From the limited set of built-in live wallpapers on your phone to the tons of live wallpaper apps on the Google Play Store, there’s already a more pleasing way to customize your phone than sticking with static wallpapers. However, these third-party apps and the built-in feature don't offer a way to set live wallpapers from your video clips or animatic images. If you don’t care about the vast number of preset live wallpapers available on the Play Store and want to add your videos to the mix, we'll teach you how to use a video as your wallpaper on any Android and iOS device right here.
How to use a video as your wallpaper on Android
Setting a video as your wallpaper on Android is quite simple if you use the right third-party app. Sure, you’ll find a plethora of "Video to Live Wallpaper" apps on the Play Store. But many of them are plagued with serious (and maybe unserious) issues like ads, weird video aspect ratio, poor file picker system, and others.
But if you need an app that’ll get the job done without hiccups, ads, or many settings, we recommend the Video to Wallpaper app.
Get the app from the Play Store and follow these steps to set a video wallpaper on your TECNO, Infinix, itel, and any Android phone you have.
- Install and launch the app.
- You’ll find a ‘+’ button in the bottom right of the app’s interface. Tap the button to add a new video.
- For a start, enter your preferred wallpaper name, then tap the CHOOSE button to select the video you want to use.
- Doing so would bring up your phone’s internal storage, showing your recent video clips.
- Select your preferred clip on the list, or dig into your storage if it’s an old video and not on the list.
- Once selected, hit OK on the next screen to import the video.
- If done right, the video thumbnail should appear on the app’s main interface. The more video you add, the more wallpaper clips you get there.
- Now, select the thumbnail to preview the video.
- And finally, tap Set wallpaper below the screen if you like what you see.
- You'll now have to choose if you want the wallpaper only on the home screen or set it as both home screen and lock screen wallpaper. Select your choice to complete the setup.
Now, going back to your home screen/lock screen should showcase your new video wallpaper. And now that you know how to use a video as your wallpaper, you can always repeat the process to make another one.
Meanwhile, there are other videos to live wallpaper apps on the Play Store that lets you use a video as your wallpaper. Feel free to experiment with them to see which works best for you if that app we recommend above doesn't please you. While these apps offer a free version that gets the job done, some might hide some features – like full-screen video aspect ratio – under a paywall or tell you to upgrade to premium to remove ads.
How to put a video as your wallpaper by converting it to a live photo
On iPhones, users can set a live photo taken with their stock camera app as their live wallpaper. It’s as simple as going to Settings wallpaper and choosing the live photo, as explained below.
How to set a Live Photo as wallpaper on an iPhone:
- Launch the iPhone
- Tap Wallpaper, then select Choose a New Wallpaper.
- Since you want to set an animated wallpaper from your live photos, scroll down a bit and open the “Live Photos”
- Select the live photo you want to use as your wallpaper.
- Lastly, you can set the wallpaper for only the Home screen or set it for both the home screen and lock screen.
That’s how it works on an iPhone using live photos. But if you want to use a video clip instead, you'll have to convert it to a live photo first. That'd make it easy to select the wallpaper using the built-in function. Here’s how to convert video to live photos on an iPhone:
The most effective method to create a live photo from a video
Convert your iPhone videos to Live Photos using a third-party app:
- Launch the App Store and install the “VideoToLive” app.
- Launch the app and permit it to access your videos.
- Select the video you wish to use.
- Trim/edit the video as you see fit.
- You may choose a cover photo if you wish.
- Finally, click Convert to export the video as a live photo.
Convert TikTok videos to live photos:
- Find a video you want to use as wallpaper on TikTok.
- Hit the Share icon on the right side of the video interface.
- Now, select a live photo from the share sheet.
How to make a YouTube video your wallpaper on Android
Setting live wallpapers from YouTube videos is simple as well. It’s one of the best places you can get new videos if you ever run out of clips to make your wallpaper.
First things first, you’ll want to download the YouTube video to your device’s storage. From there, you can convert it to a live wallpaper as we've analyzed above.
When downloading your YouTube video, we recommend you choose high-quality so you don’t end up having a blurry live wallpaper.
//Read more: How To Download YouTube Videos On Android
Final thoughts
That’s it, you now know how to use a video as your wallpaper on both Android devices and iPhones.
Using live wallpapers is a simple way of customizing your phone to make it look aesthetic without doing too much work. As far as it goes, live wallpaper looks more pleasing than static wallpapers. And your ability to create one using your videos takes it up a notch, as you’ll feel original whenever you see it on your home or lock screen.
After all, you'll also want to take note that live wallpapers use more battery and memory than static wallpapers. So, if you have any issues with battery or performance after setting a live wallpaper on your phone, you may need to reconsider if it’s worth it or not.
