How to Make a Video Wallpaper on Your Phone

What you need to know to set up cool video wallpaper on your Android or iPhone

Person holding an iPhone
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by Renée Lynn Midrack
A wordsmith dedicated to saving planet Earth through the wonders of technology.
Updated May 09, 2019

A video wallpaper, also called a live wallpaper, makes your phone’s background move or show a short video clip. Live wallpapers can spice up a phone beyond the standard, static wallpaper on most devices.

Some smartphones come with live wallpapers pre-installed, like floating feathers, shooting stars, or falling snow. However, you can also make your own custom live wallpaper from any video.

Make a Video Your Wallpaper on Android

There are several apps for Android that let you make a video wallpaper. A few include VideoWall and Video Live Wallpaper. We'll look at the latter below, but the steps are similar for VideoWall.

Video Live Wallpaper Android app

  2. Pick Choose Video, and then tap Allow to give the app permission to access your media files.

    After completing this step, this option is renamed to the file location of the video. If you don't see "Choose Video," just pick the button at the very top of the app.

  3. Select a video from your phone that you want to use as the live wallpaper.

  4. Adjust the start and end times at the bottom of the screen by dragging the slider along the video's timeline. Use the play button to preview the clip.

  5. Tap the button on the top right corner of the app to see what the live wallpaper will look like.

    To make changes to how the video displays, choose the settings icon on the top right of the preview screen. From there, you can enable/disable the audio and adjust the "scale fit" setting.

  6. Choose Set wallpaper and then choose Home screen or Home screen and lock screen, depending on your preference.

How to Set a Video as Your Wallpaper on iPhone

To use a video wallpaper on your iPhone (6S/6S+ or newer), just select any video clip you’ve captured using the Live Photo feature in your iPhone’s camera app.

  1. Go to Settings > Wallpaper

  2. Tap Choose a New Wallpaper and then Live Photos.

  3. Pick the live wallpaper you want to use, and optionally adjust the preview to zoom in or out.

  4. Tap Set when you're ready to make the video your iPhone wallpaper, and then choose Set Lock Screen, Set Home Screen, or Set Both.