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8 Best Fixes for Blurry Lock or Home Screen Wallpaper on iPhone

by Mehvish

“Why Is my iPhone’s wallpaper blurry?” Is that the question that brought you here? Well, your iPhone’s lock or home screen wallpaper could be blurry because of many reasons like Focus modes, widgets, wallpaper blur features, bugs, or poor quality wallpaper. Let’s check the reasons in detail and know how to fix the blurry lock screen and home screen wallpaper on an iPhone.

1. Restart Phone

Before we jump to other fixes, simply restart your iPhone. If your iPhone’s wallpaper appears blurry due to a temporary bug, a restart should fix it. To restart the iPhone, turn it off and then turn it on again.

2. Turn off the Blur Feature for Home Screen Wallpaper

Your iPhone has a native feature to blur home screen wallpaper. You might have enabled this setting and that’s why your iPhone’s home screen wallpaper appears blurry.

To turn off the home screen wallpaper blur on your iPhone, follow these steps:

1.  Go to Settings > Wallpaper.

2. Tap on Customize under the home screen wallpaper.

customize wallpaper on iphone settings

3. Tap on the Blur option at the bottom-right corner to turn it off. Then, tap on Done at the top to save changes.

iphone wallpaper blur sertting

Tip: Learn how to set different home screen and lock screen wallpapers on iPhone.

3. Turn off the Dim Lock Screen Feature

iPhones also give the user the power to blur the lock screen wallpaper for Focus modes using the Dim Lock screen feature. So if the Dim Lock screen feature is enabled for any active Focus mode, your iPhone’s lock screen will appear dim and blurry.

To fix the blurry lock screen wallpaper, follow these steps:

1. Go to Settings > Focus. Tap on the active Focus profile.

focus settings on iphone

2. On iOS 17 and 16, tap on Options and disable the toggle next to Dim lock screen. Now, your lock screen wallpaper will appear like regular wallpaper. Please note that you will not see this feature in Sleep focus. For that, follow the next fix.

On iOS 15, tap on Lock Screen instead of Options and turn off the toggle next to Dim lock screen.

dim lock screen setting on iphone

Note: If the top of your wallpaper is blurry in iOS 17, use the pinch-out gesture to zoom the picture.

4. Turn off Sleep Focus

When Sleep Focus is enabled, your lock screen will automatically turn blurry. This is done to avoid distractions at night so that you can sleep in peace. Sadly, there is no way to turn off the lock screen dimming for Sleep Focus. You will have to disable Sleep Focus or try other workarounds that are mentioned below to get rid of blurry lock screen wallpaper.

Disable Sleep Mode

For starters, you can turn off the Sleep Focus. For that, open Control Center on your iPhone and tap on the Sleep Focus card to turn it off. Check out other ways to turn off Focus on iPhone.

turn sleep mode on/off from iphone control center

Disable Sleep Mode Schedule

Go to Settings > Focus > Sleep.

sleep focus setting on iphone

Scroll down and tap on any active schedule under Schedule. Turn it off on the next screen.

schedule bedtime on iphone setting

Tip: If you can’t find the Sleep Focus, open the Health app, and go to the Browse tab > Sleep. Tap on Sleep Focus.

Switch to a Different Focus Profile

You can also use a different Focus profile like Do not disturb, Reading, etc. To change the Focus mode, go to Settings > Focus. Select a different Focus profile.

change focus profile on iphone setting

Create Your Own Focus Profile

You can even create your own custom Focus profile where you can set all the conditions to match that of the Sleep Focus but without blurring the lock screen wallpaper.  To create a new Focus profile, tap on the (+) Add icon at the top under Settings > Focus and follow the on-screen instructions.

create new focus mode in iphone setting

Unlink Sleep Focus From Lock Screen

In iOS 17 and 16, you can link a Focus mode to a lock screen. Therefore, make sure Sleep Focus isn’t linked to your current lock screen, otherwise, it will appear blurry.

To do so, swipe down from the top edge to open the notification panel. Touch and hold anywhere on the screen until lock screen customization options appear. Tap on Sleep at the bottom. Then, tap on Sleep focus again to disconnect it from your lock screen.

unlink sleep focus from lock screen

Pro Tip: You can also go to Settings > Focus > Sleep. Tap on Edit under the lock screen in the Customize screens section. Then, uncheck lock screen wallpapers to unlink Sleep focus from them. Hit the Done button at the top.

5. Turn off Focus Sharing Across Devices

You can share Focus profiles across different Apple devices. So, if Sleep Focus or any other Focus is enabled on one of your devices, the same Focus will be activated on other devices, which could make your iPhone’s lock screen blurry.

To avoid such mishaps, simply turn off Focus sharing across devices. For that, go to Settings > Focus. Scroll down and turn off the toggle next to Share across devices.

share across devices on iphone settings

6. Make Active Widget Smaller

Your iPhone’s lock screen may appear blurry if an app widget appears bigger than the usual size. For instance, if you tap on Spotify’s now playing cover album, it would make Spotify widget big while blurring the lock screen wallpaper. The same could happen with other widgets. There is no need to worry. Simply tap on any empty space on your lock screen and that should bring back the original wallpaper.

lock screen widget smaller on iphone

Tip: Check out other cool tips to customize lock screen on iPhone.

7. Use Good Quality Image

The lock screen wallpaper might appear blurry if you have used an image of poor quality or a small-sized image. Your iPhone could be stretching the small-sized image and thus making it blur. Simply download high-quality wallpapers for your iPhone.

Pro Tip: If your iPad’s wallpaper looks blurry, try setting the wallpaper in Portrait mode instead of Landscape mode.

8. Reset Home Screen Layout

If the home screen wallpaper continues to look blurry, you will have to reset your iPhone’s home screen. Doing so will reset any changes or customizations that you have made to your home screen.

To reset the home screen, follow these steps:

1. Go to Settings > General > Transfer or reset iPhone.

iPhone-Transfer-or-Reset

2. Tap on Reset and hit the Reset home screen layout.

Pro Tip: You can also try resetting all settings on your iPhone by selecting Reset settings in step 2 above.  

Customize Your iPhone

I hope you were able to fix the blurry wallpaper issue on the home and lock screen of your iPhone. Once everything is back on track, learn how to customize Control Center on iPhone. Also, check out the best iOS icon packs. You should also take a look at the best home screen customization ideas and tips.

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