iOS 26 Spatial Scenes: Apple Immersive Wallpapers Explained

Spatial Scenes are iOS 26's depth wallpaper effect — iOS builds a depth map from one of your own photos, then shifts the image with parallax as you move your iPhone. They are available on iPhone 12 and later as a Lock Screen wallpaper option, and they are distinct from Live Photos.

What Spatial Scenes Are

A Spatial Scene is a depth-aware wallpaper generated on device from an ordinary photo in your library. No LiDAR, no Pro camera, no special capture mode is involved — iOS 26 runs a depth-estimation model over the picture and uses the result to synthesize parallax in real time. Unlike Live Photos, which play a short burst of recorded motion when the screen wakes, Spatial Scenes respond continuously to gyroscope and accelerometer input: the image shifts perspective as you move the phone.

Apple introduced Spatial Scenes with iOS 26 at WWDC25 in June 2025, and the release shipped that September — our in-depth Spatial Scenes guide covers how to set one up step by step. They are not a video format; there is no MOV clip and nothing in the frame ever moves. The effect is a descendant of the parallax wallpaper on older iPhones (available since iOS 7), but driven by a real depth estimate rather than a simple 2D offset.

Device Requirements and Availability

Spatial Scenes require iPhone 12 or later running iOS 26. There is no Pro-model requirement, no LiDAR requirement and no Apple Intelligence requirement. iOS 26 itself installs on iPhone 11 and later plus iPhone SE (2nd generation) and later, but those older models do not get the Spatial Scene effect.

The other constraint is the photo, not the phone: iOS only offers the effect on images it can build a usable depth map from — good lighting, clear separation between subject and background, or a landscape with several visible depth planes. If a photo does not appear under the Spatial Scene tab, it did not qualify.

Live Photo Lock Screen wallpapers are a separate feature with a separate floor: they need iOS 17 or later and work on every iPhone model except iPhone SE.

How Spatial Scenes Differ From Live Photos

Live Photos and Spatial Scenes are both ways to make a Lock Screen feel alive in iOS 26, but they work entirely differently (for the broader format distinction, see live wallpaper vs Live Photo):

Property	Live Photo Wallpaper	Spatial Scene Wallpaper
File format	HEIC + MOV pair	Still photo plus an on-device depth map
Animation trigger	Raise-to-wake, or touch and hold	Real-time gyroscope / tilt
Motion type	Recorded frames actually play	Parallax on a frozen frame
Duration	A short burst that settles onto the still frame	Continuous while the phone is moving
Audio	Yes (silenced on the Lock Screen)	No
Works from any photo	Yes (via Lockimate)	Only photos iOS finds eligible
Requirements	iOS 17 or later, any iPhone except iPhone SE	iPhone 12 or later on iOS 26

Live Photos animate once when the screen wakes and then hold on the key frame. Spatial Scenes never animate at all — they respond to phone movement, which reads as depth rather than motion. They are complementary: you can keep a Live Photo wallpaper on one Lock Screen and a Spatial Scene on another, and switch between them.

Where Spatial Scenes Come From

There is no Apple gallery of spatial wallpapers to browse and no Spatial Scene capture mode in the Camera app. There is one source: your own photo library.

Open Settings → Wallpaper → Add New Wallpaper → Photos, scroll the row along the top to Spatial Scene, and iOS shows the photos it can apply the effect to. Pick one, wait for "Generating Spatial Scene", then Add and set it as your wallpaper pair.

Because the depth is generated on device from a normal 2D image, older shots work as well as new ones — a photo taken years ago on a different phone is eligible as long as iOS can read depth from it.

Spatial Scenes vs Live Photos for Lock Screen Wallpapers

Both are worth using, for different reasons. A Spatial Scene is free, built in, and makes a favourite photo feel three-dimensional in the hand — but it is a still image, and only some photos qualify. A Live Photo wallpaper is the option when you want the picture itself to move: it plays a short burst of motion on wake, works on every iPhone running iOS 17 or later except iPhone SE, and can be created from any still using Lockimate.

For everything new in the latest release, see the iOS 26 wallpaper guide and browse the full Lockimate glossary.

FAQ

What iPhone models support iOS 26 Spatial Scenes?

iPhone 12 and later running iOS 26. The effect is generated on device from an ordinary photo, so no LiDAR scanner, Pro camera or Apple Intelligence support is needed. iPhone 11 and iPhone SE (2nd generation and later) can run iOS 26 but do not get Spatial Scenes. On a supported phone, whether a particular image can become a Spatial Scene depends on the image — iOS needs clear depth separation to work with.

Do Spatial Scenes drain battery faster than Live Photos?

Apple has not published power figures for either, so treat specific percentages you see quoted elsewhere with suspicion. Structurally, a Spatial Scene renders whenever the Lock Screen is on and the phone is moving, while a Live Photo plays a short burst on wake and then holds a still frame — so the Live Photo does less work overall. Neither runs in the background.

Can I set a Spatial Scene and a Live Photo as wallpapers at the same time?

Each Lock Screen has one wallpaper, and a photo set as a Live Photo behaves as a Live Photo. But you can create multiple Lock Screens in Wallpaper settings and switch between them via Focus modes, so a Live Photo wallpaper on one and a Spatial Scene on another is straightforward.

Will Lockimate support Spatial Scenes?

Lockimate generates native Live Photos (HEIC + MOV) from still images — the 4 animation vibes (Warm, Playful, Cinematic, Lively) and 4 art styles (Realistic, Anime, 3D Cartoon, Painterly) all output standard Live Photos, which work as Lock Screen wallpapers on iOS 17 and later. Since a Live Photo you save to Photos is an ordinary photo pair, iOS 26 can offer its own Spatial Scene treatment on the key frame independently — nothing extra is needed from us for that.