12 Best Wallpaper Apps for iPhone You Should Use
One of the downsides of owning an iPhone is that there’s not a lot you can do to customize its interface. When it comes to interface customization, Android has iOS beaten by a mile. The only real customization a user can perform on their iPhone is changing its wallpaper. And if you are like me, you tend to change your wallpapers a lot. Personally, I change wallpapers on my iPhone X almost every week. To keep up with all my wallpapers needs, I have installed a couple of wallpaper apps on my iPhone X. In this article, I am going to share those apps with you. If you are interested in iPhone wallpapers, here are the 10 cool and best wallpaper apps for iPhone you should install in 2020 to give your iPhone a new look.
Best iPhone Wallpaper Apps in 2020
All of the apps featured on this list are either free or offer a free version of the app with ads. If you want to remove the ads and unlock extra features, you can purchase the pro version of these apps via the in-app purchases.
- Vellum
- The Wallpaper App
- Backdrops
- Blear
- Background
- WLPPR
- ZEDGE Wallpaper
- Papers
- Walli
- Atlas Wallpaper
- Wallpaper List
- Black Lite - Live Wallpapers
- Bonus: Reddit AMOLED Backgrounds
1. Vellum
Vellum is a great wallpaper app for iPhone. Although the app doesn’t hot a ton of wallpapers, each wallpaper on this app looks and feels beautiful. I especially like this app because it allows me to see how a wallpaper will look on my iPhone without even having to download it. There’s also a blur functionality in the app which lets you adjust the blur parameters of the wallpapers.
I was really surprised how many cool wallpapers I can create just by blurring the original ones. Lastly, all the wallpapers featured on Vellum are iPhone X optimized which is a great plus in my books. If you like quality wallpapers and doesn’t want to spend hours finding one, Vellum is just for you.
Install: Free, in-app purchases
2. The Wallpaper App
While I use my iPhone as the primary device, there’s still an Android device that I carry with me. I won’t get into the details of Android vs iOS, but there are some things that Android does better and I like using it. And when I use my Android, I quickly realize that there’s one app here that I dearly miss on iPhone, and that’s Tapet.
Tapet is a wallpaper app that generates high-quality backgrounds randomly. You can pick a design and tap on it to change colors, or swipe to change the design if you want something new. I love Tapet, and for a long time, there was no alternative on the iPhone. That changed when “The Wallpaper App” dropped on the iPhone.
Like Tapet, the Wallpaper App lets you select a design and then tap on it to change colors. There are several beautiful designs to choose from, and each design comes with dozens of color options. If you love abstract wallpapers, you will never need another app again. It’s also available on Mac and iPad and lets you download high-resolution wallpapers (up to 5K).
The app is free to download and use, and there are no ads. Yes, there’s a wallpaper app on the App Store, that neither shows ads nor has predator pricing. You can choose to buy the premium version to support the developer. I did it instantly because I want this app to remain alive for years, and want the developer to actively work on releasing new designs. You are going to love this one.
Install: Free
3. Backdrops
Backdrops is another wallpaper app that I love using on my Android device. And after making us wait for years, the app has finally come to the iPhone. I love Backdrops because the wallpapers are exclusive. That means it will be hard for you to find these wallpapers anywhere else. It’s because the wallpapers are made by an in-house team.
The app has a healthy selection of beautiful wallpapers. I love the daily wallpaper section that features a new wallpaper every day. I find some gems there regularly. You can use the app for free with ads. You will have to buy the pro version to remove the ads and unlock wallpapers that are restricted behind a paywall.
Install: Free
4. Blear
Blear is a wallpaper app for people who love gradient wallpapers. I love gradient and abstract wallpapers because they fade in the background. I can see all the app icons clearly, and the phone still looks beautiful. If you feel that finding gradient wallpapers is hard, check out Blear. Blear gives a new gradient wallpaper every day. The wallpapers are beautiful, and you are going to love them.The USP of Blear, however, is the ability to create our own gradient wallpapers.
Blear allows you to choose any photo from your Photos app, and then it extracts the primary color to create a gradient wallpaper. It does that by applying a blur effect to photos which heightens the prominent colors while subduing the rest. You can adjust the level of blur. So, you have control over how much information about the original photo you want to show. This is an excellent wallpaper app, and I use it regularly. Between this and the new Wallpaper app, I rarely use another wallpaper app anymore. Oh, and one more thing! The app is free to use with no ads or in-app purchases.
Install: Free
5. Background
Background is the wallpaper app that I install as soon as I get a new iPhone. The app sources its wallpapers from Unsplash, a photography website which hosts thousands of stock photos. In fact, Unsplash has its own macOS and iOS wallpaper apps. However, unlike its macOS counterpart which I mentioned in the best free Mac apps article, I prefer Background on iOS because the app curates and picks the pictures that look good as iPhone wallpapers and saves me a ton of time.
There are two features of this app which are my absolute favorite. The first is the fact that the app is updated daily with new wallpapers. And the second feature which I love about this app is that it makes it very easy to download wallpapers. Just tap and hold on the wallpaper you like and it will be downloaded to your iPhone. I mean, nothing can be easier than that.
Install: Free, in-app purchases
6. WLPPR
If you love wallpapers which showcase the Earth’s topography, flora, and fauna in all its beauty, WLPPR is just the app for you. The app features various collections of wallpapers including earth, mars, mankind, winter, water, and more. The first collection which is called WLPPR Original in unlocked by default, but you will have to manually unlock the rest of the collection by sharing the app on your social media profiles. Believe me, when I say this, you won’t find even one bad wallpaper on this app.
Every wallpaper is high res and will look beautiful on your iPhone. My favorite feature of this app is its preview capability. Just like Vellum, it lets you see how the wallpapers will look on your iPhone before you even download it. You can even switch between different wallpapers without leaving the preview mode, a feat even Vellum cannot perform.
Install: Free, in-app purchases
7. ZEDGE Wallpaper
ZEDGE Wallpaper is an app for iPhone owners who love abstract, colorful, and artistic wallpapers. The app features other kinds of wallpapers too, however, I mainly use it for the above-mentioned categories of wallpapers. The wallpapers featured on this app look beautiful and they can help you personalize your iPhone.
You can choose wallpapers which feature your favorite characters, quotes, or anything with which you can identify yourself. You don’t necessarily have to do that, however, if you want to, the option is there. Just like Vellum, the app also lets you preview wallpapers before you download them.
Install: Free, in-app purchases
8. Papers.co
Another good wallpaper app on this list is the Papers.co, and it’s an excellent wallpaper app for your iPhone. The app features a ton of wallpapers which are categorized into numerous categories. All the wallpapers are of high quality and look beautiful. What I love about this app is that it features a lot of dark wallpapers which look amazing on my iPhone X.
That said, there is one thing that I don’t like about this app. The app features too many ads and you will have to be careful to avoid hitting them. Other than that, I have no complaints. This is a great wallpaper app and I know you are going to love it.
Install: Free, in-app purchases
9. Walli
Walli is one of the best wallpaper apps for iPhone that you can use to customize the look of your iPhone in 2020. What I love most about this app is the way it categorizes its wallpapers. There are not endless collections that might confuse a user. Just enough to help you find the right wallpaper for you.
Install: Free, in-app purchases
Some of the collections include Feel Good, Anime, Abstract, Black AMOLED, Space, Sea, and more. Its popular category is a great place to find wallpapers that will look good on your iPhone. Walli offers highly curated wallpapers for iPhones and I love this app.
10. Atlas Wallpaper
Atlas Wallpaper has recently become one of my most used wallpaper apps for iPhone. The app’s concept is pretty simple yet ingenious. It lets you create wallpapers using maps from anywhere in the world for your iPhone. This allows you to create an unlimited number of wallpapers. Not only you can choose the place but also choose the color scheme and style.
Free users are restricted to using only the styles the app comes with. If you want to create your color scheme and styles, you will have to become a paid member using in-app purchases. It only costs $3.99 which is quite reasonable.
Install: Free, $3.99
11. Wallpaper List
No wallpaper apps for iPhone list can be complete without mentioning the “Wallpaper List” app, no pun intended. The app features thousands of wallpapers of retina HD quality which will go well with any iPhone. The best feature of this app is its ability to let you search for similar wallpapers. If you like a wallpaper, you can use this feature to find similar wallpapers with different texture and art-work.
It also brings a collection of iOS 13 wallpapers so if you are using an older iPhone which doesn’t support iOS 13, you can get the wallpapers here. The app lets you both download the wallpaper to your camera roll or directly apply it from the app itself. Overall, I like this iPhone wallpaper app a lot and enjoy using it.
Install: Free, in-app purchases
12. Black Lite - Live Wallpapers
If you love minimal wallpapers, you are going to enjoy this wallpaper app on your iPhone. The app features a small collection of minimal black wallpapers that are fully animated. The wallpapers are colored gemstones (they look like gemstones to me) on a black background.
The wallpapers are animated which means when you 3D Touch or Haptic Touch on them on the lock screen, they animate fluidly. I love watching the animation. Even the static wallpaper on the home screen look enigmatic. I adore this wallpaper app and hope that you are going to enjoy it as much as me.
Install: Free, $0.99
Bonus: Reddit AMOLED Backgrounds
For my last pick, I am going to cheat a bit as it not an app but a website. I am including this because the wallpapers you can find here is hard to find anywhere else. The AMOLED Backgrounds subreddit is a good place to find quality AMOLED wallpapers for your iPhone.
Many of the wallpapers featured here are user created so you won’t find them on any other wallpaper app. I recently finished watching Mandalorian and this subreddit helped me find some awesome Mandalorian wallpapers. If you want to find unique AMOLED wallpapers for your iPhone, be sure to visit this subreddit.
Best Wallpaper Apps for iPhone: Final Thoughts
I hope that the article was able to help you find the wallpaper apps for your iPhone. I know that these apps feature only quality wallpapers. Quality is always better than quantity and that statement holds true in the case of wallpaper apps more than on any other kind of iOS apps. If you want to share your favorite iOS wallpaper apps with us, the comments section is all yours.
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