The truth is that it is something that pisses me off a lot. A silly bug, but incredibly difficult to fix in principle. From one day to the next, when selecting “ Set as… ” on an image, the option to set it as “ lock screen image ” has simply disappeared from my Android phone . Here’s how I managed to fix this problem.
The lock screen button has completely disappeared, what do I do now?
Before beginning, I would like to explain how I got to this situation – it would be interesting to know if the rest of the people who have had this problem have experienced the same thing. I like to try apps that offer Android wallpapers , and I’m always installing new apps with all kinds of wallpapers.
The one I like the most is Walli , but lately I’ve been messing around with several newer apps, and I have the feeling that they have had something to do with all this mess. Cause and effect or simple coincidence? Don’t know.
What is clear to me is that, since then, if I select an image from my gallery it won’t let me set it as “Lock screen” . That option has completely disappeared. I can set it as a WhatsApp profile photo, as a wallpaper -only for the home screen- or as a contact photo, but nothing else.
Solution #1: Set the lock image from the Android settings menu or from the desktop
Instead of setting the lock screen image from the gallery app or wallpaper app on duty, we can also try to change it from the settings or from the home screen of the phone.
Change wallpaper from Android settings
We go to “ Settings -> Display -> Wallpaper ”, and from here we select an image to set it as the lock screen.
If we have a smartphone with a slightly more recent version of Android, such as Android 10, we just have to navigate to ” Settings -> Display -> Styles and wallpapers “, and from there enter ” Wallpaper ” . This will take us to a new configuration menu where we can:
- View the wallpapers that are currently set on the lock screen and home screen.
- Change the current wallpapers from the list that we find available in « Categories of wallpapers«. Here we can choose between photos from our gallery or various default backgrounds (landscapes, textures, life, art, geometric shapes, etc.).
In the latest Android versions such as Android 13, the ” Wallpaper and style ” option has been removed from the screen options menu, and now has its own section within the general ” Settings ” menu.
In Android 13 the process is even more direct.
Set wallpaper from desktop
If the first method doesn’t work for you, try the following. From the same home screen or Android home we make a long press . At the bottom of the screen will appear 3 new buttons. We select “ Wallpapers ” and from here we try to set a new lock screen wallpaper.
If we have a mobile or tablet with Android 10, the process is very similar. When you make a long press on the desktop, a small box will appear with 3 options: « Screen settings «, « Widgets » and « Styles and wallpapers «. Marking the latter, the system will take us to the settings screen from where we can change the wallpaper of our Android without too many complications.
If we have an Android phone with some layer of customization, as is the case with the Samsung Galaxy, for example, the process is not very different either. In the case of Samsung’s One UI layer, what we have to do is make a long press on the home screen and just at the bottom left we will see an option that says “Funds”.
Within this menu we select “My wallpapers”, we choose an image from the gallery and by clicking on it the system will give us the option to set it as “Lock screen” (see screenshot below).
In my case, none of these methods worked -the problem was still there-, and I had to find my own solution…
Solution #2: Install Google Wallpapers to manage the lock screen
The idea that it had been a wallpaper app that had caused all this mess was still going around in my head, so I did 2 things:
- Uninstall all the wallpaper appsfrom my mobile phone.
- Install the application “Google Wallpapers”. Nothing better than an app from the same creators of Android to solve the mess.
The “Wallpapers” application developed by Google allows us to manage the wallpapers that we set both on the home or desktop screen and on the lock screen . It offers its own wallpapers, but it also lets us use the images that we have stored in our terminal.
Now, all the wallpaper management of my Android is done with this application, and I can put and remove images on the lock screen without problems . In addition, it has a pretty nice catalog of wallpapers, so honey on flakes.
DischargeQR code
Wallpapers
Developer: Google LLC
Price: Free
In essence, it is most likely that, from the beginning, some wallpaper app -or even a launcher- would have taken over the management of the lock screen, establishing itself as the default application. Therefore, it could also have been solved by locating this app, clearing the cache and resetting the ” Open by default “ section in the app settings. Unfortunately, this never worked for me.
Go into the settings of the problematic app, clear cache and make sure it is not set as default.
I understand that restoring the system to its factory state would also solve the problem, but if we want to avoid such a forceful measure like this, using the aforementioned Google app is a quick and easy solution to carry out.