the first thing most people see when they pick up their phone. These updates suggest that companies are trying to make better use of this space.
What next
Apple’s iOS 16 update officially launched in the fall, and it just arrived in public beta on Monday. Glance did not provide a timeline for its US debut.
How many times do you check your phone every day? Whether it’s just once or too many times to count, you’re always greeted first by your lock screen wallpaper. Maybe it’s a picture of your pet, a picture of a beautiful sunset from a recent vacation, or just a great piece of art. All that could change very soon.
The lock screen has long been considered an intimate space reserved for personal photos, important notifications, and tools like the flashlight. But companies are increasingly looking to do more with that valuable real estate, as evidenced by Apple’s iOS 16 update and other changes reportedly coming to Android phones.
Apple’s iOS 16 update, which launched in public beta on Monday, will bring more customization options and new widgets to the iPhone’s lock screen when it arrives this fall. You’ll be able to see more information quickly and apply stylistic effects to photos on the lock screen, similar to the iPhone’s portrait mode photography feature.
Glance, a Google-backed subsidiary of mobile ad tech company InMobi, also confirmed plans to bring its lock screen platform to the US. Google is reportedly planning to include more information in its own lock screen widget for Pixel phones.
Taken together, changes like these suggest we may not want to scroll past our lock screens so quickly in the future.
The iPhone lock screen widget gallery in iOS 16.
Apple/Screenshot from CNET
The iPhone lock screen is getting a major overhaul
One of the biggest features coming to iOS 16 is the new lock screen. Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, called it “the biggest update ever” when he introduced the update at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in June. You’ll be able to customize the font styles and colors for the date and time in addition to giving your background photo a magazine cover aesthetic.
As I wrote earlier, the new widgets will really bring more utility to the iPhone lock screen. The iPhone now lets you place widgets on the secondary Today View screen on your lock screen, which you can access by swiping right.
But iOS 16 adds widgets to the main lock screen to display bits of information at a glance, such as temperature, Apple Watch activity rings, and upcoming calendar appointments. Android phones have offered this type of functionality for years, and it’s nice to see the iPhone follow suit. You can even create multiple lock screens and cycle through them, similar to Apple Watch watch faces.
Since you can add widgets from apps like Spotify, Google Maps, and Outlook to the iPhone’s Today View, I wouldn’t be surprised to see third-party widgets available for the new lock screen as well. If you watch Apple’s WWDC demo closely, you can even see a Nike widget option. That means developers may soon have another way to reach iPhone owners and prevent their apps from being buried deep in a user’s app library.
It’s impossible to know how useful this new lock screen will be without spending significant time with iOS 16. But as I’ve written before, it looks like iOS 16’s new widgets will make your iPhone feel more like an Apple Watch. which looks like an upgrade. Like the Apple Watch, the new lock screen should make it easier to see important information without having to dig into apps or even unlock your phone.
A screenshot from Glance’s website showing what its lock screen platform looks like.
View/screenshot from CNET
Android phone owners may soon have new lock screen options
Glance, which offers entertainment and other digital content on the lock screens of select Android devices in India and Southeast Asia, is in talks with wireless carriers to launch in the US in the next two months, according to TechCrunch. While the company hasn’t revealed a U.S. launch time or other details, it did provide a sneak peek at its U.S. lock screen offering on Monday.
Glance’s lock screen will appear in the form of what it calls “spaces,” which are essentially curated lock screens designed to fit specific themes. A fitness-oriented lock screen, for example, will display stats like calories burned and exercise goals along with a music player. A news “space” would show headlines and the weather, while a music version could show live concerts. This reminds me of how the new iPhone lock screen in iOS 16 can be linked to different “focuses” such as work or personal mode.
TechCrunch’s report of Glance’s arrival in the US raised concerns that ads would also appear on the lock screen. Glance’s business page shows examples of advertisers who have used its platform to reach potential customers on the first screen they see when they pick up their phone. Intel, Zomato and Garnier are among the case studies listed.
But Rohan Choudhary, vice president and general manager of the Glance feed, told CNET that the US version will be ad-free.
“We are very clear that in the US we will not have any ads on the lock screen at all,” he said.
The company also issued a press release on Monday saying it “has no intention of displaying ads on the surface of the lock screen.” Still, Glance will have to prove that its lock screen offerings provide more value than the many widgets and other options already available to Android users. It will also need to strike the right balance of displaying information that is useful without being too distracting.
The company says it plans to monetize its service through news subscriptions and commercial links from shopping platforms that appear through Glance. But those choices will have to be useful and relevant, or they could end up being just as intrusive as the ads. The company says it has a 60% retention rate and can be found on 400 million phones in the markets where it currently operates.
When Glance launches in the US, it will focus its lock screen options around specific themes, which it calls “spaces.” The screenshots above are an example of a fitness oriented space.
View/screenshots from CNET
Google, meanwhile, has its own means of making the lock screen more useful. The Pixel phone company’s At a Glance feature displays relevant information on the lock screen when applicable, just as the name suggests. A recent report from 9to5Google suggests that new goodies may be coming to this widget soon. Ride-sharing updates from apps like Lyft and Uber may be among the new alerts available in At a Glance, which will likely make it even easier to see emergency notifications from the lock screen.
Regardless of the implementation, these expected changes prove that the lock screen needs an update. As our phones have become hubs for accessing information, controlling home appliances and ordering everything from taxis to full grocery orders, the lock screen has taken on an important new role. Simply displaying timely alerts is not enough.
Whether it’s the new widgets in iOS 16, updates to the Pixel’s At a Glance feature, or lock screen “spaces” from Glance, the goal seems to be the same: to make our lock screens better at organizing the barrage of notifications and updates bombarding our phones every day. What remains to be seen is how successful these attempts will be.
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