- iPhone wallpapers may turn black due to software glitches, especially when selecting images directly from the Photos app.
- To fix the black wallpaper issue, update your iPhone, force restart your device, download the image from iCloud, or set the wallpaper through iPhone Settings.
- if the problem persists, reset all iPhone settings.
wallpapers is a convenient way to personalize the way your iPhone looks. When your wallpaper does not show up as expected on your iPhone, you have a problem. You may find that your iPhone wallpaper keeps turning black. No matter which wallpaper or home screen you choose, it reverts to a black background. The app icons still load and are visible. This problem may affect the Home Screen and the App Library screen wallpapers. I list several steps you can try to fix this problem.
Your Home Screen background may be blurred instead of the wallpaper photo you selected. This is a feature that ensures that app icons are easily visible. You can turn this off and on while customizing your wallpaper. The problem described in this article is different. With this problem, the wallpaper is gone completely, and a black color is displayed as wallpaper.
iPhone wallpapers can be photos, colors, patterns, and more. Personally, I love using live photos as my wallpaper, giving my iPhone a living effect.
Here’s what to do if your iPhone wallpaper keeps disappearing, and you see a black screen instead of your wallpaper. The solutions below will work on iPad too.
How Do I Get Rid of Black Background on iPhone?
Below is a list of troubleshooting steps. Carefully follow each one. In the end, the iOS wallpaper disappearing should be fixed.
1. Update your iPhone
First, make sure that your iPhone is running the latest version of iOS. Installing the latest iOS update may fix the iPhone wallpaper disappearing problem. It is easy to check for updates. Here’s how:
- Go to Settings > General > Software Update
- If an update is available, follow the on-screen instructions to update.
2. Force restart your iPhone
iPhone wallpapers may turn black due to a software glitch. Restarting does not offer a permanent fix, however, a force restart may help. Here is how:
- Press and quickly release the volume up button.
- Press and quickly release the volume down button.
- Press and hold the side button until you see the Apple logo. The power-off screen may appear. If it does, ignore it and keep pressing the side button until you see the Apple logo.
3. Save the Image From iCloud
Typically, iCloud backs up photos at regular intervals. The Photos App deletes the local copies to make space for newer photos. That said, the photos on the cloud appear as a thumbnail. When you click them, the image loads from the cloud server. Sometimes, the disappearing wallpaper issue occurs when we keep an old iCloud photo as wallpaper. Thus, I recommend downloading the picture before keeping it as a wallpaper.
- Open the photo which you want to keep as wallpaper. Tap the three vertical dots on the top right corner.
- Tap and select the Download button from the pop-up menu.
- Once downloaded, you can assign the photo as a wallpaper. Using this method, the iPhone wallpaper will not appear as a black screen.
4. Set Wallpaper From the Wallpaper Settings
From my own experience, the glitch mostly occurs when you set wallpaper directly from the Photos app. The best way to avoid this is by selecting wallpaper via iPhone Settings.
. Follow the steps below to set wallpaper using the Settings app.
- Go to Settings > Wallpaper > Add New Wallpaper and then choose Photos
- Find the photo you would like to be on the lock screen (I chose the one I had on my lock screen before this glitch started)
- Tap Add on the top right and on the prompt that pops up, choose Customize Home Screen and then choose Photos from the options at the bottom and choose the photo you want on your home screen (again, I chose the one I had on my home screen before this glitch started)
- Tap Done on the top right and Done again
- Get out of Settings and you should now have the old setup back!
Lock your phone and then hard press on the home screen – as your phone wakes up you should now see various wallpaper options and if you want, you can actually flick away the options you don’t want – one can actually create myriad combos now!
The iPhone wallpaper will not disappear or turn screen black when you set it this way.
5. Reset all settings
If the problem persist, resetting all settings will get your iPhone wallpaper back to normal. This step won’t erase your content, like photos, apps, or personal data. However, it will reset system settings to their default values. These system settings include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and more. Wallpaper settings will also be erased and restored to the factory defaults. On your iPhone, follow the steps below:
- Go to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone.
- Tap Reset > Reset All Settings and then follow the onscreen instructions.