iOS 26 Wallpaper Guide: Spatial Scenes and Live Photos

iOS 26 ships with four distinct wallpaper types, the most of any iOS version. Spatial Scenes are the headline feature — depth-mapped panoramic environments that shift as you tilt your phone — but Live Photos, interactive touch wallpapers, and classic stills are all present and improved. This guide covers every type and exactly how to set each one up.

The Four iOS 26 Wallpaper Types

Wallpaper Type	Motion	Interaction	iPhone Required	Custom Photo
Spatial Scene	Yes (gyroscope pan)	Tilt to explore	iPhone 15 Pro or newer	No (Apple presets only)
Interactive	Yes (parallax depth)	Touch to ripple	iPhone 12 or newer	Limited
Live Photo	Yes (raise-to-wake)	Press and hold	iPhone 6s or newer	Yes
Static	No	None	Any	Yes

Spatial Scenes require an A17 Pro chip or newer because they use on-device depth rendering at 120 fps. Live Photos and interactive wallpapers work on any iPhone running iOS 26, which supports devices back to iPhone 11 (A13 Bionic).

How to Set Up Spatial Scenes in iOS 26

Spatial Scenes are Apple-created environments — there are 12 at launch, including Yosemite Valley, Deep Ocean, and Celestial Canyon. You cannot import your own photo as a Spatial Scene without third-party tools, but you can pick any preset and adjust its time-of-day lighting. For a deeper look at how they work, see the Spatial Scenes guide.

Steps to enable a Spatial Scene:

1. Long-press your lock screen until the wallpaper picker appears (approximately 1 second hold)
2. Tap the + button in the lower-left corner
3. Scroll to the Spatial Scenes category — it is the second row after Featured
4. Tap any scene thumbnail to preview it
5. Swipe left/right on the scene preview to cycle through 3 to 5 lighting variants (dawn, day, dusk, night)
6. Tap Add to Lock Screen — the system renders a 2-second preview at full resolution
7. Tap Set as Wallpaper Pair to apply it to both lock and home screens, or Customize Home Screen to pick a different home screen background

The entire setup takes under 90 seconds. Spatial Scene depth data streams at 60 fps on iPhone 15 Pro and 120 fps on iPhone 16 and newer (ProMotion required for 120 fps).

Live Photo Wallpapers: Use Your Own Photo

Apple's Spatial Scenes only use Apple-supplied imagery. If you want your own photo to animate on raise-to-wake, Live Photos are the answer — and iOS 26 makes them more reliable than ever.

A native Live Photo is a paired .heic still and .mov motion clip created by the iPhone camera. When set as a lock screen wallpaper, the motion plays automatically when you raise the phone (raise-to-wake), and also when you press and hold the lock screen.

Using a Live Photo from your camera roll:

1. Open Settings → Wallpaper → Add New Wallpaper
2. Tap Photos at the top of the picker
3. Tap the Live filter button to show only Live Photos
4. Select a photo — the preview shows the motion clip looping
5. Pinch to crop, then tap Add

What if your photo isn't a Live Photo? That is where Lockimate comes in. Lockimate converts any still image into a native Live Photo (.heic + .mov pair) in about 30 seconds. It outputs the exact same file format the iPhone camera produces, so iOS 26 treats it identically to a shot taken with your camera.

The four animation vibes — Warm, Playful, Cinematic, and Lively — let you control the mood of the motion before you export. Your first wallpaper is free.

How to Enable Interactive Wallpapers in iOS 26

Interactive wallpapers use depth segmentation to separate foreground and background layers, then apply subtle motion and touch responses. Tapping the screen sends a ripple through the image; tilting the phone shifts layers at different rates.

1. Long-press the lock screen → tap +
2. Choose Interactive from the category row (third row in the picker)
3. Select a preset — iOS 26 ships 8 interactive presets at launch
4. Tap Depth Settings to control foreground/background separation intensity (slider from 1 to 10)
5. Tap Add → Set as Wallpaper Pair

Interactive wallpapers are available on iPhone 12 and newer. The depth effect is more pronounced on iPhone 14 Pro and newer because those models include a LiDAR scanner that improves foreground/background separation accuracy.

For a full breakdown of how interactive wallpapers work, see the interactive wallpaper guide.

Comparison: iOS 26 Wallpaper Types at a Glance

Feature	Spatial Scene	Interactive	Live Photo	Static
Plays on raise-to-wake	Yes	Partial	Yes	No
Responds to touch	No	Yes	Yes (press hold)	No
Custom photo support	No	No	Yes	Yes
Battery impact	Medium	Low	Very low	None
Minimum iPhone	15 Pro	12	6s	Any
Art style options	12 presets	8 presets	Any photo	Any photo

Live Photos with Lockimate's Cinematic vibe are the highest-quality option for using your own photos — they look identical to Spatial Scenes but contain your image, not Apple's.

Which iPhones Get Every iOS 26 Wallpaper Feature

iOS 26 ships on iPhone 11 and newer. However, not every wallpaper type works on every model:

• iPhone 11, 12, 13 — Static, Live Photo, Interactive (no LiDAR depth enhancement)
• iPhone 14 Pro, 14 Pro Max — All of the above + enhanced Interactive depth (LiDAR)
• iPhone 15 Pro, 15 Pro Max — All of the above + Spatial Scenes (A17 Pro chip required)
• iPhone 16, 16 Plus, 16 Pro, 16 Pro Max — All of the above + 120 fps Spatial Scene rendering

Standard (non-Pro) iPhone 15 models have an A16 chip and do not support Spatial Scenes. This is confirmed in Apple's iOS 26 feature availability list published June 2026.

Setting a Live Photo from Lockimate as Your iOS 26 Wallpaper

After generating a Live Photo in Lockimate (under 30 seconds per image), the app saves directly to your Photos library in the Live Photos album. iOS 26 detects it immediately.

1. Open Lockimate → pick a photo → select a vibe → tap Generate
2. Tap Save to Photos — the .heic + .mov pair saves to your camera roll
3. Open Settings → Wallpaper → Add New Wallpaper → Photos
4. Filter by Live — your new animated wallpaper appears at the top
5. Set it and you are done

The entire flow from still photo to live lock screen takes under 2 minutes. For step-by-step screenshots, see the lock screen customization guide.

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FAQ

What iPhones support Spatial Scenes in iOS 26?

Spatial Scenes require an A17 Pro chip or newer, which means iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max. Standard iPhone 15 and 15 Plus use an A16 chip and cannot render Spatial Scenes. Apple's support page lists exactly 6 compatible models at iOS 26 launch.

Can I make my own Spatial Scene from a personal photo?

Not natively. iOS 26 Spatial Scenes are Apple-created depth environments — you cannot import a personal photo and have iOS treat it as a Spatial Scene. The closest alternative is a Live Photo created with Lockimate: it uses AI to add realistic motion to any still photo and saves it as a native Live Photo file that animates on raise-to-wake, just like a Spatial Scene.

Does iOS 26 support Live Photo wallpapers from third-party apps?

Yes. iOS 26 accepts any Live Photo saved to the Photos library, regardless of which app created it. Third-party apps like Lockimate write a standard .heic + .mov pair directly to your camera roll. iOS 26's wallpaper picker recognizes it as a Live Photo and plays the motion clip on raise-to-wake. Apple did not change the Live Photo file format in iOS 26.

How many Spatial Scene presets does iOS 26 include at launch?

iOS 26 ships with 12 Spatial Scene presets. Each preset includes between 3 and 5 lighting variants (dawn, day, dusk, night, and in some scenes, golden hour). Apple has indicated more scenes will be added via software updates, following the same pattern as Dynamic Island wallpapers in iOS 16.

Do iOS 26 wallpapers slow down the iPhone?

No measurable slowdown in everyday use. Spatial Scenes use a dedicated rendering pipeline on the A17 Pro / A18 chip that does not compete with app CPU cycles. Live Photos add negligible processing — the motion clip is pre-rendered and stored as a video file. Interactive wallpapers use a CoreAnimation depth shader that Apple optimized specifically for iOS 26. Battery impact is covered in the interactive wallpaper guide.