How to customize the clock face in iOS 26?

corbett264 wrote:

I just Downloaded the iOS 26.1 Update into my iPhone 14 & noticed the “Odd” Change for the Clock & the User’s Inability to Change it Back to the Original Clock Face!

Hopefully, with All this Discussion from Apple Users, the IT Department will Have a “Fix” for this in a Future Update.

Apple doesn't read here in this user-to-user forum for feedback or suggestions. You can, however, let them know your thoughts here:

Product Feedback - Apple

Hold the clock icon a short while and press the second icon along, makes it a large digital clock?

[Edited by Moderator]

Download app called minimal analog clock and switch with default clock

I agree. I do not like the clock interface. It would be nice to be able to customize the app icon or pick from a few different selections. This was a drastic jump in style choice from what the clock interface before was.

Thanks for the information. My wife's phone upgraded to iOS26 last night. She has a hard time seeing and that clock face is a disaster for her. I've already provided feedback to Apple per the steps you've given.

"Thanks for the information. My wife's phone upgraded to iOS26 last night. She has a hard time seeing and that clock face is a disaster for her. I've already provided feedback to Apple per the steps you've given."

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Excellent job troubleshooting this!

And thanks for doing you part! It will help many, for certain.

Really appreciate this thread, how can we boost its visibility? Can’t just be a handful of us? I am finding it difficult to read the new clock too. The widget is too big and I don’t want to use a 3rd party app. Have used the feedback link, as suggested, when changes are big like this, please allow users to customise.

I struggled to read the lock screen clock with the glass font, but I was able to customise so that was much appreciated. There are a lot of visually impaired phone users so it might be a small design change, but such changes do affect us. Thank you!

I agree - there’s a multitude of clock faces for the watch, it can’t be hard to supply some options for IOS 26, including the previous easy to read version. Perhaps also an option to double the size of just that particular icon for users with poorer eyesight or users who just want the clock to stand out and get their attention.

Now it looks like the following photo. Note, the icon will not show you the actual time

of day, so you’ll have to look at the digital time read out in the upper left of your screen (or click your screen off & on to see the time on the lock screen instead), but for my purposes of wanting a quick way to access my alarms without looking at the old-fashioned clock face, this works.

I'm going to guess if you go to Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size - you'll see you have Reduce Transparency turned on. You may also have Increase Contrast turned on. If you turn then off, you'll have more of what you asked about above.

You can’t manually change it.

It’s determined by your wallpaper.

How it works

The Dock uses: A blurred version of your wallpaper combined with a vibrancy/tint effect chosen by iOS based on the dominant colors behind the Dock area

So if your wallpaper is:

Light, the Dock will look light and translucent

Dark, the Dock will look darker

Very colorful, the Dock might pick up a faint tint of one of the colors

It’s nasty! I updated my phone and this morning I see that Apple has changed the clock to a cheap-plastic 1970s-alarm-clock version that I would never have in my my house. Now I have to look at it all day long. I don’t know why they keep doing annoying stuff like this. This is NOT an improvement.

I hate the oversized icon on the clock face and some widgets like the example with the weather. Takes up too much space and annoying for us that like symmetry. I don’t understand why the old options are not available as additional options. I prefer the 24 hr clock which is only available as a huge annoying icon. Stop making “improvements” that make my life less comfortable.

1. we should be able to change the clock face on our phones.
2. We shouldn’t have to pay for every single app that is on iPhone! I am sick of it the fact that Samsung you can get free apps and yet you guys charge it per day per week per month per year is disgusting don’t say it’s the app’s fault because if you can get it free on Samsung then you can get it free on iPhone