Depth PaperGuide · iPhone 17 family
iPhone 17 wallpapers: exact sizes, depth effect, and seeds to make your own
This guide is for anyone with an iPhone 17, iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro or iPhone 17 Pro Max, the four models that came out in September 2025. It gives the exact native pixels for each (three distinct sizes among the four), explains how the lock-screen depth effect decides, and offers six original seeded gradients, rendered live in your browser by the same engine as the wallpaper maker at your model's exact panel size.
| Model | Native pixels | Points | Aspect (h÷w) | Wallpaper preset |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| iPhone 17 | 1206×2622 |
402×874 @3x | 2.1741 | Make one at 1206×2622 |
| iPhone Air | 1260×2736 |
420×912 @3x | 2.1714 | Make one at 1260×2736 |
| iPhone 17 Pro | 1206×2622 |
402×874 @3x | 2.1741 | Make one at 1206×2622 |
| iPhone 17 Pro Max | 1320×2868 |
440×956 @3x | 2.1727 | Make one at 1320×2868 |
Three native sizes across four models
The iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro share a 6.3-inch, 1206×2622 panel. The iPhone Air has its own 6.5-inch, 1260×2736 panel, and the iPhone 17 Pro Max has the largest, 6.9 inches at 1320×2868. All four use a 3x display scale, so native pixels are exactly three times the point dimensions quoted in developer documentation: 402×874, 420×912 and 440×956 points respectively. Export at the pixel numbers, since the image has to fill every pixel of the panel.
Two of those panels came from the iPhone 16 generation and carry on in the iPhone 18 Pro models: 1206×2622 is also the resolution of the iPhone 16 Pro and the iPhone 18 Pro, and 1320×2868 is also the resolution of the iPhone 16 Pro Max and the iPhone 18 Pro Max. A wallpaper you made for a 16 Pro or 16 Pro Max in 2024 fits the same-size 17 and 18 models pixel for pixel. Aspect ratios across the family sit between 2.1714 and 2.1741, close enough that a composition survives a move between models with only a sliver of crop at the edges.
The numbers on this page come from the device table in the site's code, the same table that drives the wallpaper maker's picker. Its iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max entries were cross-checked against two sources on 2026-09-23. The rest of this guide was checked on 2026-08-09 against iOS 26, which was the current release until Apple released iOS 27 on 2026-09-14. The iPhone wallpaper size chart lists every verified model from the iPhone 14 generation to the iPhone 18 Pro Max, and the maker's custom size option covers anything older.
Depth effect, a year in
The depth effect is the lock-screen treatment where the clock slips behind the subject of your wallpaper. On all four iPhone 17 models it works the way it has for several generations: when you set a photo, the phone runs subject segmentation on it, and if it finds a subject it trusts (a person, a pet, a statue, a skyline against clear sky), it layers the clock behind that subject's top edge. The phone makes the decision, and no switch forces the effect on for an image the segmentation rejects.
To set it up in iOS 26 (checked 2026-08-09), touch and hold the Lock Screen, tap Customize or add a new wallpaper, and choose your photo. If segmentation finds a subject, the layering appears on its own. To switch it off, use the depth effect toggle in the corner menu of the lock-screen editor. Placing widgets below the clock disables the layering, because the subject would otherwise cover them.
When the effect refuses a photo you expected to work, the cause is usually one of three measurable things: the image is smaller than the panel's native pixels, the subject's top edge sits outside the band where the clock layering happens, or the clock region is too busy or too mid-toned to stay legible. The depth-effect checker measures all three against your exact model, in your browser, without the photo leaving your device. Only the phone runs Apple's segmentation model, so the final call always happens there. Gradients have no subject, so the layering never appears on them, including the six in the next section.
Make your own: six seeds sized for these phones
Each card below is a recipe: an integer seed, one of the site's eight original palettes, the maker's Auto control-point setting, and one iPhone 17-family model's exact pixels. The thumbnails are painted live by the maker's engine. None of them is a stored image, and none is anyone else's artwork. “Open in maker” hands the recipe over as URL parameters; from there you can export the PNG at native resolution, reroll the seed, swap the palette, or switch the device.
The six were chosen the way the gallery's entries were: candidate seeds were rendered through the real engine onto contact sheets and reviewed by eye on 2026-08-09, keeping a mix of calm washes and stronger compositions and rejecting any render that collapses into a tight dark smudge. Several run dark near the clock's end of the screen, because a dark field behind the clock gives a light clock its contrast. The checker's clock-band contrast measure puts a number on that, and it works on gradients even though the depth layering needs a photo subject.
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Quiet tide
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Half light
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Snowline
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Lantern glow
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Charcoal fade
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Deep fern
If none of the six suits you, press New beside the seed in the maker. Each palette has 999,999 seeds, any seed renders again from its recipe, and any device in the picker can use any of them. For two phones in one house, the matching wallpapers tool renders coordinated pairs from a single seed and exports each one at its phone's exact size.