Live Video Wallpaper Engine for macOS
demo-video.mp4
Wallnetic brings live video wallpapers to your Mac desktop. Transform your workspace with dynamic, animated backgrounds that run efficiently in the background.
Wallpaper Engine has 40M+ users on Windows — now Mac users finally have a native alternative built with SwiftUI and Metal.
- Home, Explore, Popular, and Discover tabs
- Full-screen hero banner with auto-rotating showcase
- Horizontal carousel sections with hover previews
- Dark theme optimized for media browsing
- Browse 6 wallpaper sources: Pixabay, Pexels, MyLiveWallpapers, DesktopHut, MoeWalls, MotionBGs
- In-app browser with automatic video download detection
- Scan any page to find and download all videos
- Progress tracking with auto-import to library
- Play any video file (MP4, MOV, M4V, GIF, WebM) as your desktop background
- Seamless looping with zero stuttering
- Drag & drop or file picker import
- Crossfade transitions between wallpaper changes
- Set different wallpapers for each macOS Space (virtual desktop)
- Auto-switches when changing Spaces via Mission Control
- Right-click any wallpaper > "Set for This Space"
- Video wallpaper on lock screen with clock overlay
- Uses current wallpaper or a specific selection
- Auto-detects screen lock/unlock
- Set different wallpapers for each display
- Same wallpaper across all monitors option
- Automatic display detection and hot-plug support
- Brightness, contrast, saturation, blur, tint, and vignette
- 8 presets: None, Dim, Vivid, Moody, Film, B&W, Dreamy, Focus
- Real-time CIFilter effects on video layer
- 4 time slots: Morning, Afternoon, Evening, Night
- Assign wallpapers per slot with configurable hours
- Glassmorphism clock widget with wallpaper background
- Play/pause and next wallpaper controls
- Favorites quick-switch thumbnails
- Small, Medium, and Large sizes
- Floating control pill at the top of your screen
- Compact mode: wallpaper thumbnail + play/pause
- Expanded mode: full controls, rename, shuffle, favorite
- Notch-aware layout — wraps around MacBook Pro notch
- Auto-collapse after 5 seconds
- Right-click any wallpaper > Rename
- Custom display titles without changing file names
- Available on all screens: Home, Explore, Popular, Library
- Reset to original name anytime
- Settings > General > "Hide Dock icon"
- Run as menu bar-only app
- Access via menu bar icon or Dynamic Island
- Glow cards with hover effects
- Neon navigation tabs
- Glass morphism backgrounds
- Staggered entrance animations
- Animated gradient backgrounds
- Real-time FFT spectrum overlay rendered on the desktop
- 64-column center-out horizontal burst with accent-to-white color gradient
- Captures microphone or system audio (ScreenCaptureKit)
- Pre-allocated vDSP buffers for near-zero allocation on the hot path
- Configurable sensitivity and placement
- Auto-pause on battery power with opt-in prompt
- "Always play on battery" toggle in Settings for users who prefer live playback
- "Bir daha sorma" / remember-choice checkbox in the prompt
- Pause when fullscreen apps are active
- Automatic resume when conditions change
CGWindowListCopyWindowInforuns off the main thread (no UI stalls)
- Set Wallpaper, Next Wallpaper, Toggle Playback, Random Wallpaper
- Siri: "Change wallpaper in Wallnetic"
- macOS 14+ required
- Metal GPU acceleration for smooth playback
- 3 performance modes: Quality, Balanced, Battery Saver
- Minimal CPU usage (~2-5%)
- Async image caching
| Component | Requirement |
|---|---|
| macOS | 13.0 (Ventura) or later |
| Processor | Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4) or Intel |
| RAM | 4 GB minimum |
| Storage | 50 MB + your video files |
| Platform | Download |
|---|---|
| macOS (Apple Silicon) | Wallnetic_1.1.0_arm64.dmg |
| macOS (Intel) | Wallnetic_1.1.0_x86_64.dmg |
"Wallnetic is damaged and can't be opened" — This happens because the DMG is not notarized by Apple. Run this command in Terminal after dragging Wallnetic to Applications:
xattr -cr /Applications/Wallnetic.appThen open the app normally. Alternatively, right-click > Open > Open, or go to System Settings > Privacy & Security > Open Anyway.
git clone https://github.com/fatihkan/wallnetic.git
cd wallnetic/src/Wallnetic
brew install xcodegen
xcodegen generate
open Wallnetic.xcodeproj
# Build and run (Cmd + R)Requires Xcode 15.0+ and macOS 13.0+
| Component | Technology |
|---|---|
| Language | Swift 5.9 |
| UI | SwiftUI |
| Video Engine | AVFoundation + AVPlayerLooper |
| GPU Rendering | Metal |
| Architecture | MVVM + Services |
| Widget | WidgetKit |
| In-App Purchase | StoreKit 2 |
| Project Gen | XcodeGen |
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
Cmd + I |
Import videos |
Cmd + P |
Toggle play/pause |
Cmd + N |
Next wallpaper |
Cmd + F |
Search |
Cmd + O |
Open main window |
Cmd + , |
Settings |
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
Cmd + Shift + → |
Next wallpaper |
Cmd + Shift + ← |
Previous wallpaper |
Cmd + Shift + P |
Toggle play/pause |
Cmd + Shift + R |
Random wallpaper |
Global hotkeys work from any app. Enable them in
Settings → General → Global hotkeys.
- Video playback engine with seamless looping
- Multi-monitor support
- Library management with collections and favorites
- Smart power management
- Metal GPU rendering
- Notification Center widget
- Menu bar controls
- Netflix-style UI redesign
- Discover wallpaper sources (Pixabay, Pexels, web browser)
- Per-Space wallpapers
- Lock screen video
- Wallpaper effects (blur, brightness, tint, vignette)
- Time-of-day auto switch
- Apple Shortcuts & Siri integration
- GIF/WebM/WebP format support
- Crossfade transitions
- Performance modes
- Dynamic Island — floating control pill at screen top (notch-aware)
- Wallpaper rename — custom display titles via right-click > Rename
- Dock icon hiding — run as menu bar-only app
- Striking UI effects — glow cards, neon navigation, glass morphism, staggered animations
- Code review bug fixes — Equatable/Hashable contract, import file copy, force-unwrap safety
- Audio Visualizer overlay on desktop (#129) — 64-column FFT burst with color gradient
- Global hotkeys —
Cmd+Shift+←/→/P/Rfor previous, next, play/pause, random - Battery-mode prompt with "Always play on battery" Settings toggle (#172)
- FFT hot-path optimizations — pre-allocated vDSP buffers, pointer arithmetic (#163)
- PowerManager off-main-thread fullscreen detection (#168)
- WallpaperManager decomposition — Library / MetadataStore / WidgetSync services (#149)
- Notification → delegate refactor for direct playback calls (#170)
- 37 unit tests for Wallpaper, URL helpers, async init (#140)
- Privacy Manifest (
PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy) for App Store compliance (#164) - MRMediaRemote private framework gated to
#if DEBUGfor store builds (#165) - Centralized
os.loglogging — 93print/NSLog→Log.*registry across 31 categories (#169) - Audio Visualizer customization — sensitivity slider, 3 styles (Bars/Waveform/Dots), 6 corner positions, S/M/L sizes (#159, #160, #161, #162)
- Photos slideshow generator — create wallpapers from your Apple Photos library with Ken Burns and crossfade transitions (#137)
- AI video generation from text prompts
- 3D perspective wallpaper carousel
- Now Playing overlay on desktop (currently gated on code signing)
- Wallpaper marketplace
- Music reactive mode
- iCloud library sync
Release notes live in CHANGELOG.md, formatted to Keep a Changelog and SemVer.
Latest: 1.3.0 — Photos slideshow generator, audio visualizer customization, battery prompt, ViewModel layer, sandbox enablement, centralized error surfacing.
Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.
- Fork the repository
- Create your feature branch (
git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature) - Commit your changes (
git commit -m 'Add amazing feature') - Push to the branch (
git push origin feature/amazing-feature) - Open a Pull Request
Fatih Kan
- Website: github.com/fatihkan/wallnetic
- GitHub: @fatihkan
- Twitter: @KanFatih
This project is licensed under the MIT License — see the LICENSE file for details.
Wallnetic does not collect any personal data. All wallpapers are stored locally on your Mac. See PRIVACY.md for details.
Made with care for Mac users who deserve better wallpapers.