Your pet, your trip, a clip you love — on the screen you see a hundred times a day. The full iPhone walkthrough (free), the honest Android situation, and how to pick clips that loop like a window instead of a video player.
The best live wallpapers are 2–5 seconds of steady footage with continuous, gentle motion: waves, rain on a window, steam off coffee, a pet mid-nap, city lights. Avoid fast pans, hard cuts and anything with a clear start and end — the loop seam will show. Vertical footage crops best; keep the subject centered where the clock won't cover it.
iOS wallpapers animate from Live Photos, not video files — so the video needs converting. 2Live (free on the App Store) does exactly this: import the video, trim to the seconds you want, and export as a Live Photo. It also ships a library of original 4K live wallpapers — a Taiwan travelogue of scenery and folklore, mythic creatures, seasonal packs — if you'd rather start from art than footage.
Long-press the Lock Screen (or Settings → Wallpaper) → add new wallpaper → Photos → choose your Live Photo → make sure motion is enabled → set. On recent iOS versions you can layer the clock behind foreground subjects for the depth effect — the "window, not screen" look.
Android has true live wallpapers — but through a dedicated wallpaper engine, not video files. Some brands bundle a basic video-to-wallpaper feature; third-party apps vary widely, and the bad ones keep a video player running (that's where the battery-drain reputation comes from). A native engine that renders only when the screen is awake is the right way — and it's exactly what we're validating with 2Live for Android.
2Live for Android is a lab experiment: enough waitlist votes and we build the native engine — the first 500 get the internal test and keep launch pricing.
Yes — converted to a Live Photo first. 2Live handles the trim, frame rate and format so it plays smoothly on the Lock Screen.
Through a live wallpaper engine, not a video file. Brand-bundled features are basic and third-party apps vary — a native engine is the battery-friendly answer, which is what 2Live for Android will be.
Well-built ones barely do: iPhone animates only on wake, and a proper Android engine pauses when the screen is off. Video-player-in-a-trenchcoat apps are the ones that drain.