Photo Tape 
Putting a photo of your partner on your iPhone home screen sounds simple, and there are a few ways to do it. Some show a fixed picture you chose once. Others rotate through your library. And some show a new photo from your partner every day. This guide walks through each option, with honest steps for iOS 17 and later, so you can pick the one that fits.
Option 1: Use a photo as your wallpaper
The quickest way is to set a favorite photo as your home-screen wallpaper.
- Open the Photos app and find the photo.
- Tap the Share button and choose Use as Wallpaper.
- Adjust the crop by pinching and dragging, then tap Add.
- Choose whether to set it as a wallpaper pair for both the lock screen and home screen, or customize the home screen separately.
You can also start from Settings > Wallpaper > Add New Wallpaper. Menu names can shift a little between iOS versions, but the flow is similar.
Good for: a single photo you love and don’t mind seeing for months. Downside: it never changes unless you change it, and app icons sit on top of it.
Option 2: Add Apple’s Photos widget
Apple’s built-in Photos widget shows pictures from your own library. It picks them automatically, and on recent iOS versions you can point it at a specific album.
How to add a widget on iOS 17
These steps work for any widget, including the ones later in this guide:
- Long-press an empty area of your home screen until the icons start to jiggle.
- Tap Edit in the top corner and then Add Widget, or tap the + button, depending on your iOS version.
- Search for the app whose widget you want, here Photos.
- Swipe sideways to pick a size: small, medium or large.
- Tap Add Widget, drag it where you want it, and tap Done.
To make the Photos widget lean toward your partner, put your favorite photos of them in one album and, if your iOS version offers it, long-press the widget, choose Edit Widget and select that album.
Good for: a rotating mix of old memories. Downside: it only shows photos already on your phone. It can’t show what your partner is doing today.
Option 3: A shared album feeding the Photos widget
If you both use iCloud Photos, you can create a shared album, invite your partner, and both add photos to it. Your copy of the shared album lives in the Photos app on your phone.
Whether the built-in Photos widget can display a shared album depends on your iOS version and settings, so check the widget’s edit options after you set it up. Even when it works, the widget picks photos on its own schedule. A photo your partner adds this morning might not show up today, or might show up next to a photo from three years ago.
Good for: couples who already use shared albums and like a loose, rotating mix. Downside: no sense of “today,” and no simple way to see that your partner has posted.
Option 4: A widget that shows your partner’s photo of the day
If what you want is your partner’s actual day, you need a widget built for that: one that shows a photo they took and sent to you, refreshed daily.
That’s what we made Photo Tape for. Each of you takes one photo a day. Yours lands on their home-screen widget, and theirs lands on yours.
Setting up Photo Tape
- Install the beta. Photo Tape is in public beta through TestFlight and needs an iPhone with iOS 17 or later. The join link is at the end of this guide.
- Connect with your person. Share your days with them by sending a link from the app. When they open it, they can share theirs back. If they already follow you, you can send a follow request instead.
- Add the widget. Use the steps from Option 2: long-press the home screen, tap Edit or +, search for Photo Tape, pick small, medium or large, and tap Add Widget.
- Post your first photo. Take one with the camera or pick one from your library. You can choose a look such as instant, faded, warm, golden hour, shade, silver or noir, add film grain, frame the shot with two fingers, and add a caption or stickers.
What the widget shows
- Today’s photo from your person. If they haven’t posted yet, you’ll see an empty “today?” frame instead.
- A pile of friends’ prints, fanned out with name tags, if you also share with friends.
- A fresh start at midnight, when it flips over to the new day.
It also supports dark, clear and tinted home screens, so it won’t look out of place if you’ve changed how your icons appear.
Which size to choose
The small widget fits neatly between your apps. Medium and large give the photos more room. Try one, live with it a day, and resize if it feels cramped or too big. You can always add a second widget on another home-screen page.
If the widget doesn’t update
Widgets on iPhone refresh on a schedule the system manages, so a new photo may take a moment to appear. A few general things to check:
- Make sure you’re signed in to iCloud on both phones. Photo Tape shares photos through iCloud, so it depends on it.
- Check that the phone has a network connection and isn’t in Low Power Mode for long stretches, which can slow background updates.
- Open the app. Widgets often refresh after their app has been opened.
- If a widget looks stuck, remove it and add it again.
If something still seems off, the support page is the place to start.
A note on privacy
A photo of your day is personal, so it’s worth knowing where it goes. Photo Tape has no server of its own and no account. Photos stay in your own iCloud and are shared with your partner through iCloud sharing, and their phone reads them from there. There are no ads, analytics or tracking. The full details are in the privacy policy.
Which option should you pick?
- Want one favorite photo forever? Use it as your wallpaper.
- Want a rotating mix of old memories? Use Apple’s Photos widget with an album.
- Want to see what your partner is up to today? Use a daily photo widget.
You can combine them, too. A wallpaper from your last trip and a widget with today’s photo sit together fine.
If the daily option is what you’re after, you can join the Photo Tape beta. It’s free during the beta, with Pro included.
