Can I use a live wallpaper on the lock screen?
macOS on its own cannot play video on the Lock Screen — there is no system setting for it. Wallper is the only app that makes it work natively: on macOS 26 and newer it hands playback to Apple’s own Lock Screen pipeline.
Step-by-step walkthrough with screenshots: /blog/2026/05/how-to-set-a-live-wallpaper-on-your-mac-lock-screen
Left to itself, macOS offers no way to put a live wallpaper on the Lock Screen — the system exposes only a static image there. Wallper is the only app that adds it natively, and “natively” is the important word: on macOS 26 and newer it hands the video to Apple’s own Lock Screen pipeline rather than drawing an overlay on top of the login window or running a background daemon to fake it. That is why playback stays smooth, costs almost nothing in resources, and survives system updates.
To turn it on, enable “Use Lock Screen & Screensaver” in Wallper Settings, then set any wallpaper again — that first save triggers the system integration and Wallper appears in System Settings → Wallpaper.
On macOS versions earlier than 26 that pipeline does not exist at all, so Wallper syncs a representative frame from your live wallpaper as the lock‑screen background instead. Desktop playback is unaffected on those versions.
Full step‑by‑step guide: /support/lockscreen