Live wallpapers from gradients: make your own

A live wallpaper is a background for your phone or computer that moves: a slow loop of colour, a scene that drifts, or an image that responds to touch or the time of day. Gradients make some of the best ones, because a soft field of colour drifting behind your clock feels calm and alive without ever competing with your apps. The craft is to keep it slow, loop it cleanly and leave the busy parts of the screen quiet.

Where live wallpapers work

Support differs by system and changes between versions, so check what yours offers before designing. In broad terms:

What makes a gradient live wallpaper good

You will see your wallpaper hundreds of times a day, mostly for a second at a time, while you are trying to do something else. That changes the rules. A live wallpaper that is exciting on first view becomes tiring by the second day. The best ones are nearly still: you notice the movement only when you look for it.

Colours for a live wallpaper

Dark grounds are the natural home for moving wallpapers. They keep white icons and text readable at every moment of the loop, they feel restful at night, and on OLED screens, where each pixel makes its own light, darker pixels use less power. Pick a near-black ground tinted towards your main colour, then let one or two lit colours move across it. Dark gradient backgrounds goes deeper on building depth without gloom.

Add a little grain if you can. Dark gradients are where banding shows most, and a fine, moving grain hides it while giving the surface a filmic texture. Grainy gradients explains how much to use.

Sizes and shapes for phone and desktop

Make the loop at the shape of the screen it will live on. Phones are tall, roughly 9:19.5 on many current models, and most will zoom or crop a wallpaper slightly, sometimes with a parallax effect as you tilt. Desktops are usually 16:9. Keep the important colour away from the edges so crops don't lose it. For exact phone sizes and lock screen layout, see phone wallpaper sizes.

Phone, about 9:19.5

18 × 39

Desktop 16:9

1920 × 1080

How to make a gradient live wallpaper

1. 1

   Design the still

   Start with a still gradient at the screen's shape. Look at it with your real icons and clock on top before adding motion.

2. 2

   Choose one slow movement

   A sideways drift, a slow flow or light that breathes. One movement, slower than feels necessary.

3. 3

   Make it 15 to 30 seconds long

   Longer loops repeat less often, so the repeat is harder to notice. Very slow motion needs less length.

4. 4

   Join the loop

   The last frame must lead back into the first without a jump. Seamless loops shows how.

5. 5

   Export as video

   MP4 is the most widely accepted file for wallpaper apps and phones. Keep a PNG still from the same design, too.

6. 6

   Live with it for a day

   Set it and use your phone normally. If you notice it in a way that bothers you, slow it down or darken it.

Battery and performance

Any moving wallpaper asks your device to keep drawing, which uses some extra power. How much depends on the device, the app and the wallpaper: slow, dark loops at the screen's own resolution are the lightest, and many apps pause the animation when a window covers the desktop or the phone is locked. If battery matters more than motion on a given day, switch to the still version; it will look the same, just resting.

If you make your gradient in Gradiently, you can design it at a custom size, export it as a 5 to 30 second looping video with a slow movement such as Drift or Breathe, and export a PNG still of the same design. Loops are made so their end meets their start. For more wallpaper ideas, see gradient wallpapers and aesthetic backgrounds.