Live Wallpaper Freezing Your Mac
A broken wallpaper file could lock up a whole Mac. Now a wallpaper that cannot play just stops, and the app tells you when there is an update waiting.
The important fix here is for a bug we are not proud of.
If a wallpaper failed to load, Wallper would keep trying. And keep trying. In the worst case it tried hard enough to lock up the entire Mac. An app whose whole job is decoration has no business bringing a machine down.
Quick answer: If your Mac froze or stopped responding while a live wallpaper was set, and you are on an older version, this is very likely why. Updating fixes it. A wallpaper that cannot play now simply stops.
What This Looked Like
It had a recognisable shape. It happened while a wallpaper was being set or reloaded rather than out of nowhere, your Mac went unresponsive with nothing visibly happening, and the wallpaper never turned up.
If instead your Mac got slower over hours, or froze with no wallpaper involved, this is probably not what you hit.
Now a wallpaper that will not play is tried a couple of times and then left alone. Worst case you get a wallpaper that is not playing, which is a small problem, instead of a Mac that is not answering, which is not.
If a Mac still locks up on a current version, that is worth telling us about through support rather than living with, and the troubleshooting guide covers the ordinary playback problems.
The App Tells You About Updates Now
Until this release, finding out there was a new Wallper meant going to look for one.
Now a small orange dot appears on the Wallper icon in your menu bar when there is an update. Click through and you get the update screen with the full list of what changed, ready before the screen opens rather than after. Your Mac can let you know as well, and there is a switch for that if you would rather it did not.
Given what this particular release fixes, the feature rather makes its own case: the sooner an update reaches you, the less time a bug has to spoil your week.
Interface Fixes
The lock screen status card no longer gets clipped at the edge of the window, and the back button on the update screen matches the ones everywhere else.
Related
The fix shipped in 1.7.1, so updating resolves it. Get the current Wallper, free for 7 days.
