How to see your bank balance on the iPhone Lock Screen
You need an app that offers a Lock Screen widget showing your balance. Most bank apps don't have one: of 30 US bank and card apps we checked, none says it has a Lock Screen widget, and only four have a Home Screen widget. Below are the options that do exist, and the steps to add a widget once you have one.
1Add a widget to the Lock Screen
Lock Screen widgets sit under the clock. To add one, following Apple's Lock Screen guide:
- Touch and hold the Lock Screen until it zooms out. If nothing happens, unlock with Face ID or your passcode first, then try again.
- Tap Customize, then the Lock Screen.
- Tap the widget area under the clock, or Add Widgets.
- Find the app in the list, tap the widget you want, then tap Done.
The app has to be installed and set up first. A banking app's widget usually shows nothing until you've signed in to the app once.
2Your bank's own app
Check your bank first, since its widget needs no extra app. Capital One, Chime, USAA and Synchrony Bank describe a Home Screen balance widget, but none of them mentions a Lock Screen version. Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citi, U.S. Bank, Ally and the other large banks we checked don't describe a widget at all. The full list, with a link to each source, is on which bank apps have a balance widget.
To check your bank's app yourself, follow the steps above and look for it in the widget list. If it isn't there, the app has no Lock Screen widget.
3Every bank in one widget
A bank's widget, where there is one, shows that bank. Above Water shows all of them. Connect your banks once through Plaid, which works with most banks, credit unions and card issuers in the US and Canada, then choose what each widget shows.
The Balance widget can add accounts together. Put checking at Chase and savings at Ally in one widget, and the Lock Screen shows the total of both, as a circle, a rectangle or a line of text above the clock. Or give it a single account. The Accounts widget lists several balances, each on its own row, across banks.
Balances update on their own a few times a day, depending on the bank. How it works covers setup, and Above Water is on the App Store.
4Keep it private
Anything on the Lock Screen is visible to anyone who picks up your phone, without unlocking it. Before you put a balance there, decide how much of it you want on show.
In Above Water, each widget has a Precision setting. The Lock Screen widget can show the exact figure, a rounded one such as $14.2k, a bar with no digits, or dots until you tap it. On the Balance widget, a tap shows the number for 10 seconds, then hides it again. You can keep the exact number on the Home Screen, which only shows after you unlock, and a rounded one on the Lock Screen. If you'd rather show no balance there at all, use the Home Screen only.