Photo Widget for iPhone
Put one of your own photos on the Home Screen, in a frame that matches the rest of your widgets. Wallby keeps the picture on your iPhone: there is no account, no upload and no photo library scan.
Free on the App Store · iPhone, iOS 17.0 or later
What it does
One photo, three sizes
Small, Medium and Large on the Home Screen. Pick the size first, because a portrait photo in a small square widget crops harder than most people expect.
Framed by a theme
The photo sits inside the theme you picked, so it belongs next to your clock and countdown instead of looking like a stray sticker.
Named, so you can swap it
Each saved design has a name. Add one widget, then change which photo design it shows by tapping Edit Widget.
The privacy part, precisely
Photo widgets are the one feature where "on device" is worth spelling out rather than sloganeering.
- Wallby has no account, no login and no server of its own.
- You choose the photo in the system picker. The app receives that one image, not access to your library.
- The image is stored in the app group container so the widget extension can draw it, and it is rendered on the device.
- The only permission Wallby requests for Photos is add only, which is what saving a wallpaper or an icon needs.
- There is no analytics or attribution kit in the app.
The honest exception: the free version loads advertising through Google's ad kit, which asks for your consent first and is the only part of Wallby that touches the network. Wallby Pro removes it. The details are in the privacy policy.
Adding a photo widget
- In Wallby, add a widget, choose Photo, and pick the Home Screen size you want.
- Choose the picture in the system photo picker and pick a theme for the frame.
- Save the design with a name, for example "Dog, small".
- Touch and hold the Home Screen, tap Edit and the plus button, add a Wallby widget of that size, then tap Edit Widget and choose your design by name.
iOS adds widgets from its own gallery, so no app can place one for you. Wallby draws the widget and then tells you which four taps to make.
If a photo is not quite what you want
A photo behind everything
Set a photo as your wallpaper in Settings and put Wallby widgets on top. The wallpaper maker page covers the setting flow.
A monogram instead
Your initials in the theme font. It is the one widget that also works in a circular Lock Screen slot.
A quote instead
Twenty bundled lines that rotate once a day, chosen on the device with no network call.
Photo widget questions
Does Wallby upload my photos?
No. Wallby has no server and no account. The photo you pick is stored on the device in the container the widget reads from, and it is rendered on the device. Nothing about it is sent anywhere.
Does Wallby need access to my whole photo library?
It asks for permission to add images to your library, which is what saving a wallpaper or an icon needs. When you choose a photo for a widget you pick it yourself in the system picker, which hands the app that one image.
Can I put a photo on my Lock Screen?
Not as a Wallby widget, because iOS renders Lock Screen widgets in a single tinted style and a photo would be unreadable there. What you can do is set a photo as the Lock Screen wallpaper itself in Settings, and put a Wallby date, countdown or battery widget on top of it.
Is the photo widget free?
Yes. No widget type in Wallby is behind the subscription. The free version adds a small watermark to what you save, and Wallby Pro removes it.
Put a photo on your Home Screen
Free on the App Store, iOS 17.0 or later. Every widget type is included in the free version.