only way to customize lock screen is by rooting?

[goober_george]

Is that the only way? Thanks.

 

[SpookDroid]

Nope. 3rd party lockscreen replacements are readily available on the Play Store and can be installed and used as lockscreens any time. GoLocker and Widget Locker are some of the most popular ones, the latter essentially turning your lockscreen into another homescreen for you to place Widgets in.

 

[CKR83]

However, when I tried Go Locker, it replaced Nova Launcher Prime, and even so, seemed to degrade the performance of an already bloatware laden machine. Haven't tried Widget Locker, so I can't speak to that.

 

[jpent]

I use an app for lockscreen called "Cover." I did not want the lockscreen showing my music, iheartradio and other sound apps on the lockscreen. Also - did not like the controls on the lock screen for such apps, as some worked and some did not. Taking phone out of pocket often caused song or station skip in the app.

Cover will put a bunch of app icons according to the time of day. I did not like that, so I go into settings and remove all my apps from being visible on the lock screen. Now it works as I like. No other lock screen seemed any good.

The flaw is that when you restart or power up, the old lock screen shows for a few seconds initially then it converts over. Have not found a solution to that. No big deal since I rarely power off.