The iPhone X design might be perfect if it wasn’t for that notch. The bit of bezel at the top of the screen may be necessary for Apple’s new Face ID to work, but that doesn’t mean we don’t hate the way it looks.




If you’d rather have a regular black bar along the top of the iPhone X instead of an awkward notch, there’s a simple solution: just get a custom wallpaper designed to hide the remaining bit of bezel. These wallpapers work by adding a virtual black bezel on either side of the notch so you don’t even notice it.

There are a couple of different options, currently, so here’s what you need to know about both (courtesy of Gadget Hacks).


Create Your New iPhone X Wallpaper With Notcho

Notcho is a new app that creates special wallpapers designed to hide the iPhone X notch. It comes with 11 pre-selected options to choose from, but you can also create your own using any image you want. Just select ‘Import’ and pick an image from your camera roll. Then select ‘Save’ and Notcho will crop your picture to fit the iPhone X screen.



This app is free in the App Store, but there is a catch. Every wallpaper you use will come with a branded Notcho watermark in the bottom right corner. If you want to remove it you’ll have to spend $1.99 on an in-app purchase.


Get Your Own Wallpapers For Free With No Water Mark

You can use Photoshop to create a custom wallpaper for the iPhone X/ Gadget Hacks


If you’d rather not pay but you don’t want to use branded wallpaper on your iPhone X, you’re in luck. Gadget Hacks whipped up seven notch-hiding wallpapers of its own, which you can find right here. Just select the images you want and download them. Then hit ‘Share’ while viewing any of those images and select ‘Save Image’ to store it on your iPhone.



If you still can’t find a wallpaper you like, you can always create your own with Photoshop. You’ll need to download a special stencil first. Then open the file, pick the top layer and drag an image into Photoshop. It should crop automatically to fit the iPhone X, though you may have to do some resizing if the picture you chose doesn’t fit.


How To Set Up Your New Wallpaper

Once you’ve found your new wallpaper and saved it to your iPhone X, you still need to set your new wallpaper. To do that, just launch the Photos app and select the image you created or downloaded. Then hit ‘Share’ and tap on ‘Use as Wallpaper.’ When you see the option to choose ‘Still’ or ‘Perspective,’ pick ‘Still’ so that the bezels line up. Then just hit ‘Set’ and you’ll be asked if you want to use it as your home screen, lock screen or both.


Congrats, now you can pretend the iPhone X notch doesn’t exist—at least when you’re looking at the home screen or lock screen. This won’t work for individual apps, though hopefully we’ll see more and more developers find ways to make that bezel a little less noticeable.