Learn how to make a wide or short image fit perfectly as your iPhone wallpaper by having Apple Intelligence generate and extend the missing parts of the image.
Has it ever happened to you that you found the perfect image on social media or somewhere else on the internet, only to discover that it doesn’t fit your iPhone’s screen as a wallpaper?
As a result, you or iOS may zoom into the photo too much, which doesn’t look right. Plus, zooming often ruins the composition, as parts of the image get cropped out, important sections disappear, and what looked like a great picture ends up as a less-than-ideal wallpaper.
iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 add an AI feature that solves this problem: when you’re setting an imperfect image as wallpaper, it will give you the option to use AI to fill all four sides of the photo so the final wallpaper looks nearly perfect.
I will demonstrate using a wide photo that gets zoomed in a lot and doesn’t look nice. But the new AI tool lets me pinch in and generate parts of the photo, so the main subject sits nicely in a smaller size instead of getting fully zoomed in.
Use extended wallpaper in iOS 27
1) Update your iPhone 15 Pro or later to iOS 27 (currently it’s in beta). Older models don’t support Apple Intelligence.
2) Open the Photos app, select a picture, tap the share button, and select Use as Wallpaper.
3) Pinch in on the screen, and you should see an ‘Extend’ button appear. The blurred parts at the top, bottom, and sides are what the AI will generate. If you want, you can also drag the image with two fingers to position it the way you want. Then, tap the Extend button and wait for it to work its magic.
4) You’ll see the ‘Extending your wallpaper. This can take a moment’ label on the screen. Once the image is generated, you can pan around to set it the way you want. Then, tap Add, followed by Set as Wallpaper Pair.
Remember that this Extend feature only uses the AI-generated image as the wallpaper. The main image in your gallery remains as it was. But you can also use the Extend feature in the Photos app by tapping Edit > Tools.
Also note that not all images may be extended.
And since this feature requires AI, there is a limit on how many images you can extend per day. Apple hasn’t shared the exact number, but subscribing to a paid iCloud+ plan or Apple One increases the limit for using Apple Intelligence.
Also new in iOS 27:Â How to show a tiny clock on iPhone or iPad Lock Screen in iOS 27