Photography wallpapers

Real photos for your phone: pets, wildlife, cars, city skylines and landscapes, plus a few playful collages and doodles.

What you will find here

This is the biggest category on the site, and the most varied. Most of it is animals: dogs in harnesses and sunglasses, cats, pandas, lions, foxes and birds. Then come cars, mostly Porsches and Mercedes shot at night or in coloured smoke. There are also city streets, mountain roads, and a few landmarks like Mount Fuji. Mixed in are some photo-based collages, neon signs and doodles that did not fit anywhere else.

Choosing a photo wallpaper

Photos behave differently from artwork on a phone. A photo has one subject, like a face, a car or a peak, and that subject has to survive the phone's crop. Most phones are taller than the picture, so they trim the sides. A dog in the centre of the frame will be fine. A car driving out of the left edge may lose its bumper.

The lock screen clock sits over the top third of the picture. Photos with open sky, a plain wall or a dark background up there keep the time readable. Close-up animal portraits usually have the face in the middle, which works well. iPhones can also lift the subject in front of the clock with the depth effect, if there is room above it.

For the Home screen, busy photos like a crowded street or a bright collage make app names harder to read. A darker or softer photo, or the same one blurred, is easier to live with.

Sharpness

Photos show blur more than gradients or illustrations do, because the eye expects fur, feathers and chrome to be crisp. Each wallpaper's page shows its real size. On a large or very sharp screen, pick the largest one available. The fit and sharpness guide explains why.

Not sure how to set it once it is downloaded? There is a step-by-step guide for your phone.