iOS 26 could animate album artwork on the Lock Screen
Apple’s iOS 26 update could delight Apple Music subscribers with fullscreen album artwork animations on the iPhone’s Lock Screen.
9to5Mac reports that Apple will enhance the Now Playing widget on the Lock Screen with animated album artwork that plays in full screen. In iOS 18, the Now Playing widget can be taken fullscreen by hitting the album thumbnail on the Lock Screen.
Doing so enlarges album artwork and tints the interface with the artwork’s primary color. In iOS 26, these album artworks should take up the entire interface in fullscreen mode, and animate, creating a sleeper music listening experience.
Rumor: iOS 26 animates album artwork in fullscreen on the Lock Screen
“The Lock Screen’s Now Playing view got a notable facelift recently, with the maximized album artwork from the Now Playing widget tinting the entire interface,” reads the report.
“Now, Apple is taking it a step further: animated album art, which is already a staple inside Apple Music. When it ships, this feature will animate full screen on the Lock Screen itself. It’s a small but stylish touch that makes the experience feel livelier.”
I hope this will be an optional feature. Not everyone is going to like seeing animated album artwork every time they interact with Now Playing on their Lock Screen. I’m also concerned about the battery life impact. Preferably, there should be a setting to turn this feature off.
The Music app on the iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV has supported animated cover artwork for some Apple Music playlists and albums since iOS 21. Apple provides a toggle to turn off animated artwork in the Music app. The same toggle could control cover art animation on the Lock Screen. If not, there should be a separate control for this to reduce battery consumption and motion sickness.
iOS 26 preview at WWDC 25
Apple will preview the new features in iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS 26 and its other operating systems at the Worldwide Developers Conference keynote on Monday, June 9. The keynote starts at 10am / 1pm.
Following the conclusion of the keynote talk, Apple will release the first developer previews of iOS 26 and other operating systems. Versions for public beta testing will follow in July. Apple will release these updates in September ahead of new iPhones.
Source link: https://www.idownloadblog.com/2025/06/04/ios-26-now-playing-lock-screen-fullscreen-album-artwork-animation/
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