How to Customize the Lock Screen Clock on MacOS
One of the hallmark visual features of the Apple ecosystem of devices is the Lock Screen Clock, visible on Mac, iPhone, and iPad. There have long been many ways to customize the appearance of the Mac, from wallpapers to icons, and with new versions of MacOS like Tahoe and Golden Gate you can personalize the Lock Screen Clock too, to better suit your tastes.
Customizing the Mac Lock Screen clock is easy but it’s a little obscure in MacOS Tahoe 26 and Golden Gate 27, but once you find the proper settings you can change the appearance of the clock quite a bit, including the font in use and the font weight.
How to Customize the Lock Screen & Screen Saver clock on MacOS Tahoe & Golden Gate
- From the Apple menu go to “System Settings”
- Choose “Wallpaper”
- Click on “Clock Appearance”
- Make your changes and customizations to the lock screen clock here, including weight and font
The changes take effect immediately and you can preview the effect on the preview screen, by using the Screen Saver preview, or by locking the Mac screen and taking a look at the changes.
And yes you will be making changes to the Lock Screen Clock from the “Wallpaper” settings in MacOS Tahoe, not in the “Lock Screen” settings (though you can use the Lock Screen settings to make other adjustments to the clock, including disabling it completely). This is easy to get confused by, since it’s not the most intuitive grouping or arrangement, and it’s perhaps why some Mac users think it’s not possible to customize the clock at all on MacOS.
If you’re also an iPhone and iPad user, you might be disappointed to know the Mac Lock Screen is not as customizable as the iPhone or iPad lock screen – for now anyway, we have heard a rumor of additional features like widgets and more customizations arriving on the Mac Lock Screen perhaps with MacOS 27, but again that’s just a rumor – so perhaps in the near future Mac users will be able to add widgets for things like weather, stocks, notes, reminders, calendar, and more on the Lock Screen, or even just customize the Liquid Glass effect like you can on the iPhone Lock Screen clock if you’d rather amplify that or tone it down.
Have you made any customizations to your Lock Screen Clock on the Mac? Do you wish you could customize the Mac lock screen more in general? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments.
