Simple Ways to Make a GIF Your Wallpaper

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Change your boring static wallpaper into an animated GIF
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Did you save an awesome GIF on your phone or computer that you want to use as your wallpaper? Whether you're using any of these, you can easily customize your background the way you want it to. Just be aware that using a GIF as your wallpaper may make your device run a little sluggish, as well as wear out your battery faster. This wikiHow article teaches you how to set GIFs as animated wallpapers.

Setting a GIF as Your Wallpaper

For Windows, download Lively Wallpaper, find a wallpaper, and click "Add Wallpaper." For Android, download the GIF, open your Gallery, tap the three-dot menu icon, and select "Set wallpaper." For an iPhone or iPad, you first need to convert the GIF to a Live Photo, then you can apply it as a wallpaper.

Method 1
Method 1 of 4:

Using Lively Wallpaper on Windows

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  1. Get Lively Wallpaper from the Microsoft Store. You can download this app for free from the Microsoft Store to get a GIF as wallpaper.
  2. Click Open from the Microsoft Store or click the app icon in Windows Start menu.
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  3. You'll see the plus icon near the top of the window. [1]
    • You can also use any of the ones displayed by clicking the three dots and selecting Set as Wallpaper.
  4. Once you do, you'll have more options to set for your background, like which monitor to show the animated wallpaper on (if you have more than one). Click "Active wallpapers" to manage your wallpapers. [2]
    • Click x in "Active wallpapers" to remove the current background.
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Method 2
Method 2 of 4:

Using GIFPaper on Mac

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  1. 1
    Download GIFPaper to your Mac. You’ll need to use third-party apps to use GIFs as wallpapers on a Mac. GIFPaper is a lightweight program you can use to set GIFs as wallpapers on Mac. It is free to download from the GitHub page. Use the following steps to download it:
    • Go to the GIFPaper GitHub page .
    • Click Source at the top of the page.
    • Click Download ZIP .
    • Unzip the file when it finishes downloading.
  2. 2
    Open the GIFPaper folder. This will be the folder you just extracted from the ZIP file.
  3. 3
    Double-click the "GIFPaperPrefs.prefPane" file. This will display an installation menu.
  4. 4
    Select how you want to install the app. Click the radio option next to "Install for this user only" or "Install for all users on this computer." Then click Install .
  5. 5
    Click the Browse button. It’s on the left side of the window.
  6. 6
    Select the GIF you want to use as a Wallpaper and click Open . This loads the GIF into GIFPaper.
    • If the GIF isn’t applied as your wallpaper automatically, click the GIFPaperAgent file in the folder you extracted from the ZIP file to apply it. You may need to run this every time you restart your Mac.
  7. 7
    Select the alignment and scaling. Use the drop-down menus next to "Alignment" and "Scaling" to select how the GIF scales and aligns to your screen. You should see the changes take place instantly. [3]
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Method 3
Method 3 of 4:

Downloading a Live Wallpaper App on Android

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  1. Locate the Google Play icon on your home screen or app drawer. It’s a white shopping bag with the Play symbol on it. Tap to open.
    • Your phone may not support live wallpapers by default. Instead, use a third-party app from the Play Store to get a live wallpaper on your home screen.
  2. Tap the search icon at the bottom of your screen, then enter "live wallpapers." The results should display an extensive list of live wallpaper apps available on Google Play.
    • Despite the variety, this method can be used for any live wallpaper app you choose to download from Google Play.
  3. You will be taken to its information page, where you can also see information like reviews and ratings. Tap the Install button near the top of the page, and wait for the download and installation to finish.
  4. Open the wallpaper app that you just downloaded and find a live wallpaper that you like. When you do, you can press the option to download it. You might have to watch an ad before the live wallpaper downloads.
    • If you're asked to watch an ad first, you have the option to pay to unlock the Pro or Premium tier, where no ads are involved. In this case, you also have more options, like automatically changing the live wallpaper every hour and auto-downloading new wallpapers.
    • Once you download the image, tap Apply or Set wallpaper to set your live wallpaper. You can also choose to use the live wallpaper as your lock screen or home screen.
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Method 4
Method 4 of 4:

Making a GIF a Live Photo & Wallpaper on iPhone

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  1. 1
    Save the GIF to your phone. You can use apps like Giphy to save GIFs to your local device to use as a wallpaper.
  2. 2
    Download and install intoLive. The iPhone doesn’t support using GIF as wallpaper by default. To use a GIF as a wallpaper, you will need to convert it into a Live Photo. You can do so using a third-party app, such as intoLive - Live Wallpaper . You can download it for free from the App Store.
  3. 3
    Open intoLive. It has an icon that resembles a video camera inside of a sun. Tap the intoLive icon on your home screen to launch the app.
  4. 4
    Convert a GIF to a Live Photo. You can use intoLive to convert a GIF to a Live Photo. Use the following steps to do so:
    • Tap Live Wallpaper at the top.
    • Tap a video or GIF from your camera roll.
    • Tap and drag the timeline at the bottom of the screen to select the part you want to use.
    • Tap Done in the upper-right corner.
    • Tap the Share button (which resembles a box with an arrow pointing up) in the upper-right corner.
  5. 5
    Open the Photos app. It has an icon that resembles a colorful pinwheel. This is where you can find photos on your camera roll.
  6. 6
    Tap the Live Photo you want to use as your Lock Screen wallpaper. By default, images you select will be set as your Lock Screen wallpaper. If you want to use a different image as your Home Screen wallpaper, you can select it later on.
  7. 7
    Tap the Share button. It’s in the lower-right corner. This displays the Share menu.
  8. 8
    Tap Use as wallpaper . This displays a preview screen.
  9. 9
    Tap the preview button. It’s the icon that resembles a bunch of circles with a line through it. It’s on the lower-right side of the screen. This displays the image animation.
    • While you are viewing the preview, you can tap and drag to adjust the image position or use pinch-zoom to zoom in on the image.
  10. 10
    Tap Add . It’s the blue button in the upper-right corner. This displays a preview screen, showing the images as your lockscreen and Home Screen wallpaper.
  11. 11
    Tap Set as wallpaper pair . This will set the images as your lockscreen and home screen wallpaper.
    • Alternatively, you can tap Customize Home Screen and change the blur effect of the Home screen or select a different image to use as your Home Screen wallpaper.
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      • Note that using a GIF or Live Wallpaper will negatively affect your device's performance and battery life. [4]
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      • Some services offer Live Wallpapers for Mac, but all of them are outdated and have poor recent ratings.
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      References

      1. ↑ https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/how-to-set-gif-as-wallpaper-on-win/
      2. ↑ https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/how-to-set-gif-as-wallpaper-on-win/
      3. ↑ https://www.techgrapple.com/animated-desktop-background-on-mac/
      4. ↑ https://www.computerworld.com/article/1416878/do-live-wallpapers-cause-noticeable-battery-drain-on-android.html

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