Since iOS 17, iPhone supports Live Photos as a Lock Screen wallpaper again: the image plays briefly whenever you wake your phone. It's built in, it takes about a minute, and it's a nice way to put a favorite moment in motion. Here are Apple's steps, plus the reasons it sometimes doesn't animate.
What you need
- An iPhone running iOS 17 or later.
- A Live Photo in your library. Shooting one is easy: in the Camera app, make sure the Live Photo button is on before you take the picture.
Set a Live Photo as your Lock Screen wallpaper
- Open Settings and tap Wallpaper.
- Tap Add New Wallpaper.
- Tap Photos.
- Tap Live Photo to filter to your Live Photos.
- Tap the Live Photo you want to use.
- Customize it. Pinch to position the image, and make sure the play button is on so it plays when you wake your iPhone.
- Tap Add.
- Tap Set as Wallpaper Pair to use it on the Lock Screen and Home Screen, or tap Customize Home Screen to set a different Home Screen wallpaper.
Shortcut: touch and hold your Lock Screen to open the wallpaper gallery, then tap the add button to start a new wallpaper.
What moves and what doesn't
- The Lock Screen plays the Live Photo when you wake the phone, then settles on the still frame.
- The Home Screen shows a still image. That's expected behavior.
If your wallpaper won't animate
- Check the play button. If it's off in the editor, the wallpaper is set as a still. Touch and hold the Lock Screen, tap Customize, choose the Lock Screen, and turn it on.
- Turn off Low Power Mode. It can stop Live Photo playback.
- Make sure it's really a Live Photo. Images saved from the web or screenshots are stills. In Photos, Live Photos show a LIVE badge.
- Pick a different clip. Short, steady Live Photos with a clear subject tend to look best.
Try a Spatial Scene too
With iOS 26 on iPhone 12 or later, Apple can turn certain photos into 3D Spatial Scene wallpapers. Go to Settings > Wallpaper > Add New Wallpaper > Photos, scroll the top bar to Spatial Scene, and pick a photo. This adds depth as you move the phone, rather than playing a clip.
Set it from the Photos app instead
You can also start in Photos: open the Live Photo, tap the share button, scroll down and tap Use as Wallpaper, then tap Add and choose whether to use it as a wallpaper pair or customize the Home Screen separately. Check that the Live Photo play button is on before you tap Add, or it will be set as a still.
Tips for a good-looking Live wallpaper
- Leave room for the clock. Position the subject so the time and widgets don't cover faces.
- Keep it subtle. Gentle motion (water, hair, a wave) looks better than fast action.
- Make a few. You can keep several Lock Screens and swipe between them in the wallpaper gallery.
Going further with ScreenLux
If you'd rather start from ready-made motion artwork than your own camera roll, ScreenLux is the app I built for that. You save a wallpaper as a Live Photo, then follow the same Settings steps above. ScreenLux: live wallpapers for iPhone and 4K video wallpapers for Android. All artwork is created with generative AI tools.
ScreenLux is free to download and preview; subscription unlocks the full catalog and removes ads.
My team specializes in advanced generative AI art and video, and WatchLux and ScreenLux are where we apply it to the watch and the phone.
- iPhone: ScreenLux on the App Store
Sean McCue, Founder, WatchLux and ScreenLux
Top comments (0)