How to Put Your To-Do List on the iPhone Lock Screen

Option 1: the Reminders widget, built into iOS

iOS has had Lock Screen widgets since iOS 16, and Apple's Reminders app offers one. Touch and hold the Lock Screen until it zooms out, tap Customize, choose the Lock Screen, then tap the widget row under the clock and pick Reminders. The rectangular size shows the first few items of a list; the small round one shows only a count.

It costs nothing and stays in sync with Reminders on all your devices. The limit is space: the widget row is narrow, so you see two or three short lines at most, in the system font, and anything longer is cut off. If your day fits in three lines, this is the simplest answer and you need nothing else.

Option 2: save your list as the wallpaper

The old trick still works: write the list anywhere — Notes, a drawing app, a photo of a paper note — take a screenshot, then set that image as the Lock Screen wallpaper from Photos (Share → Use as Wallpaper). The whole screen becomes the list, at any size and in any style you like.

The catch is that the image never changes on its own. Tick something off and the wallpaper still shows it until you repeat the screenshot and the wallpaper steps, which in practice means the list goes stale within a day. It suits a list that changes weekly — a gym routine, a packing list — better than a daily to-do list.

Option 3: a wallpaper that redraws itself

The third route combines the two: an app draws your list onto the wallpaper and replaces it whenever the list changes, so it is as large as option 2 and as current as option 1. Apple does not let apps change your wallpaper directly, so these apps hand the finished image to Apple's own Shortcuts app, which has a Set Wallpaper action; you allow it once, and from then on the swap happens through Shortcuts.

Disclosure: DailyWall, the app we make, works this way — your notes are sticky notes on a wall, and the wall becomes your Lock Screen wallpaper. It is free, needs iOS 17 or later, and the app walks you through the one-time Shortcuts setup with screenshots for your version of iOS. Other apps take a similar approach; whichever you choose, check that it never asks for access to your photo library just to set a wallpaper — the Shortcuts route does not need it.

Which one to choose

If three short lines are enough, use the Reminders widget: it is already on your phone and needs no setup. If you want the list large and it rarely changes, the screenshot wallpaper is fine. If you want the list large and current every day — or you simply like a Lock Screen that looks like a pinboard — a self-updating wallpaper is the one that keeps up.

You can also combine them: a wallpaper for the day's main items and the Reminders widget for a count of everything else. The widget row sits over the wallpaper, so leave the area just under the clock clear when you arrange the notes.

Mind what the Lock Screen shows

Anything on the Lock Screen is visible to anyone who picks up your phone, without your passcode. Widgets follow your notification privacy settings in Settings → Face ID & Passcode, but a wallpaper is an image and is always visible, so keep private items — appointments with names, codes, anything you would not leave on a desk — off a wallpaper list.

Also check Settings → Wallpaper after an iOS update. Major updates occasionally reset a Lock Screen or switch it to a new default style; if your list disappears after updating, it is usually the wallpaper that changed, not the list. Our update guide covers what else to check after an update.

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