Is Wallpaper Engine safe on Mac?

There's no Wallpaper Engine for Mac: it's sold on Steam for Windows, with an Android companion. An app offered as Wallpaper Engine for macOS doesn't come from its developers.

Can a wallpaper app see what's on my screen?

Not unless you allow it. Recording the screen needs Screen & System Audio Recording permission, which macOS asks you for and lists in Privacy & Security settings. A wallpaper app doesn't need it to show a wallpaper.

Is it safe to click Open Anyway?

Only if you trust where the app came from. Open Anyway appears in Privacy & Security settings when macOS blocks an app it can't verify, and Apple warns that software that isn't signed and notarized may expose your Mac to malware.

Are free live wallpaper apps less safe?

Price doesn't tell you much. Aerial is free and open source and runs in the App Sandbox; check any app, free or paid, the same way: who signed it, whether it's notarized, and what it can reach.

Guide

Is Lively Wallpaper safe, and are live wallpaper apps safe on Mac?

Lively Wallpaper is free and open source (GPL-3.0), but it runs only on Windows, so any “Lively for Mac” comes from someone else. On Windows, get Lively from one of the two downloads its GitHub page lists: the Microsoft Store or its GitHub releases. On a Mac, a live wallpaper app that its developer signed and Apple notarized is as safe to open as any other app; what differs is how much of your Mac it can reach once it’s running, and you can check that yourself in a minute.

By Chris at Neon FrenchieUpdated October 22, 2026Checked on macOS 27.0.1 on October 20, 2026

What a wallpaper app can reach

A live wallpaper app runs all day in the background and draws a window behind your desktop icons. That needs no special permission. What else it can touch depends on one thing: whether it runs in Apple’s App Sandbox.

In the App Sandbox, an app gets its own container folder and nothing else of your home folder, unless you pick a file for it or it declares an exception up front. Apple’s sandbox also rules out things like controlling other apps with Apple Events, changing another app’s preferences, changing network settings, loading kernel extensions and quitting other apps. Every Mac App Store app has to use it.
Outside the sandbox, an app can generally reach whatever your user account can, apart from the places macOS guards with a permission prompt. Many good apps work this way, and apps sold outside the store don’t have to be sandboxed. It just means more trust rests on the developer.

In both cases, macOS still asks before an app can use your location, record the screen, see what you type, or reach some of your folders. Those permissions are what to watch.

What macOS checks before an app opens

Apple calls the App Store the safest place to get Mac apps. Apps there are reviewed, and the App Review Guidelines say a Mac App Store app must be sandboxed, can’t download code to add features, and can’t ask for root privileges.

Apps downloaded from a website are checked by Gatekeeper instead. macOS checks the Developer ID signature, which shows who made the app, and since macOS Catalina it also requires the app to be notarized. Notarization is not App Review: it’s an automated scan by Apple for malicious content and code-signing problems. A notarized app can still include analytics or skip the sandbox. If macOS blocks an app, you’ll find Open Anyway in System Settings, then Privacy & Security, but use it only for an app you trust.

How to check an app yourself

You don’t have to take anyone’s word for it, ours included. Each of these is read-only.

Is it sandboxed? Open Activity Monitor, choose View, then Columns, then Sandbox, open the app, and look for Yes in the Sandbox column.
Who signed it, and what does it declare? In Terminal, run codesign -dvvv --entitlements - /Applications/AppName.app. The Authority and TeamIdentifier lines show who signed it. The list after them is its entitlements: com.apple.security.app-sandbox set to true means it’s sandboxed, and the others are the exceptions it asks for, such as com.apple.security.network.client for outgoing connections.
Is it notarized? Run spctl -vvv --assess --type exec /Applications/AppName.app. You should see accepted, and a source= line such as Notarized Developer ID or Mac App Store.
What have you allowed? In System Settings, then Privacy & Security, look through Location Services, Accessibility, Input Monitoring, Screen & System Audio Recording, Full Disk Access, Files & Folders and App Management. A wallpaper app has no need for most of these. If one asks, find out why before you allow it.
Does it start by itself? System Settings, then General, then Login Items & Extensions lists the apps under Open at Login. That’s normal for a wallpaper app, but it should be one you chose.

What we found inside five live wallpaper apps

On October 25, 2026 we opened four Mac live wallpaper apps’ downloads and our own build of MacScapes, without running them, and read their sandbox entitlement and the third-party services built into them. MacScapes and Aerial run in the App Sandbox; Backdrop, Wallper and Mac+ don’t. Backdrop and Aerial have been updated since, so the table shows the version we opened next to the latest one.

What's inside five live wallpaper apps for Mac
	MacScapes	Backdrop	Wallper	Mac+	Aerial
Version we opened	1.0	2.8.0	1.12.1	1.0.0	4.1.7
Latest version	1.0, October 2026	2.10.2, Oct 18, 2026	1.12.1, Sep 30, 2026	1.0.0 (from the download dated Oct 7, 2026)	4.1.8, Oct 16, 2026
Where to get it	Direct download from macscapes.app, notarized by Apple	Direct download (not on the Mac App Store)	Direct download (not on the Mac App Store)	Direct download (not on the Mac App Store)	Free download from its website
Runs in the App Sandbox	Yes	No	No	No	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	Amplitude analytics, Sentry crash reporting, Sparkle updates, WishKit feedback	No third-party analytics found. Connects to Wallper's own servers and lrclib.net for song lyrics	No analytics found. Connects to its own Supabase backend	Sparkle updates

Found by opening each app's download on October 25, 2026, without running it. MacScapes is our own build.

Finding a service’s address inside an app shows the app can contact it, not what it sends. Backdrop, for example, includes Amplitude analytics and Sentry crash reporting; what Cindori collects is in its own privacy terms. The ranking of the best live wallpaper apps has the size and requirements of each download too.

Is Lively Wallpaper safe?

Lively Wallpaper is free, and its code is public on GitHub under the GPL-3.0 license, so anyone can read what it does. It comes from the Microsoft Store or GitHub and needs Windows 10 (1809) or later. There’s no Mac version, so we haven’t opened it, and on a Mac the question doesn’t arise. An iPhone app on the App Store, “Lively: Live Wallpapers 4K”, has a similar name but a different developer. Our page on Lively Wallpaper for Mac covers what to use instead.

How MacScapes handles it

MacScapes, our live wallpaper app, runs in the App Sandbox and declares five exceptions to it: outgoing connections, location if you allow it, the files you pick, remembering those files after a restart, and access to its own updater, so Sparkle can install updates. It doesn’t ask for Accessibility or Screen Recording access, there’s no account, and its anonymous usage counts can be turned off. It's a direct download from macscapes.app, signed with Developer ID and notarized by Apple, and it stays in the sandbox even though only Mac App Store apps have to. The About page explains each entitlement, and you can check them with the commands above.