# How to Add an App to the iPhone Lock Screen

Updated: November 12, 2026

Quick Launch: Price: $3, one-time purchase. Platforms: iOS. Get it from: [App Store](https://apps.apple.com/app/id1645566403). Requires iOS 26.1 or later.

URL: https://sindresorhus.com/guides/add-app-to-iphone-lock-screen

For one or two apps, replace the flashlight or the camera button at the bottom of the Lock Screen with a control that opens an app. For more apps, or to keep the flashlight and the camera, [Quick Launch](https://sindresorhus.com/quick-launch) adds up to four app buttons below the clock.

## With Quick Launch

1. Open [Quick Launch](https://sindresorhus.com/quick-launch), and tap the add button.
1. Choose “App” as the action. Below “App”, write the name of the app exactly as it shows on the Home Screen.
1. In “Icon”, choose the icon of the button, like “App Icon”, “Symbol”, or “Emoji”.
1. Tap “Add Shortcut”, which adds the shortcut that Quick Launch needs to open apps to the Shortcuts app. You only do this once.
1. Below “Test”, tap “Open App” to check that the app opens. Then save the widget.
1. Touch and hold the Lock Screen, and tap “Customize”.
1. Tap the widget area below the clock, choose “Quick Launch”, and add the “Open Stuff” widget. Tap the widget, and choose the widget that you made.

Tap the button on the Lock Screen to open the app. The same widget can also [open a website](https://sindresorhus.com/guides/add-website-to-iphone-lock-screen) or run a shortcut.

## Without an app

The two buttons at the bottom of the Lock Screen, the flashlight and the camera, can be other controls, like one that opens an app:

1. Touch and hold the Lock Screen, and tap “Customize”.
1. Tap the remove button on the flashlight or the camera control, and then tap the add button in its place.
1. Choose a control, like “Open App”.

[Apple’s instructions.](https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/iph4d0e6c351/ios) If two buttons are enough for you, use them. Each control that you change replaces the flashlight or the camera. Quick Launch uses the widget area below the clock, so you can have up to four buttons in addition to the two controls.