How Much RAM a Live Wallpaper Uses on Mac
Closing the Wallper window used to leave most of the app sitting in your Mac's memory. Now closing it really closes it, and only the wallpaper keeps going.
A wallpaper app should be invisible twice: while you are using it, and after you have shut the window.
Wallper was good at the first and quietly bad at the second. You would close the window and most of the app stayed where it was, still holding memory. Open and close it a few times and it could keep your Mac busy with nothing on screen to show for it.
Quick answer: On older versions, closing the Wallper window left most of the app loaded and could keep your Mac working for no reason. Now closing the window really closes it, and the only thing still running is the wallpaper itself.
What Is Still Running After You Close It
Just the wallpaper. Everything you were looking at is let go of when the window shuts, including the screens you opened along the way.
You do not need to quit Wallper to get your Mac back, and you should not, because quitting stops the wallpaper too. Close the window and leave it. What that costs is measured here, and the short answer is close to nothing.
Your Own Videos Behave Like the Rest
Adding your own video was always easy. Wallper treating it properly afterwards is what was missing.
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The name you give a video is saved straight away and stays saved.
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Its length and size survive a restart instead of vanishing.
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Deleting a video removes it from your liked list too, rather than leaving a dead entry behind.
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Right-click any of your own videos to set it as your wallpaper, rename it or delete it.
That last one is the difference between a list you scroll and a library you actually manage.
Your videos are also labelled honestly now. The Local mark only appears on videos you added yourself, wallpapers you downloaded keep their real details, and previews generate reliably for anything new you bring in.
The supported formats FAQ lists what works, and if you are starting from your own footage, this is the walkthrough:
Other Fixes
Restoring Apple's own moving wallpapers works again, and a round of tidying went through the parts of the app you never see. This is the quiet kind of release: nothing new to look at, and a Mac that owes it nothing once you close the window.
Related
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Browse wallpapers: minimalist, dark, forest
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