Live Wallpaper on iPhone: How It Works and 4 Apps to Try
Yes, an iPhone can have a live wallpaper — but only in one form. iOS animates a Live Photo on the Lock Screen: set one as your wallpaper and it plays for a moment each time you wake the phone. The Home Screen stays still, and iOS has no option to loop a video or a GIF in the background the way Android does. Every “live wallpaper app” on the App Store works within that rule: it hands you a Live Photo and iOS does the rest.
So the useful questions are where good Live Photos come from and what to do when one refuses to move. Below: what changed between iOS 16 and iOS 27, how to set a Live Photo and turn your own video into one, and the four live wallpaper apps in our catalogue — each with its paid tier already unlocked.
The 30-second answer
- You want a big library of moving wallpapers and the option to animate your own photos → WallPics
- You want wallpapers, widgets, icon packs and watch faces from one app → MyScreen
- You want anime, and widgets to match → Anime – Live Wallpaper Engine
- You want to turn your own videos into live wallpapers and have an iPhone 6s to X → Live Wallpapers for Me
- You want nothing extra installed → shoot a Live Photo with the Camera and set it yourself (steps below)
How live wallpapers work on iPhone today
Live Photos arrived with the iPhone 6s in 2015 and could be used as a Lock Screen wallpaper from the start; on those phones a firm 3D Touch press played them. That worked for years, until iOS 16 dropped it: the option disappeared with the redesigned Lock Screen, and Apple’s developer forums filled up with threads from people whose wallpapers had gone still.
iOS 17 brought it back, with one change that still holds. Apple’s support page now says a Live Photo wallpaper plays when you wake the phone: raise it or tap the screen and the photo moves briefly, then settles. Other details people trip over:
- Lock Screen only. The Home Screen shows the still frame.
- Low Power Mode gets in the way. Live Wallpapers for Me warns in its App Store listing that live wallpapers can’t be set while it is on, and users report the motion stops with it on.
- Apple’s own moving presets are few. iPhone Life, testing on iOS 26.3, counts little beyond Weather and a bubbles wallpaper — most of the older live presets are gone.
iOS 26 added a different kind of motion. Spatial scenes take an ordinary photo and give it depth, so the picture shifts slightly as you tilt the phone. Apple lists it for iPhone 12 or later on iOS 26, it shows only on the Lock Screen, and only some photos qualify — ones with a clear subject against the background, or landscapes. It is a 3D effect, not playback: nothing animates on its own.
iOS 27 didn’t change live wallpapers. Its Lock Screen additions, as 9to5Mac listed them on October 2, are Image Playground wallpapers, AI “Extend” for photos that don’t fit the screen, a clock you can move up into the widget row, and a Now Playing widget you can swipe away. The Live Photo rules above are the same.
How to set a Live Photo as your wallpaper
This is Apple’s current path (iOS 17 and later, including iOS 27):
- Open Settings → Wallpaper → Add New Wallpaper.
- Tap Photos, then the Live Photo filter, and pick one.
- Make sure the Live Photo (play) button is on — if it’s off, the wallpaper stays still.
- Tap Add, then Set as Wallpaper Pair, or Customize Home Screen if you want a different image behind your apps.
You can also press and hold the Lock Screen and tap + to get to the same gallery. The wallpaper apps below end the same way: you save a Live Photo from the app into Photos, then set it here.
Turning a video into a live wallpaper
This is the part most people actually want: a clip from a trip, a pet, a scene from a show. iOS has no button for it — the Photos app can’t turn a video into a Live Photo, so it has to be done by an app.
- TikTok can do it for its own videos: in the share sheet there’s a Live Photo option that saves the clip to Photos as a Live Photo. The option only appears when the video’s owner allows saving; for a clip of your own, guides suggest posting it privately and saving it from there.
- Converter apps turn any video in your library into a Live Photo. Of the apps below, Live Wallpapers for Me has a Live Wallpaper Maker for your own videos, and WallPics can animate a still photo.
Keep it short. A camera-made Live Photo is about three seconds long, and wallpaper app makers advise staying close to that and keeping the motion simple — long, busy clips are the ones that fail.
If iOS says “Motion not available”. This message comes up mostly with Live Photos made from videos. Apple hasn’t explained it publicly; the fixes in user and developer reports are: switch off Low Power Mode, check that the Live button is on for that wallpaper, try a shorter or calmer clip, and as a test, try a Live Photo you shot with the Camera — if that one moves, the problem is the converted file, not your phone.
WallPics — a deep live library, and your own photos in motion
WallPics, from IgKnight Technologies, is the newest app here (2023) and among the best rated: 4.7 stars from about 51,000 ratings. Its core is a large library of animated 4K wallpapers built for the Live Photo Lock Screen. Around it sit a DIY studio for making your own backgrounds with text and stickers, charging animations, profile-picture icons and matching Lock and Home Screen sets. A recent update added a way to turn any of your photos into a live wallpaper.
On the App Store the free version carries ads and the good part sits behind a subscription — $3.99 to $7.99 a week, or $24.99 to $34.99 a year. Our build is version 4.1.5, the current App Store version, with the subscription unlocked, so the premium wallpapers are open.
Pick it if you want the most moving wallpapers to choose from and to animate your own shots.
MyScreen — wallpapers, widgets and watch faces in one
MyScreen has been around since 2016 and is the most reviewed app on this list, with about 311,000 ratings. Its developer counts more than 50 million users and over 17,000 wallpapers, widgets and themes. It goes wider than live wallpapers: a 4K library plus animated collections updated monthly, an AI generator for wallpapers and avatars from a text prompt, widgets and icon packs, Apple Watch faces and StandBy screens. Every image is fitted to your screen automatically, so there’s no cropping.
The App Store version sells its content in several pieces, with packs at up to $34.99. Our build, version 2.99, has the subscription unlocked, so the premium wallpaper features are open. The App Store is one release ahead at 3.1.
Pick it if the wallpaper is only the start and you want the whole screen themed from one app.
Anime – Live Wallpaper Engine — anime only, done properly
A one-genre app by Abay Imanberlin, live since 2018 and rated 4.9 from about 84,000 ratings — the highest score here. It has HD, 4K and live wallpapers across shonen, isekai, cyberpunk, mecha and calmer styles, a widget maker for Home and Lock Screen widgets that match, and Apple Watch faces. On iPhones that support the depth effect, wallpapers get a layered, 3D-style look.
Its App Store listing is unusually honest about the limits: live wallpapers work on iPhone 8 or later, except the iPhone SE, and on every iOS version except iOS 16 — on other models they show as still images. On the App Store, Pro costs from $4.99 a week up to $49.99. Our build, version 4.2.2, has all Pro features unlocked — every premium wallpaper and live background, no ads. To switch them on, tap Restore Purchases inside the app. The App Store version is newer (5.1).
Pick it if your Lock Screen is going to be anime anyway.
Live Wallpapers for Me — your own videos, on older iPhones
The veteran of the list: Mosaic S.r.l. has published it since 2016, and it holds 4.5 stars from about 118,000 ratings. It’s a catalogue of animated Lock Screen backgrounds — time-lapse scenery, pets, hypnotic abstract loops — with new ones added weekly, plus a Live Wallpaper Maker that turns your own videos into live wallpapers. That makes it the most direct answer here to the video question above.
Check your phone before you install. Our build is meant for specific devices only: iPhone 6s, 7, 8 and X generations, including the Plus and Max models (6s Plus, 7 Plus, 8 Plus, Xs and Xs Max). On a newer iPhone, pick one of the three apps above.
On the App Store, Premium runs from $0.99 to $5.99 a week, or $14.99 a year, and the app hasn’t been updated since July 2025. Our build, version 2.42.31, has the subscription unlocked, opening the full live wallpaper collection. If Premium doesn’t show as active on first launch, close and reopen the app.
Pick it if you have one of those iPhones and want your own clips on the Lock Screen.
The enthusiast route: TendieMaker and .tendies
There is a corner of the community that goes past Live Photos entirely. TendieMaker is a small open-source app (MIT licence, on GitHub) that takes a video, cuts it into up to 400 frames and packages them as a .tendies file — a wallpaper package for PosterBoard, the part of iOS that draws the Lock Screen. Built this way, the wallpaper loops continuously instead of playing once when you wake the phone.
Know what you’re getting into. TendieMaker isn’t distributed as an app: you compile it yourself in Xcode on a Mac. The .tendies file then has to be written into system storage that apps normally can’t touch, which is what its companion tool AirCard-iOS does through a bug in an iOS sync service. AirCard-iOS’s own README states the limit: it works up to iOS 27.0.1 and the iOS 27.2 betas 1–2, and Apple closed the hole in iOS 27.2 beta 3. Treat it as a hobby project with an expiry date, not a setting you can count on after the next update.
How to install any of them
None of these builds are on the App Store, and all four install the same way — from the catalogue, in one tap, with no PC and no developer account of your own:
- Register your iPhone at builds.io — one UDID, done in the browser.
- Open the app’s page and tap GET. It installs like a normal download.
- If the first launch says “processing”, that’s Apple’s signing queue, not an error. Most devices are ready within a day, some take up to three days, and it happens once (what the wait is).
The apps stay signed for as long as your subscription runs, so a wallpaper app doesn’t vanish a week later the way apps from free signers do (why that happens).
FAQ
Can I get a live wallpaper on iPhone for free? Yes. Any Live Photo you shoot with the Camera can be your wallpaper, and Apple includes a few moving presets. The apps add libraries and converters; their free tiers on the App Store are limited, and the builds above have the paid tier open.
Can I put a video or GIF on my iPhone Lock Screen? Not directly. Convert it to a Live Photo first (TikTok, WallPics or Live Wallpapers for Me), then set it under Settings → Wallpaper.
Why doesn’t my live wallpaper move? In order of likelihood: Low Power Mode is on, the Live button is off for that wallpaper, the clip is too long or busy, or — on iOS 16 — the feature didn’t exist. Update to iOS 17 or later.
Do live wallpapers work on the Home Screen? No. iOS animates them on the Lock Screen only; the Home Screen shows the still frame.
Do live wallpapers drain the battery? A Live Photo wallpaper plays for a moment when you wake the phone and then stops — it doesn’t loop in the background. Low Power Mode still switches the motion off.
So which one?
If you install one: WallPics — a deep live library, and it animates your own photos. Choose MyScreen if you want the widgets and icons to match, Anime – Live Wallpaper Engine for anime, and Live Wallpapers for Me if you’re on an iPhone 6s to X and want your own videos moving.
For the static side of the home screen, last week’s digest covered Widgetsmith, iScreen and Koco Widgets. More apps with the subscription already on are in premium unlocked apps for iPhone, and the whole catalogue is at builds.io.