Hands-On With iOS 10's Overhauled Lock Screen - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Hands-On With iOS 10's Overhauled Lock Screen

The Lock screen experience in iOS 10 has been completely overhauled, with a new widgets side panel, a redesigned Control Center, revamped notifications, quicker camera access, and the removal of the iconic "Slide to Unlock" feature.

As can be seen in the hands-on video below, Slide to Unlock, formerly accessible through a right swipe, has been retired. Swiping right now brings up a widgets side panel, while swiping left opens up the Camera app. The widgets panel houses widgets formerly located in the "Today" view of the Notification Center.


The unlocking mechanism has been changed because with Touch ID, it was easy to bypass the Lock screen too quickly, making it difficult to see notifications.

New on the Lock screen is a "Raise to Wake" feature, exclusive to the iPhone 6s, 6s Plus, and SE, all three of which have an A9/M9 processor. There's also a redesigned Control Center and rich notifications, both of which support 3D Touch. In the Control Center, a 3D Touch on Flashlight, Timer, or Camera brings up different options, while 3D pressing on an incoming notification offers up options like replying to messages directly from the Lock screen.

In case you missed it, make sure to check out our seven minute WWDC 2016 video, which features a quick rundown on all of the new iOS, macOS Sierra, tvOS, and watchOS features Apple introduced this week, and stay tuned to MacRumors for more in-depth software videos.

Related Forum: iOS 10

Popular Stories

All Screen iPhone 2030 Feature Sans Text

iPhone 18 Pro: Nine Reasons Not to Upgrade This Year

Monday September 7, 2026 5:01 am PDT by
Apple is set to unveil new iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max models on Wednesday, September 9, and the devices are expected to feature a design that's largely similar to the iPhone 17 Pro models, with a peppering of enhancements inside. Major changes are not expected until next year, when Apple is expected to introduce a radically redesigned 20th-anniversary iPhone. If you're thinking of...
apple watch series 12

Leak Hints at Four New Features for Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4

Monday September 7, 2026 8:57 am PDT by
Ahead of the announcement of the Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 later this week, code in the watchOS 27 and iOS 27 betas points to a series of new features for the product line. The information comes from a new post from MacRumors forums member "pdfu." The findings include: New "Readiness" app: An all-new separate Watch app referred to in code as "Readiness," distinct from the...
apple surprise and shine event

Apple Event Tomorrow: iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Ultra Cheat Sheet

Tuesday September 8, 2026 10:24 am PDT by
Apple's biggest event of the year is almost here, and all eyes are on Cupertino. With the first foldable iPhone expected to headline Apple's "Surprise and Shine" event on Wednesday, September 9, at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time, the rumor mill has been running full throttle, fuelled by the biggest single design change in the life of the iPhone. To get you up to speed, here's a quick reference...

Top Rated Comments

blairh Avatar
134 months ago
Making me swipe left to control music playback is terrible.
Score: 42 Votes (Like | Disagree)
134 months ago
So does this mean someone can reply to your messages, interact with notifications, etc, without unlocking the phone?
Score: 27 Votes (Like | Disagree)
134 months ago
Not sure if people replied to this yet, but
Thank goodness. On the 6S, the touch ID is so fast that it's almost impossible to turn on without unlocking the phone. This will really help.
iPhone still unlocks if you click the home button once to wake up the display. The same exact problem still exists. I don't know why people think this is fixed.

Semantically it makes sense to take widgets out of the Notification Pane, but this presumably means you'll have to exit whatever app you're in to get to your widgets. I pull down Notifications all the time when I'm in an app in order to use the Hue widget. Seems like this will require a couple more steps. Also not sure why the Play/Pause needs its own control center area.
The widgets are still in the notification centre when you are in an app. Swipe left on the notification centre.

So does this mean someone can reply to your messages, interact with notifications, etc, without unlocking the phone?
Yep, just like iOS 9. Nothing changed at all.

So nobody here questions that a thief is able to see your messages, or personal information by swiping or using force touch. Or that they can just use airplane mode or that they can just take out the SIM and then Find My iPhone doesn't work? Surely this was considered during development right?
...just like iOS 9. Please do your research before getting other people worried about non-issues. You can disable control centre access from lock screen. Again, just like iOS 9. And there's nothing Apple can do about the ability to take out SIM cards.

I'm not a fan of how Widgets are now available in only two places, the left of the lock screen and the left of the home screen. Before, I could access widgets from anywhere on the device through Notification Center. This is what made them useful, the ability to see them from anywhere.

Widgets will essentially be useless for me if I have to exit the app I am using to see them. I really hope that they change this.
They're still available if you swipe left in the notification centre as long as you're in an app.

And yet, there's still no weather display on the lock screen...

What has Apple got against this feature?
You can add it to lock screen widgets, just a left swipe away.

I am very worried about security with the new unlocking system.
K well downgrade to iOS 6 because nothing has changed security-wise since iOS 9. You're able to reply to messages in iOS 9 from the lock screen too, you know... Or maybe not.

Theres too many security holes in the new lock screen...

* Replying with messages
* Calendar access
* Mail access

That can cause serious issues, especially with business-related stuff.
rofl it's... Oh I give up.
Score: 25 Votes (Like | Disagree)
134 months ago
Thank goodness. On the 6S, the touch ID is so fast that it's almost impossible to turn on without unlocking the phone. This will really help.
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
134 months ago
So nobody here questions that a thief is able to see your messages, or personal information by swiping or using force touch. Or that they can just use airplane mode or that they can just take out the SIM and then Find My iPhone doesn't work? Surely this was considered during development right?
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
n8cousins Avatar
134 months ago
Theres too many security holes in the new lock screen...
Except that's completely false. The lock screen is exactly as secure/insecure as your current iOS. The only differences are visual.

I wish people would actually use this stuff before making negative, uninformed comments.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)