How do I add my step count to the iPhone lock screen?

Wake the phone, press and hold the lock screen, authenticate, then tap Customise and Lock Screen. Tap the widget area under the clock, or the strip above it, pick your step app from the list, then tap outside and choose Done.

Why is my step app missing from the lock screen widget list?

Because it did not build a lock screen widget. The list only offers what developers provide, and most step counters provide a home screen widget only. In a survey of eighteen iPhone step counter listings, twelve mention a widget and only six mention a lock screen - so a listing that says just 'widget' is usually describing the home screen alone.

Which lock screen widget size shows steps best?

The rectangular one under the clock, which has room for the number plus distance or calories. The slim strip above the clock fits a single line and suits a bare step count. The small circular slots usually cut the number down until it is hard to read.

Why does the step count on my lock screen look out of date?

iOS gives each widget a limited number of refreshes a day and spends them where you look most. A widget a minute or two behind is normal; one that is hours or days behind is not, and usually means the app is not asking the system for updates properly.

how to put your step count on the lock screen

It takes one long press and about forty seconds. The part that trips people up comes earlier: a lock screen widget exists only if the app you use built one, and most step counters didn't. In our survey of eighteen listings, twelve mention a widget — and only six mention a lock screen.

The forty-second version

Wake the phone but don't unlock past the lock screen.
Press and hold anywhere on it until the screens shrink into a row. You will be asked for Face ID or your passcode first.
Tap Customise, then Lock Screen.
Tap the widget area — the box under the clock, or the slim strip above it. New in iOS 26: that box no longer has to stay under the clock. While you are in Customise you can drag it down to the bottom of the screen, which puts your step count within reach of a thumb.
Find your step app in the list, tap the widget you want, then tap outside the panel and choose Done.

If the app isn't in that list, nothing you do on this screen will help. That is the next section.

The two shapes, and which one to ask for

Where a step count can sit on a lock screen
slot	what fits
the strip above the clock	One short line of text. Enough for a glyph and a number and nothing else — which for a step count is often exactly right.
the box below the clock	Room for a number with a label, or a number with distance and calories beside it. This is the one to want if you like context with the figure.
the small circles	The same box, divided. A step count squeezed into one of them usually loses its thousands separator and half its legibility.

Both live on the same screen, so you can have a glanceable line above the clock and a fuller reading below it, from the same app. Which of the two screens deserves your step count, and why plenty of people keep one on each, is argued out on the widget page — this one is only about getting it there.

Checking before you install, rather than after

The store won't index "has a lock screen widget" as a feature you can filter by, so the check is manual and takes ten seconds:

Read the description for the words themselves. Makers who built one say so — it is a selling point, not a detail they'd bury.
Look at the screenshots. A lock screen shot is unmistakable: clock, wallpaper, widgets. If every screenshot is of the app's own interior, the widget probably isn't there.
Mind the word "widget" on its own. Twelve of our eighteen listings mention a widget; six mention a lock screen. A listing that says only "widget" is usually describing the home screen — a maker who built the lock screen one says lock screen, because it is separate work and a selling point in its own right.

Why the number on the lock screen looks behind

Because it is, a little, and that is the system rather than the app. iOS gives every widget a budget of refreshes per day and spends it on your behalf — favouring the screens you actually look at, and slowing down for apps you rarely open. A lock screen widget you glance at forty times a day gets a generous allowance; one on a screen you never wake gets a thrifty one.

The full mechanism, and the two things that make it worse, are on why your widget shows an old number. The short version: a widget that is a minute behind is a widget behaving correctly, and one that is a day behind is not.

Where we stand

Angel Step ships both. A lock screen widget — the wide one under the clock and the single line above it — and a home screen widget, all reading the count Apple Health already holds, so the figure on your lock screen is the figure in Health rather than a second opinion.

It isn't on the App Store yet. Until then, the survey data lists which of the eighteen say what about widgets, and how to choose a step counter puts the widget question next to the ones that decide more than it does.

Sources

Which listings mention a widget and which mention a lock screen: our open survey of eighteen step counters — the same rows as the CSV, free to reuse. Purchases and ratings were read by hand on 17 August 2026; the lock-screen column on 19 August from Apple's own public listing data, matched to each app by name, rating count and last-updated month.
How iOS decides when to redraw a widget, and why yours can lag: why your widget shows an old number.