How to customize lock screen on Android 14? Since the beginning, Android has been popular among the enthusiasts who like to customize their phone. Whether it’s lock screen, home screen, third-party launchers, or custom icon packs, Android lets users customize the appearance in their own styles. When it comes to customizations, Android has always come on top over iOS or iPhone. However, the previous few versions of Android have cut down on some of the customizations, especially on the lock screen. But Apple has been changing the dynamics now. Apple has been implementing user-based customizations of its own. The latest version of iOS17 brings lock screen customizations where users get multiple clock styles to choose from. Along with the clock styles, Apple also introduced widgets on the screen that have been gaining popularity. Android used to have lock screen widgets in the past but it is no longer possible in the newer versions. Thankfully, Google is bringing lock screen customizations back with Android 14.
The latest version of Android comes with a set of lock screen customizations. The first noticeable thing is the Clock Style. Android 14 has a bunch of clock styles that show the time on the lock screen in various ways. These clock styles are based on Google’s Material You design. That means, each style dynamically picks the colors from the current wallpaper. Then there is Emoji Workshop which lets you create unique wallpapers with emojis. Another new useful feature allows you to use your Phone as a Webcam for PC on Android 14. Let’s see what customizations the new version of Android brings to the lock screen.
Lock screen Customizations on Android 14
The lock screen on Android 14 has a big clock at the center. On the top, it has the day and date followed by the daily forecast. At the bottom, you get lock screen shortcuts (if enabled) to quickly launch specific actions or apps.
To access the lock screen customization options, you have to long press on the lock screen. When you do that, a “Customize lock screen” button appears at the bottom. Tap on that button and unlock the phone to get to the customization options.
Wallpaper & Style
The first thing you see in the customizations is “Wallpaper & style”. This shows the current lock screen and home screen layout. The home screen setup is similar to Android 13 where you can pick the Material You colors of choice and enable themed icons. You can get multiple color options from the wallpaper itself. Apart from that, you can also pick any specific color.
Lockscreen Customization Options
The lock screen customization options start with the clock style. It has your current clock style on the screen with 8 other styles that you can cycle through. You can preview how each clock style looks and use that as your default lock screen clock style. Below that you get a set of colors extracted from the current wallpaper. You can choose the color set of your choice and it gets applied to the clock style.
Clock Color & Size
Below the lock screen preview, you get an option to access the Clock Color and size. This brings up a screen where you can configure the color set for the wallpaper and set the font size. You can set the clock size to small or dynamic. The dynamic option automatically changes the clock size according to the content on the lock screen. It appears big when there are no notifications and gets smaller when you have notifications.
Wallpapers (Emoji Workshop)
The customizations have a wallpaper section that shows your recent wallpapers. You can simply tap on any of these wallpapers to apply. Along with that, you get a “more wallpaper” option. This brings the Google Wallpaper app where you can a collection of wallpaper sorted into various categories.
There is a new wallpaper section called “Emoji Workshop”. This section lets you create emoji wallpapers. YOu can pick up to 14 emojis and select from 5 patterns. Then you can pick the background color and control the quantity of the emoji. It also has a “Randomize” button that generates patterns with random emojis. This section allows you to create unique emoji wallpapers that you can apply to the lock screen and home screen.
Lockscreen Shortcuts
Next comes the lock screen shortcuts. This section brings a preview of the lock screen with shortcut buttons at both bottom corners. You get the option to pick the left shortcut and the right shortcut. This section lets you section the shortcuts for Camera, No Not Disturb, Flashlight, Home, Mute, QR code scanner, and Video camera. Along with that, you also get a “none” option. If you don’t want to set one or both shortcuts then you can select “none” to disable that.
Apart from that, you get a “More lock screen options” section that takes you to the regular Lock screen settings where you can configure privacy, text on the lock screen, tap to check, lift to check, wake screen for notifications, and more.
All Clock Styles on Android 14
The image above shows all the 9 clock styles currently available in the Android 14. This includes the new “Metro” clock style made available in the Android 14 QPR1 Beta 1. More clock styles are expected with the later updates.
AOD / Ambient Display
When set to “Dynamic” font size, the clock styles use slightly different styles on Ambient Display and Always-on-Display. Here is a preview of how a clock style appears on Ambient Display in Android 14.
Wrap Up
Android 14 brings a good set of lock screen customizations that lets users style their boring lock screen. The new clock styles give a distinct look to the lock screen. Rumor has it Google is planning to introduce (once again) widgets on the lock screen. Android widgets offer much more customizations than iOS. With widget apps and the ability to design your own widgets, this can unlock a great customization potential for the Android lock screen.
