Live wallpaper for Mac
Mac+ is a native macOS app that brings your desktop to life with live, animated wallpapers. Pick from 15 GPU-rendered scenes, set your own video or image as a background, and recolor everything with 44 palettes. It also restyles your folder icons and adds desktop widgets, all in one lightweight app.
macOS 13 or later. Apple Silicon and Intel. Free tier, no account required.
What you can do with Mac+
Mist, Aurora, Plasma, Lava, Rain, Snow and more, rendered on the GPU across 4 families: Atmosphere, Fluid, Geometry, Weather.
Apply one of 44 palettes or build your own, and the scene recolors instantly.
Loop your own video or set a still image as your live desktop background.
Restyle your folders with 52 patterns mapped onto the real macOS folder shape, or import your own image.
Clock, date, Focus, timer, season and weekend widgets, in 3 sizes and 4 shapes, placed wherever you like.
Enable the wallpaper per screen, with automatic updates whenever you plug in a display.
Why Mac+
Native and light
Everything renders on the GPU with Metal, with adjustable 30/60/120 FPS and automatic pause in fullscreen, so your desktop stays alive without draining a MacBook Air.
More than wallpapers
Beyond animated scenes and palettes, Mac+ also restyles your folder icons and adds 12 desktop widgets. It is a full desktop-customization kit, not just a wallpaper player.
Private by design
Mac+ runs 100% locally: no account required to start, no ads, no tracking. Built in France.
Why a live wallpaper on Mac?
A static desktop stops registering after the first day. Plenty of people want the same sense of motion on their Mac that they already get elsewhere: a background that breathes, shifts light, and adds a little life to the hours spent looking at a screen. macOS already answers part of that wish, and it deserves credit before Mac+ enters the picture.
Since macOS Mojave, Apple has shipped Dynamic Desktop: a set of photos (landscapes, deserts, lakes) that cycle automatically based on the time of day and your location — dawn, daylight, dusk, night. It's elegant and fully native, but it's a sequence of still images that changes a few times a day, not a continuous animation.
With macOS Sonoma, Apple went further by letting some screen savers — including the well-known aerial flyover videos — play directly as your desktop background: click the desktop to see your icons and the screen saver freezes into a still image behind your files; stop interacting and it resumes moving in full screen. It's Apple's first real building block of a "live wallpaper," but it's limited to Apple-supplied screen savers and freezes the moment you're actually working on your desktop.
Mac+ starts from that same instinct but keeps the animation running continuously, even with your icons and windows visible, and lets you pick the scene, the palette, and even your own video instead of a fixed screen saver. For more detail on exactly what macOS does natively versus what Mac+ adds, see our guide on getting an iPhone-style live wallpaper on Mac.
Native macOS vs Mac+: the honest comparison
No exaggeration here: Dynamic Desktop and Sonoma's screen-saver-as-wallpaper are genuine, free, well-integrated Apple features. Here is where they stop and where Mac+ picks up.
| Criterion | macOS native | Mac+ |
|---|---|---|
| Continuous animation | No — Dynamic Desktop swaps images by time of day; the screen-saver-as-wallpaper freezes the moment you click the desktop | Yes — a permanent looping animation, whether icons and windows are visible or not |
| Rendering | Still images (Dynamic Desktop) or a screen-saver video that freezes in use | 100% GPU (Metal), rendered in real time, continuously |
| Customization | Apple-supplied backgrounds and screen savers only | 15 scenes, 44 palettes, or your own video/image |
| Battery impact | Minimal for still images; more noticeable if the video screen saver runs for long stretches | Marginal, tested on a MacBook Air M1 — adjustable via FPS and auto-pause |
| Cost | Included with macOS | Free tier available, full access for €1.99/month (7-day free trial) or €9.99 once for lifetime |
No battery impact is ever truly zero once a screen shows motion — what matters is that it stays marginal and controllable, which our guide on whether animated wallpapers drain MacBook battery breaks down in detail.
How to set a live wallpaper on Mac
Setup takes a few clicks, with no restart and no hidden system settings. Here is every step in detail.
- Download Mac+ from macplus.pro and drag the app into your Applications folder, like any other macOS software.
- Open the Mac+ icon in the menu bar: it's the only entry point, and no extra window opens on your desktop.
- Pick an animated scene from the 15 available (Aurora, Plasma, Rain, Snow…), or drag in your own looping video directly if you want to set a video as your Mac wallpaper. The "Surprise me" button picks a random scene/palette combo if you're short on inspiration.
- Adjust the palette from the 44 available, or build your own to match your other apps and wallpapers.
- Set the FPS and auto-pause for your Mac: 30 FPS for an economical render, 60 or 120 for maximum smoothness on a recent display. The animation pauses when the screen sleeps or an app goes fullscreen.
- Apply it: close the panel and the live wallpaper takes over your desktop immediately, on every connected screen.
All 15 animated scenes, on video
Every scene is GPU-rendered live behind your icons — these are not looping video files sitting on your desktop. The previews below are screen recordings: tap to play.
Live wallpaper feature details
| Feature | What Mac+ offers |
|---|---|
| Scenes | 15 animated scenes: Mist, Aurora, Mesh, Flow, Plasma, Terrain, Waves, Lava, Bands, Smoke, Silk, Gradient, Bubbles, Rain, Snow |
| Families | 4 themed families: Atmosphere, Fluid, Geometry, Weather |
| Custom video | Import your own looping video, or a still image, in place of a scene |
| Palettes | 44 ready-made palettes, plus a custom-palette builder |
| FPS | Adjustable to 30, 60 or 120 frames per second depending on your hardware |
| Auto-pause | Animation stops while the screen sleeps or an app goes fullscreen |
Want to compare options before choosing? Our roundup of free animated wallpapers for Mac covers what's available without paying.
What users appreciate
The most common feedback: moving from a static background to an animated scene changes how a desktop used all day feels, without distracting from the work displayed in front of it.
Being able to import a personal video (a landscape filmed while traveling, an abstract loop) instead of being limited to preset scenes is regularly cited as the feature that sets Mac+ apart the most.
The FPS slider and auto-pause let people land on a setting that stays put without a second thought, even on a MacBook Air running on battery.
Rendering is 100% local and the app sends no usage data — a criterion increasingly cited by users who care about their Mac's privacy.
Frequently asked questions
Can I set a live wallpaper on Mac?
Yes. Mac+ is a native macOS app that plays live, animated wallpapers on your desktop, with 15 built-in GPU scenes plus the option to use your own video or image.
Is Mac+ free?
Yes, there is a genuine free tier with 6 animated scenes, 8 palettes, image background, 6 folder icons and 2 widgets — no account required. Pro unlocks everything for €1.99/month (7-day free trial) or €9.99 once for lifetime access.
Does a live wallpaper drain my battery?
No. Rendering is 100% GPU (Metal), resolution and FPS are adjustable, and the animation pauses when the screen sleeps or an app covers it.
Can I use my own video as a live wallpaper?
Yes. Mac+ lets you set your own looping video or a still image as your desktop background, alongside its 15 built-in GPU scenes.
How much does a live wallpaper actually affect my MacBook's battery life?
The impact is marginal, not zero: Mac+ renders every scene on the GPU via Metal, and in testing on a MacBook Air M1 the extra draw stayed small. You can lower the frame rate to 30 FPS, reduce resolution, or rely on auto-pause when the screen sleeps or an app goes fullscreen to keep it even lighter.
How do I set a video as my wallpaper on Mac?
In Mac+, open the Wallpaper tab, switch the source to Custom, and choose a video file from your Mac. It loops as your live desktop background, GPU-accelerated, the same way the 15 built-in scenes do.
Can I get a live wallpaper like on iPhone on my Mac?
Yes, in spirit. iPhone's Live Photos wallpapers play a short looping clip when you touch the lock screen; Mac+ instead renders continuously animated scenes, or your own looping video, directly behind your desktop icons all day, with no touch needed.
Is there a free live wallpaper app for Mac?
Yes. Mac+ has a genuine free tier, not just a time-limited demo, with 6 animated scenes, 8 palettes, image background, 6 folder icons and 2 widgets. Pro unlocks all 15 scenes, 44 palettes and custom video for €1.99/month (7-day free trial) or €9.99 once for lifetime access.