a field report ・ rx no.002 ・ for macOS
I reverse engineered
Apple's video wallpapers.
ever since Apple shipped them, i wanted my own videos there. so i took the framework apart to see what i could do. phosphene plays any video on your desktop and your lock screen.
macOS 26 Tahoe · Apple Silicon · free
01 ・ the framework
The part Apple
kept for itself.
macOS ships with video wallpapers: the aerials, Sequoia Sunrise, Tahoe Day. there has never been a way to add your own. the machinery is in the OS, polished and working. just locked.
Most wallpaper apps fake it with a fullscreen window behind your icons, which is why they can't reach the lock screen and break around Mission Control. phosphene loads the way Apple's own wallpapers load, so the system treats it as one of its own: your videos land in System Settings → Wallpaper, same picker, same thumbnails, one row above Tahoe Day. drop a video into the small companion app and forget it's there. macOS runs the wallpaper on its own.
i built this to sell it. the competitors were better than they looked. so it's free.
plate i ・ phosphene in the system wallpaper picker, above Apple's built-in Landscape collection.
02 ・ the label
Directions
for use.
drag a video into the library or the menu bar. pick it in System Settings. wake your Mac. that's the whole app.
plates ii & iii ・ the library window and the menu bar popover.
- aany video your Mac can decode: MP4, MOV, HEVC, H.264, ProRes.
- bdesktop and lock screen; per-display, per-Space.
- cgapless looping, frame-accurate.
- dpauses on battery, dimming, occlusion, thermals. after 30 seconds idle it stops doing anything at all.
- eno built-in catalog. your videos or nothing.
- fMIT. fork it.
It's free and it works well.
you'll forget this page in an hour ・ the wallpaper will still be moving
Download Phosphene ↓