How to Get Full-Screen Pictures for iPhone Calls

This article explains how to get full-screen photos for incoming iPhone calls. It covers setting full-screen contact photos both with new photos and existing contact photos. The instructions in this article apply to iPhones running iOS 8 to iOS 16.

How to Make New Photos Full Screen for Incoming Calls

If you're adding a new photo for a contact to your iPhone, making it full screen for incoming calls is simple. Just add the photo to the contact by following these steps:

1. Open the Contacts app and tap the contact's name.

2. On the contact's information screen, tap Edit.

3. Tap Add Photo (or tap Edit to replace an existing photo). 

4. Select Take Photo or Choose Photo.

   

5. Use the iPhone camera to take a photo or choose one from your Photos app.

6. Move and scale the photo to fit it in the circle.

7. Tap Choose or Use Photo, depending on whether it's a new photo or a photo you already have.

8. Tap Done.

   

9. When the person whose contact you edited calls you, the photo you added to their contact info will show up as full screen on your iPhone.

How to Make Existing Photos Full Screen for Calls

Photos that were on your phone and assigned to contacts when you upgraded your iOS version may need different steps.

If your existing contact photos appear as small, circular images, getting them full screen requires another change. You don't need to take a new picture; just edit the old one and you'll be back to full-screen photos.

1. Open the Phone or Contacts app, then tap the contact name.

2. Tap Edit.

3. Select Edit underneath the current photo.

4. Choose Edit Photo.

5. Move the existing photo a little. You don't need to edit it. Just make a small change to its position—enough for the iPhone to register that the photo was changed in some small way.

6. Tap Choose.

   

7. Select Done.

   

8. The next time this person calls you, you'll see the photo in full-screen mode.

A Brief History of Full-Screen iPhone Calls

Until iOS 7, the entire screen would fill up with a picture of the person calling you, assuming you had a picture assigned to them in your Contacts app.

In iOS 7, the full-screen picture was replaced by a small circular version of the picture in the top corner of the incoming call screen.

Full-screen pictures for incoming calls became possible again with iOS 8, and in iOS 17, editing power over incoming call screens has expanded. Contact posters allow users to edit contact photos and the photo that appears on the entire screen.