Wallper turned 1 and just shipped its biggest update yet (live wallpapers for Mac)
Hey r/macapps. We build Wallper, a live wallpaper app for Mac. It just turned a year old, and we shipped our biggest update yet (1.8.0), so I wanted to share it. Some of you have left feedback in past threads here, which I appreciate. Problem If you came from Windows, you probably miss Wallpaper Engine. There's still no native version for Mac. Most Mac options either have a small library or put everything behind a subscription, and a lot of them run hot and drain the battery. We wanted animated 4K wallpapers on the desktop, lock screen, and as a screensaver that stay light on the machine and don't cost a monthly fee. So last summer, a friend and I decided to build Wallper. A year later, it's grown a lot, with 84,650 active users, 3.33M GB of wallpapers downloaded, and a library of 4,409 wallpapers. The latest release is version 1.8.0, which is also our biggest update so far. What's new in 1.8.0 Here's what this update added: Music sync now picks up any audio or video playing on your Mac, not just Spotify and Apple Music. YouTube Music, a browser tab, SoundCloud, etc. all work through macOS Now Playing. It builds a live gradient from the cover art. A new beta we call Light Sync, which mirrors the on-screen colors onto WLED strips and Philips Hue lights in real time. Playlists, with separate day and night sets that swap automatically by time of day. A lot faster now. Lock screen setup is mostly handled on our side instead of on your Mac, so most installs skip the heavy local processing. A long list of bug fixes around offline mode, multi-monitor setups, battery handling, startup, and wallpaper restore. You can also use your own MP4 files. Wallpapers can be uploaded to the community if you want to share them, but everything can stay completely local as well. It also pauses itself on battery, on fullscreen, or when CPU spikes. Comparison If you search the Mac App Store for wallpaper apps, two of the most popular options you'll probably run into are iWallpaper and Unsplash Wallpapers. iWallpaper has a big library, but it's mostly focused on desktop live wallpapers. Unsplash Wallpapers is a nice free one, but those are static photos, not live video. Wallper focuses specifically on live 4K video wallpapers for the desktop, the lock screen (macOS 26+), and as a screensaver. One honest note, since we're talking about other apps: we've noticed a lot of them lately copying us pretty closely, from the design down to parts of how it works internally. I think most of you have already spotted it, so I won't make a thing of it. Thanks for being here this past year, we really appreciate it. Pricing 7 days free, no login or card needed. After that it's one-time, no subscription: $14.99 for up to 3 Macs $24.99 for up to 5 Macs, with cloud sync so your wallpapers follow you across them Direct download from https://www.wallper.app/ full 1.8.0 changelog is on our GitHub. If you try it, I'd love to hear what you think. Feedback from this subreddit has genuinely shaped a lot of what we've built over the past year, so I'm always paying attention. Happy to answer any questions!
已收集讨论
Very cool, is it free or what's the price?
There's a 7-day free trial first, no signup or card needed, then it's a one-time $14.99.
Genuinely interested in how this compares to Backdrop which is what I'm currently running. I'm looking for ultra wide options as well so I'm still evaluating everything out there, but what makes yours the best? Have any deals for switchers 😄?
Backdrop does desktop and lock screen wallpapers too. From what I've seen the main differences are: Wallper's library is bigger, and we give you more settings to dial in the quality-vs-performance balance so wallpapers run smooth on your Mac. Backdrop is also a monthly subscription, and they don't have music sync, that's a fun one we have, where the wallpaper reacts to whatever's playing in your music player. For ultrawide specifically, you can search by resolution so wallpapers fit your monitor properly and stay sharp. And if you don't find one you like, you can upload your own. No switcher deal right now, but if you join our Discord the bot sends you a 10% off code 🙂
Love this app, the only issue is sometimes when I plug into my external monitor and then switch back to laptop screen (unplugging my USB-C) the wallpaper only takes of half the screen and I have to close Wallper and relaunch it. Minor but worth noting
Did you check if it happens also in the last update? I think we fixed that but not sure😅
How is the Performance inpact?
usually less than 1% when app UI is closed and only live wallpaper is running, but also depends on the wallpaper
W alcove spotting
This honestly looks so much like wallspace.
Wallspace came after Wallper , so in this case it would be the other way around.
I use Wallpaper Engine for my Windows laptop. Would love to try this out. This seems like an alternative to Wallpaper Engine but for Mac.
That's exactly what it is. Same with Backdrop, and Wallspace, and Wallux, and SCRYR, and VidWall, and...
Yo OP, any reason it's not on Homebrew, with all the other updates?
very cool!
I don't remember which one it was but one of them reverse engineered wallpaper engine format.
That Liquid Glass is so nice really clean
love this! especially the music sync 🔥
I recently switched to macOS and was looking for an alternative to Wallpaper Engine, which is how I came across your app. First of all, I want to say that you’ve done a great job. The only thing that bothers me is that the live wallpapers don’t have the same level of sharpness as those on the Windows alternative. Are you planning to improve this in the future? In my opinion, 4K should really be 4K. At the moment, many of the wallpapers often look more like 720p, which is especially noticeable on a 4K monitor.
🔥 if only they were interactive
we were actually thinking about it, but not sure how many users need that.. Might be the part of the next update
这条评论已在来源处删除。
xd:) that's from Alcove
这条评论已在来源处删除。
Only video files, unfortunately. But you can install wallper first, choose a wallpaper you like and disable after, live wallpaper will work on lock screen and on desktop it'll be the static version of the same wallpaper