Alternatively called a dynamic wallpaper, a live wallpaper is a desktop or smartphone wallpaper that is either fully animated or features animated elements. Live wallpapers can be animated GIFs that play on a loop, or fluid designs that change perspective, working with the gyroscope on the device to mirror its physical movements.

Live wallpapers are natively supported on most operating systems, including Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android.

Dynamic, Operating system terms, Phone terms, Software terms

Using a live wallpaper can consume more of your device’s battery. If you’re troubleshooting battery issues or trying to get your battery to last longer, we recommend you disable a live wallpaper.

  • How to adjust the Windows background.
  • How to make an animated GIF image.