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iOS 17.1 Lets You Pick an Album for Your Photo Shuffle Lock Screen

You don't have to pick a photo category, or manually pick photos, any more.

Zachary McAuliffe Staff writer
Zach began writing for CNET in November, 2021 after writing for a broadcast news station in his hometown, Cincinnati, for five years. You can usually find him reading and drinking coffee or watching a TV series with his wife and their dog.
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Zachary McAuliffe
2 min read
Apple's iOS 17 mobile operating system
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Apple's iOS 17.1 brought a handful of new features to your iPhone, like new settings for StandBy mode and upgrades to Apple Music. One of the new features tucked in iOS 17.1 gives your lock screen more customization options by letting you choose which album to use for Photo Shuffle on your lock screen.

Apple introduced Photo Shuffle for lock screen in iOS 16. However, you could only choose categories of photos in your library and camera roll, like People and Pets, or you could use the Select Photos Manually option and go through your library to find the right photos. With iOS 17.1, you can choose an album to use for Photo Shuffle -- that way you don't have to scroll through hundreds, or even thousands, of photos to find the right pics or hope your iPhone will recognize all the photos of your loved ones or pets.

Here's how to choose an album to use for Photo Shuffle on your lock screen.

Choose an album for Photo Shuffle

People, Pets, Cities and Album options in the Photo Shuffle menu

Pick your favorite album for Photo Shuffle on your lock screen.

 Screenshot by Zach McAuliffe/CNET

1. Open Settings. 
2. Tap Wallpaper.
3. Tap + Add New Wallpaper.
4. Tap Photo Shuffle across the top of your screen.
5. Tap Album. 

Your Favorites album will be automatically selected, but if you tap Favorites next to Album, you'll open a menu that shows all your albums. Here you can tap which album you want to use for Photo Shuffle. You can also create an album called "Wallpapers" to keep all your favorite pictures in one place -- or you could name the album something else. I promise I won't check. 

You can also choose your shuffle frequency -- your options are On Tap, On Lock, Hourly or Daily. Then tap Use Album and you're set. Now you'll only see the photos you want to see on your Lock Screen.

For more on iOS 17, check out our iOS 17 cheat sheet and what could be coming in iOS 17.2.