I reverse engineered Apple's video wallpapers
Ever since Apple introduced their video wallpapers I wanted to be able to put custom videos there. I decided to reverse engineer and see what I can do. I built Phosphene to sell it, but the existing competitors were polished enough that the time it would have taken to catch up wasn't going to pay off. So I'm open-sourcing it. WallpaperExtensionKit.framework is what powers macOS wallpapers. It controls what’s shows in the Settings app. It took a lot of trial and error to replicate the behavior, but the result is that your custom wallpapers appear alongside everything else. I wanted to have an…
I reverse engineered Apple's video wallpapers launched on May 20, 2026 with 428 votes, #32 of 20,538 launches that month and more than 99% of that year's launches.
In plain words
Phosphene is an open-source macOS tool that lets users set custom videos as desktop wallpapers, replicating Apple's video wallpaper functionality. Built by reverse-engineering the WallpaperExtensionKit framework, it displays custom wallpapers alongside native options in the Settings app and keeps videos playing on the desktop rather than just the lock screen. Developers can integrate the framework into their own wallpaper applications.
written from the facts on this page · September 2026
From the sources
Custom video wallpapers for macOS — any video, on the desktop and the lock screen, picked directly from System Settings' Wallpaper pane - kageroumado/phosphene
the menu bar ・ preview, pause, switch displays your library ・ import, inspect, and optimize your videos macOS doesn't let you use your own videos as wallpaper. The desktop only takes stills, and the lock screen only plays Apple's approved Aerials. Phosphene removes that limit: it's a menu bar app + wallpaper extension that adds any video you like to System Settings → Wallpaper — as its own collection, selectable for the desktop and the lock screen exactly like a built-in. There's no floating window pretending to be a wallpaper. Phosphene plugs into Apple's private WallpaperExtensionKit framework — the same wallpaper pipeline Apple's own Aerials use — which means playback runs…from github.com
In the maker’s words, at launch
Ever since Apple introduced their video wallpapers I wanted to be able to put custom videos there. I decided to reverse engineer and see what I can do. I built Phosphene to sell it, but the existing competitors were polished enough that the time it would have taken to catch up wasn't going to pay off. So I'm…
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Backdrop2025 · cindori.com · ▲170Hi HN, I'm Oskar, a solo indie Mac developer from Sweden. For those in the Mac community, you might know me from my other apps like Sensei and Trim Enabler. For years, I've been frustrated by the lack of customisation of macOS. In particular the Lock Screen which supports animated wallpapers, but only ones provided by Apple. There's never been a way to add your own personal videos. I decided to figure out how to solve this, and the result is Backdrop 2.0. Backdrop is my Live Wallpaper app for Mac, it can play video wallpapers on your desktop. And now it can play on your Lock Screen too. The…
WallperNov 2025 · wallper.app · ▲26Hi everyone! I’ve recently launched Wallper, a small project I built because I couldn’t find a lightweight, native-feeling app to apply real 4K video wallpapers on macOS. You can upload your own videos (private or public), apply them to multiple monitors, and the app pauses playback in full-screen mode to save battery. I’d love to hear your thoughts, ideas, or feedback - still very early, but already live and free to try!
Dynamic Wallpaper Club2019 · dynamicwallpaper.club · ▲304Make and share dynamic wallpapers for macOS
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