Learn how to use animated wallpapers on your Android phone, and discover the best ones you can download.
If you’ve had enough of static wallpaper images, why not give them movement with animated backgrounds.
Advances in app development have allowed developers to create high-quality animated mobile wallpapers, so let’s take a look at them, but not before reminding you that we also have an article that is updated weekly with the best mobile wallpapers of the moment.
How to use animated wallpapers?
Before we dive into our selection of animated backgrounds for mobile, it is worth remembering how to use this type of customization application. When using an animated background on Android, we must access the wallpaper selection menu, almost always available through a long press on a space on the home screen.
Once inside, there are two types of menus. The first, first display the images in scroll or horizontal list format, with the animated backgrounds at the end of it all, in a separate section. While in other customization layers, we can find this type of wallpapers next to the rest of the static images. In any case, it will be enough to find the one we want to use, and apply it to the home screen.
Animated wallpapers: The best for your cell phone
- Diffuse
- Skyline
- Forest Live Wallpaper
- Rainpaper
- Chrooma
- Wavero
- Paperland Pro
- Minima Live Wallpaper
- Fracta Live Wallpaper
- Lines Live Wallpaper
- Pixelscapes
- Vortex
- 3D Mountain
- Rad Walls
- Wall St
- Particle Live Wallpaper
- Wallow
- ShaderPaper
Now we move on to the best-animated wallpapers for Android that you can download on Google Play Store.
Among the collection, you can find wallpapers of all kinds. Many of them are free, although others are paid.
Diffuse
Diffuse is the wallpaper of the image at the top of this article, and the one we have been using for several months now.
It takes inspiration from Apple Music, by obtaining the colors of the cover or image of the audio or video track that is playing on the device in real-time, to generate an animated wallpaper that changes color dynamically.
In addition, it has customization options that allow, for example, to display the sound beats through effects on the wallpaper itself.
Also, you can download this wallpaper from the following link.
Skyline
We have already told you about Skyline, and we even dedicated an article to talk about this animated wallpaper. It is an app that simulates the animated backgrounds of the Google Pixel 2, which show real locations, manually chosen, in zenithal view in three dimensions, with movements and turns depending on the interaction with the screen by the user.
Among its features, we find the following:
- The world in 3D thanks to Mapbox: Enter the name or coordinates of the place you want on your screen.
- Changing scenes: Animation when you unlock the phone or change the screen in the launcher.
- ‘Parallax’ effect: Depth effect when you move the phone.
- Theme API support: On Android 8.1 and later, the system will change color depending on the main tone of the chosen background image.
Also, you can download this wallpaper from the following link.
Forest Live Wallpaper
If you are looking for a minimalist and relaxing animated wallpaper, Forest Live Wallpaper is your best option. Once activated, it will show the image of a forest that will change throughout the day, depending on the time and weather conditions.
On the other hand, it is also possible to select the colors manually, in case you want to avoid it changing as the hours go by. A simple, beautiful, and free background.
Also, you can download this wallpaper from the following link.
Rainpaper
Although Rainpaper is not an animated wallpaper app as such, it does bring movements and effects to our home screen. It is a tool that allows us to add weather phenomena to the startup, whatever the wallpaper image we are using.
Unlike many other apps of this type, the effects that Rainpaper shows are of great quality, and are even configurable so that we can choose the amount of rain, snow, or clouds that appear on the home screen.
Among other features, we find the depth effect according to the ‘Parallax’ movement, the possibility of synchronizing the effects with the weather, or choose the background images from external sources, such as Reddit or Unsplash.
Also, you can download this wallpaper from the following link.
Chrooma Live Wallpaper
One of the great classics in terms of animated wallpapers for Android is Chrooma. It is an app that offers us different patterns based on the Material Design philosophy, with color palettes customizable by the user.
The patterns will change their shape every time we return to the home screen -if we activate the corresponding option-, and we can choose between twelve different shapes. In addition, the app includes a power-saving mode to prevent the wallpaper from consuming too much battery power.
Also, you can download this wallpaper from the following link.
Wavero
Another free animated wallpaper worth trying is Wavero. This Live Wallpaper is based on animations of different patterns in real-time, with lots of different colors and effects that appear when you touch the screen.
Also, you can download this wallpaper from the following link.
Paperland Pro Live Wallpaper
Paperland is one of those classics that never go out of fashion. This animated wallpaper makes us travel to a paper world, in which the different elements will move, creating a small animated universe on our home screen.
It is possible to choose among twenty-three different themes, each of them with a different theme. In addition, if we wish, the wallpaper will change the style depending on the state of the weather in our location.
Also, you can download this wallpaper from the following link.
Minima Live Wallpaper
As its name suggests, Minima Live Wallpaper is a minimalist animated wallpaper, which offers an endless number of shapes and moving elements, in different colors and styles.
It has more than thirty different themes, all of them created by hand. The “Pro” version, however, offers more than ninety styles, all of them with movement and depth effects depending on the movement of the device and the user’s interaction with the screen.
Also, you can download this wallpaper from the following link.
Fracta Live Wallpaper
Fracta Live Wallpaper interesting application that brings a polygonal landscape to our home screen, customizable and with movements that offer a three-dimensional experience of the most pleasant.
In the free variant of Fracta Live Wallpaper, we have 4 different themes to choose from, each with different colors and styles. However, paying for the “Pro” version unlocks 20 more themes, as well as using images stored on the device as a source for the color mosaic.
Also, you can download this wallpaper from the following link.
Lines Live Wallpaper
Dozens of colorful “worms” move around the home screen of your mobile. Lines Live Wallpaper is a recent app, which has already managed to position itself among the best in its category, thanks to the infinite number of customization options it offers and that allows you to modify any aspect of the wallpaper.
Also, you can download this wallpaper from the following link.
Pixelscapes Wallpaper
For lovers of landscapes with Pixel Art style, Pixelscapes is the best-animated wallpaper app that exists on Google Play. It has several predefined landscapes, although there is the possibility of modifying the appearance of some of them. Its creators, moreover, ensure that the app has been optimized to work perfectly without affecting battery consumption.
Also, you can download this wallpaper from the following link.
Vortex
Undoubtedly, Vortex is one of the most original animated wallpapers we have ever tried. Its design is based on particles that flow across the screen, but where its appeal lies is in the fact that to move from one side to another, Vortex relies on the Google Awareness API, so that the movements refer to the state of the weather in the location where the user is. Therefore, we will see the particles differently depending on the weather, location, time of day, and other factors.
Also, you can download this wallpaper from the following link.
3D Mountain Landscape
Perfect animated background for lovers of minimalist wallpapers.
2D Wallpaper allows you to have a beautiful two-dimensional landscape on your home screen, whose colors change with the passing of the hours, to show stars at night or the sunrise in the morning.
The app is free and contains different predefined styles to choose from. It also offers the option to create your styles and to add elements such as snow.
Also, you can download this wallpaper from the following link.
Rad Walls
If your thing is the eighties aesthetic with retro wave design, Rad Walls is the app you need. It contains a large collection of backgrounds of this type, whose advantage is the low energy consumption since each wallpaper uses a six-second video clip and therefore does not need to generate 3D graphics.
Also, you can download this wallpaper from the following link.
Wall St Stylized Street Maps as Live Wallpapers
If you like your city so much that you even want to have it as your wallpaper, Wall St is the app you should download today. You only need to select the location you want to use as a background, and the app will create a two-dimensional map of different colors -selected by the user-, which will be used as a background image, moving and with different effects.
Also, you can download this wallpaper from the following link.
Particle Live Wallpaper
Another extremely customizable wallpaper, but that does not leave aside the minimalist style is Particle Live Wallpaper. In it, we will see how different particles of the color we choose move randomly across the screen, at the speed we want, and with the chosen background.
Also, you can download this wallpaper from the following link.
Wallow
Probably one of the most elegant and best-designed animated wallpapers on Google Play.
Wallow is an animated background that shows gradient colors that represent the tones of the sky, and that changes with the passing of the hours based on the position of the sun and the existing light.
Also, you can download this wallpaper from the following link.
ShaderPaper – Live Wallpaper Designer
The last application in this selection is probably the most complete animated wallpaper application available. ShaderPaper is an app with which you can generate your animated backgrounds, from 120 predefined shaders or templates based on the OpenGL graphics engine, which can be combined to create unique and original animations.
Logically, it is not an app for those who want something simple and easy to use, but it is a tool oriented to those willing to spend several hours creating their wallpaper and modifying every detail to the millimeter.
Also, you can download this wallpaper from the following link.
