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Aerial screensaver for Mac vs MacScapes: which to use
Aerial is a free, open-source screen saver and live wallpaper for Mac that plays Apple’s aerial videos, community packs or your own clips. Version 4.1 needs macOS 26 or later; on macOS 15, use 4.0.16. If you want Apple’s footage on your desktop for free, Aerial is the right pick. MacScapes is the alternative when you’d rather have a desktop that isn’t video: scenes drawn live, recolored by any palette, with widgets, folder icons and sound to match, from macOS 14.
By Chris at Neon FrenchieUpdated
What macOS already gives you
Before installing anything: macOS has aerials of its own. In System Settings, then Wallpaper you can pick a Landscape, Cityscape, Underwater or Earth aerial, or shuffle them. They play as the screen saver and move as you lock or unlock your Mac, but on the desktop they hold still. Our video wallpaper guide has the steps. Aerial, the app, is what you add when you want that footage moving behind your windows all day, more of it, or your own clips.
Aerial and MacScapes side by side
| MacScapes | Aerial | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free. Pro is $19.99 once, for up to 3 Macs | Free |
| Without paying | Free version with no time limit: 7 scenes, 11 palettes, 3 widgets, 2 schedule rules | Free and open source (MIT license) |
| Where to get it | Direct download from macscapes.app, notarized by Apple | Free download from its website |
| Requires | macOS 14 or later, Apple silicon and Intel | macOS 26 or later for 4.1. Version 4.0.16 for macOS 15 |
| Latest version | 1.0, October 2026 | 4.1.8, Oct 16, 2026 |
| Scenes drawn live | Yes: 42 scenes and 48 palettes, plus 9 Living Stills (pictures with depth) | No. It plays video |
| Your own video | Yes, with Pro. Movies loop silently. Your own photos are free | Yes, .mov and .mp4 files in a folder |
| Wallpaper library | No download library. Every scene ships with the app | Apple's aerial videos plus community packs |
| Desktop widgets | 14 widgets that take their colors from the wallpaper. Clock, date and day are free | Overlays for clock, date, weather, music, battery and more |
| Changes on a schedule | By the clock, at sunrise or at sunset. 2 rules free, more with Pro | Picks videos by time of day, sunrise and sunset, using your location |
| Different wallpaper per display | Yes, with Pro | Yes |
| Lock Screen | A still of the current scene, set as your desktop picture. Not animated | Appears in Wallpaper settings with the built-in wallpapers, and keeps playing on the login screen after your Mac wakes |
| Sound | 10 ambient sounds, with Pro | Not listed |
| Folder icons | 70 patterns in your palette, 8 of them free | Not listed |
| On battery | Drops to 30 fps at half resolution on battery or in Low Power Mode. Pro adds a battery vibe | Pauses on battery, in Low Power Mode, and when the desktop is mostly covered |
| Web pages as wallpaper | No | No |
Why look for an Aerial alternative?
Aerial is good at what it does, and it’s free. People look elsewhere for a few reasons:
- It needs macOS 26. Aerial 4.1 doesn’t run on macOS 15 Sequoia. Version 4.0.16 does, but it won’t get the 4.1 features.
- It’s video. Every wallpaper is a recorded clip. It loops, its colors are fixed, and Aerial keeps the videos it downloads in a cache on your disk (you can cap its size in Settings).
- The rest of the desktop stays as it was. Aerial’s overlays put a clock, the weather or what’s playing on top of the video, but its pages list no folder icons or ambient sound.
- Some sources need extra tools. Camera feeds need ffmpeg and YouTube live streams need yt-dlp, both installed separately.
Where Aerial is ahead
- Free and open. Everything is free, the code is MIT-licensed, and its website says it has no telemetry.
- Apple’s footage, and yours. The whole Apple TV aerial catalog, including the 4K 240 fps set, community packs, your own .mov and .mp4 files, and even live camera feeds. In MacScapes, your own video needs Pro, and there’s no footage library.
- A screen saver too. Aerial is both. MacScapes is a wallpaper app only.
- The login screen. Aerial’s wallpaper keeps playing when your Mac wakes, and its overlays can stay on the lock screen. MacScapes sets a still of the scene there; our lock screen guide explains how macOS links the two.
- Display modes. A different video on each display, the same on all, mirrored, or one video spanned across every screen.
Where MacScapes is ahead
- Scenes, not footage. Your Mac draws each of the 42 scenes as it’s shown, so there’s no clip restarting every few seconds, and any of the 48 palettes, light or dark, recolors it. See every scene.
- A desktop that matches. Widgets that take their colors from the scene, folder icons in the same palette, and ten ambient sounds with Pro, saved together as a vibe.
- Schedules for the whole look. Aerial picks videos by time of day. MacScapes switches the entire vibe, wallpaper, widgets and sound, at a set time, at sunrise or at sunset, and Pro adds a battery vibe for when you unplug.
- Older Macs. macOS 14 or later, on Apple silicon and Intel.
- Nothing to download. Every scene ships with the app, about 31 MB in all, so there’s no video cache to manage.
What each one costs
| MacScapes | Aerial | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free, or Pro for $19.99 once | Free |
| Without paying | 7 scenes, 11 palettes, 3 widgets, 2 schedule rules, no time limit | Everything |
| Your own videos | With Pro | Free |
| Extras | Ambient sound, all widgets and every scene with Pro | Optional tips through Ko-fi. Expansion packs come from their own authors |
| Source code | Closed | Open, MIT license |
If price is what matters most, see free live wallpaper apps for Mac, which separates the apps that stay free from the trials that end.
Inside the download
We opened Aerial 4.1.7 on October 9, 2026, without running it, next to our own release build. Both run in the App Sandbox, which limits an app to what it declares. Both include Sparkle for their updates, and MacScapes also includes PostHog for anonymous usage counts, which you can turn off. Aerial has since moved to 4.1.8, Oct 16, 2026. For how to check any wallpaper app yourself, see are live wallpaper apps safe on Mac.
| MacScapes | Aerial | |
|---|---|---|
| Version opened | 1.0 | 4.1.7 |
| Download | 24.8 MB disk image | 10.6 MB zip file |
| Size on disk | 31 MB | 21 MB |
| Needs | macOS 14 or later | macOS 26 or later |
| Runs in the App Sandbox | Yes | Yes |
| Third-party code and services | PostHog for anonymous usage counts, which can be turned off, and Sparkle for updates. The weather widget asks MET Norway for a forecast | Sparkle updates |
Battery
Both are careful. Aerial’s wallpaper pauses when windows cover most of the desktop (60% by default), under thermal pressure, in Low Power Mode or while the camera is in use, and it can also pause on battery. MacScapes stops drawing whenever windows cover the desktop, and its Save energy on battery setting, on by default, caps it at 30 frames per second at half resolution when you’re unplugged or in Low Power Mode. Our battery guide explains how to measure what either costs on your MacBook.
For the full field, see our ranking of the best wallpaper apps for Mac, or how to get a live wallpaper on Mac. We make MacScapes; everything about Aerial here comes from its website, FAQ, release notes and the download we opened.