Android phones have always been very user-optimized, with the operating system allowing users to customize the interface in many different ways. You can use different launchers, themes, and icons in your devices, and much more besides.
But the simplest customization options that you’ve got for your phone are your lock screen and home screen wallpapers. And you can take it one step further by installing a moving image to your background—a live wallpaper.
Check out our top picks for the best live wallpaper apps for Android you’re going to love.
1. Forest Live Wallpaper
The Forest Live Wallpaper apps offers soothing live backgrounds with many beautifully animated options. It can match the weather outside and even has some fun surprises during the holiday season, such as bright stars during Christmas and fireworks during the New Year.
It also has night settings, which can make your wallpaper more visible at night time. Although the app isn’t frequently updated, it’s still one of the best live wallpapers you can use for Android phones.
Download: Forest Live Wallpaper (Free, in-app purchases available)
2. Muzei Live Wallpaper
Muzei Live Wallpaper displays different works of art on the lock screen every day. It can also change the wallpaper between your favorite photos every few hours.
One of the unique things about this app is that it’s developer-friendly, with the source code of the app available at code.muzei.co. This means that anyone can use the source code to manipulate and develop their own unique live wallpapers.
Download: Muzei Live Wallpaper (Free)
3. ASTEROID App
The space-themed ASTEROID App lets you customize your live wallpaper from the background color to the type of asteroid shown to the color of the asteroid, among other things.
Besides being a regular live background app, it also has a static image mode that will display a photo every 10 seconds. This is useful for those who want to minimize battery consumption while still having fun with their lock screen.
For more exciting features and to unlock different asteroid designs, you can upgrade to the premium version of this app.
Download: ASTEROID App (Free, premium version available)
4. Cartogram – Live Map Wallpapers and Backgrounds
If you travel around a lot, you can easily use a map as your wallpaper.
Cartogram tracks your location and sets a wallpaper according to your location’s background. If you want to customize the wallpaper that the app flashes, this is possible as it can easily be adjusted according to your preferences through the app’s settings.
You don’t have to worry about this, too, as the app comes with many high-quality live wallpapers that will not disappoint.
Download: Cartogram – Live Map Wallpapers and Backgrounds ($ 2)
5. Rainpaper
Rainpaper compiles the best live wallpapers from Reddit. With this app, you get customizable weather effects like rain and fog to use as your background. You can also choose the rain color, frequency, and type of droplets depending on your preferences.
In addition, Rainpaper lets you sync your actual weather with the app through its local weather synchronization feature. You can pick any photo from your device to serve as the background image alongside the live background as well.
Download: Rainpaper ($ 1.99)
6. Paperland Live Wallpaper
The Paperland Live Wallpaper app features fun paper cut-out landscapes crawling through the phone’s screen. You can set the sunrise and sunset and even the weather within the app, through integration with AccuWeather.
In the free version of this app, you can choose from three wallpaper themes: silent night, grassy, and desert migration. You can upgrade if you want more.
Download: Paperland Live Wallpaper (Free, premium version available)
7. Borderlight Live Wallpaper
Borderlight Live Wallpaper is a simple but very neat idea. This live wallpaper app displays a multicolored moving border around your screen’s edges. It can be adjusted to fit any size of the screen without any problems.
You can also opt to add a normal background image to be paired with it, adding to the edge lighting effect. Apart from this, the app also allows users to set the notch’s position and size, which will give a poised and finer look to your gadget’s background.
Download: Borderlight Live Wallpaper (Free)
8. 4D Live Wallpaper – 2020 New Best 4D Wallpapers HD
The 4D Live Wallpaper app is a collection of the best AMOLED 4D live wallpapers. It features live backgrounds with a cool 3D depth effect, with lots of options for different people with different tastes.
Another great thing about this is that even though it offers many great wallpapers, it uses a low amount of battery. And best of all, if you’re a tech enthusiast, you can get a wallpaper that can be controlled by your smartphone’s sensors.
Download: 4D Live Wallpaper – 2020 New Best 4D Wallpapers HD (Free)
9. Live Wallpapers, Screen Lock, Ringtones – W. Engine
Live Wallpapers by W. Engine gives you the option to use live wallpapers as your lock screen and home screen. It also comes with an auto wallpaper changer, which automatically rotates the live background.
There are lots of options to choose from so you can definitely find something that suits your tastes. Aside from live wallpapers, you can also get ringtones from this app, which is a great accompaniment for your moving background.
Download: Live Wallpapers, Screen Lock, Ringtones – W. Engine (Free, in-app purchases available)
10. Material Islands – Semi-live wallpapers
Material Islands is for those who like more minimalistic wallpapers. Because of its simplicity, it’s battery efficient, which means that you don’t need to worry about this app draining your device’s power.
There are numerous options to choose from, so you are sure to find an island for any mood. As it aims to have as small of an impact as possible on your battery, instead of fancy animations, the scene is silently updated in the background as your day goes on.
Download: Material Islands – Semi-live wallpapers (Free, in-app purchases available)
Customize Your Smartphone With These Free Live Wallpapers
Live wallpapers are a great way to customize the Android user interface with the many possibilities that the Android OS provides. This is made easier by numerous live wallpaper apps that offer different kinds of live backgrounds depending on your preferences.
From color-changing borders and minimalistic islands, to moving asteroids and 4D live backgrounds, you can surely find an app and wallpaper to suit your taste. These apps all make it easy to change your Android wallpaper, too.
