iOS 26 Wallpaper: Every New Feature for Your Lock Screen

What Are Spatial Scenes in iOS 26?

Spatial Scenes are the flagship wallpaper type introduced in iOS 26. Apple does not ship a gallery of them — iOS generates the effect from your own photos. An on-device model estimates depth across an ordinary flat photo, separating roughly foreground from background, and then shifts those layers at different rates as you tilt or move the iPhone. The result reads as genuinely three-dimensional, and it appears on the Lock Screen only.

Spatial Scenes work on iPhone 12 or later running iOS 26. There is no LiDAR requirement, no Pro-model requirement, no Apple Intelligence requirement, and no special camera capture mode. What matters is the photo: only certain images qualify. Shots with good lighting and a clear separation between subject and background — or open landscape shots with obvious depth — are the most likely to be eligible.

How to set a Spatial Scene

1. Open Settings → Wallpaper → Add New Wallpaper.
2. Tap Photos.
3. Scroll the row of options along the top and choose Spatial Scene.
4. Pick an eligible photo. iOS shows “Generating Spatial Scene” while it builds the depth map on device.
5. Tap Add, then Set as Wallpaper Pair (or customize the Lock Screen on its own).

If a photo you want does not appear under the Spatial Scene tab, it simply did not qualify — there is no setting to force it. The dedicated Spatial Scenes guide goes deeper on how the depth effect is generated and which photos tend to work.

Spatial Scene vs Live Photo Wallpaper: Which One Do You Want?

These are the two motion-capable wallpaper types on iOS 26, and they work in completely different ways. A Spatial Scene is a still image with a depth map attached; nothing in the picture changes, but the perspective shifts with your hand. A Live Photo wallpaper is a paired .heic still and .mov clip, and the picture genuinely animates — hair moves, water flows, clouds drift.

The two are complementary rather than competing. If you want depth on a photo you already love, use a Spatial Scene. If you want that photo to come alive, you need a Live Photo lock screen — and that route works all the way back to iOS 17.

Live Photo Lock Screen Wallpapers in iOS 26

Apple did not change how Live Photo wallpapers play in iOS 26. The behaviour is the same as iOS 17 and iOS 18: the clip runs when the screen wakes, then settles onto the still key frame. Touch and hold the Lock Screen to replay it. Apple publishes no clip duration, no loop count, and no frame rate for wallpaper playback, and there is no trim control inside the wallpaper picker — if you want to change which moment plays, trim the Live Photo in the Photos app before you set it.

In our own device testing, iOS plays roughly the final couple of seconds leading into the key frame, slowed and decelerating into the still. In practice it reads as a short burst of motion that settles rather than a video that loops. That is worth knowing when you design an animation: the motion that matters is the motion at the end of the clip.

One important version note. Live Photo Lock Screen wallpapers require iOS 17 or later. iOS 16 rebuilt the Lock Screen and dropped them entirely; Apple restored the feature in iOS 17. They are supported on every iPhone model except iPhone SE.

iOS 26 Wallpaper Features vs. iOS 16 / 17 / 18

The row that never changes is the last one. Apple has never shipped a built-in tool that takes one of your still photos and animates it. That gap is exactly what Lockimate fills — pick any photo, choose an animation vibe (Warm, Playful, Cinematic, or Lively) or describe your own movement in words, and the app outputs a native .heic + .mov Live Photo pair that iOS 26 treats identically to one shot with your iPhone camera.

How to Use Your Own Photo as an iOS 26 Live Wallpaper

A Spatial Scene can add depth to your own photo, but it cannot make the photo move — and not every photo qualifies. To get real motion from a still you own, convert it to a Live Photo first. Four steps:

1. Download Lockimate (free, first wallpaper included).
2. Tap the + button and select any photo from your Camera Roll.
3. Choose an animation vibe. Warm adds gentle light shifts; Cinematic adds slow camera drift; Lively produces the most motion — or describe your own movement in words instead.
4. Tap Save — Lockimate writes the Live Photo to your Camera Roll. Then go to Settings → Wallpaper → Add New Wallpaper → Photos and pick it.

Generation takes about 2–3 minutes. The resulting wallpaper plays the same way on every iOS version that supports Live Photo wallpapers — iOS 17, iOS 18, and iOS 26 alike.

For a step-by-step walkthrough of the lock screen setup side, see the iOS 26 live wallpaper guide, the iOS 26 wallpaper guide, or the dedicated iOS 26 lock screen guide.

Which iPhones Support iOS 26 Wallpaper Features?

Not every iOS 26 wallpaper feature runs on every device that can install iOS 26. Here is the breakdown:

Lockimate-generated Live Photos work on every device that supports Live Photo lock screens — that is any iPhone except iPhone SE, running iOS 17 or later, including all iOS 26-compatible hardware.

FAQ

Does iOS 26 support live wallpapers?

Yes. iOS 26 supports Live Photo wallpapers on the Lock Screen, exactly as iOS 17 and iOS 18 did. The clip plays when the screen wakes and settles on the still key frame; touch and hold the Lock Screen to replay it. Apple did not change the playback behaviour in iOS 26 and publishes no clip duration or loop setting. Note that Live Photo wallpapers require iOS 17 or later — iOS 16 did not support them.

What are Spatial Scenes in iOS 26?

Spatial Scenes are a wallpaper type introduced in iOS 26 that adds a 3D depth effect to a photo you already have. iOS runs an on-device model that estimates depth across the image, then shifts the layers at different rates as you move the phone, producing a parallax effect. They are not a gallery of Apple images — you pick from your own library, and only certain photos qualify. Spatial Scenes work on iPhone 12 and later and show on the Lock Screen only.

Can I use my own photo as an iOS 26 wallpaper?

Yes, and in two different ways. If the photo qualifies, iOS 26 can turn it into a Spatial Scene with a tilt-driven depth effect — but the image itself stays still. If you want the picture to actually animate, it needs to be a Live Photo, and Apple provides no built-in way to create one from a still. Lockimate converts any still photo into a native Live Photo (the .heic + .mov format Apple uses) in about 2–3 minutes. The first wallpaper is free; further generations come with a Lockimate membership, which includes 10 wallpapers every month.

Do iOS 26 wallpaper features work on older iPhones?

Partially. iOS 26 installs on iPhone 11 and later, plus iPhone SE (2nd generation) and later. Live Photo lock screen wallpapers work on every one of those models except iPhone SE. Spatial Scenes need iPhone 12 or later, so iPhone 11 and the SE models can run iOS 26 without getting the depth effect.

What is the difference between a Spatial Scene and a Live Photo wallpaper?

A Live Photo wallpaper plays a short burst of motion when your screen wakes — it uses Apple's native Live Photo format (a paired .heic still and .mov clip) and works on iOS 17 and later. A Spatial Scene does not play a clip at all: iOS generates a depth map from a still photo and shifts the layers as you move the phone, so the perspective changes but the picture does not. Live Photos can be made from any image you own; Spatial Scenes only work on photos iOS judges eligible.