Guide
How to change the lock screen wallpaper on Mac
A Mac doesn’t have a separate lock screen wallpaper: once you’re logged in, the lock screen shows your desktop wallpaper. To change it, change the wallpaper in System Settings. Apple’s aerials move as you lock and unlock; for your own video on the lock screen, you need an app.
By Chris at Neon FrenchieUpdated Checked on macOS 27.0.1 on
Where the lock screen picture comes from
Open System Settings, then Lock Screen and you’ll find settings for when the display turns off, when a password is needed, a message, and how the login window lists users, but nothing for a picture. That’s because macOS doesn’t keep one. When you lock a Mac you’re logged in to, it shows the wallpaper you chose in Wallpaper settings. Apple’s guides don’t spell this out, but people on Apple’s forums describe the same thing, and it’s what wallpaper apps that set a matching still rely on.
The one exception is the screen you see right after you start or restart the Mac. Especially with FileVault on, macOS can show a login window before your account loads, and that window may use a standard picture rather than yours. Once you log in, your own wallpaper is back. If it isn’t, see why a Mac wallpaper resets.
Change the lock screen wallpaper
The steps are the same on a MacBook Air, a MacBook Pro or a desktop Mac.
- Open System Settings, then Wallpaper.
- Choose a wallpaper: a dynamic wallpaper, an aerial from Landscape, Cityscape, Underwater or Earth, a picture, or a color. For your own photo, scroll to Your Photos, click Add Photo, then Choose from Photos, Choose File or Choose Folder.
- Press Control-Command-Q to lock the Mac and check it. On a Mac with Touch ID, pressing the Touch ID button locks it too.
You can also set a picture from other apps: in Photos, select it, click the Share button and choose Set Wallpaper; in Finder, Control-click an image file and choose Set Desktop Picture. Either way the lock screen follows.
What else you can change on the lock screen
- The clock. In System Settings, then Wallpaper, then Clock Appearance…, set Show large clock to On Lock Screen, On Screen Saver and Lock Screen or Never, and pick its font and weight.
- A message. In System Settings, then Lock Screen, turn on Show message when locked and click Set…. Contact details here help if you lose a MacBook.
- Your picture. The round picture above the password field is your login picture. Change it in System Settings, then Users & Groups by clicking the picture next to your name.
Why there’s no different lock screen picture
Because the lock screen reuses the wallpaper, macOS has no setting for a second picture, unlike an iPhone. If you want something on the lock screen that you don’t want behind your windows all day, the closest built-in option is an aerial: it’s a still image on the desktop and moves only as you lock and unlock.
A lock screen that moves
Of the built-in wallpapers, the aerials are the ones that move: Apple says they animate as you lock or unlock the Mac, and by default the aerial you pick is also your screen saver. Apple also calls the gradient shapes of its Mac wallpaper animated. Dynamic wallpapers brighten and darken through the day rather than move. To get your own video, or a library of moving wallpapers, on the lock screen, you need an app. These say they do it:
| Lock Screen | Price | Requires | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Backdrop | Moving video on the Lock Screen (since 2.0) | $1.99 a month, $14.99 a year or $29.99 once | macOS 15 or later |
| Wallper | Moving Lock Screen and screen saver on macOS 26 and later | $14.99 once for 3 Macs (Pro), $24.99 for 5 Macs (Pro+) | macOS 14.6 or later. Lock Screen needs macOS 26 |
| MacWall | Moving Lock Screen and screen saver on macOS 26 and later | $12.99 once for 3 Macs (Pro). Pro+ is $19.99 for 5 Macs or $34.99 for 10 | macOS 15 or later, Apple silicon and Intel. Lock Screen needs macOS 26 |
| Wallspace | Yes, on macOS 26 and later. Wallspace's pages disagree on whether it needs Pro | Free tier. Pro is $12.99 once, or $19.49, $27.28 and $38.97 for 2, 3 and 5 Macs | macOS 15 or later. Lock Screen needs macOS 26 |
| Aerial | Appears in Wallpaper settings with the built-in wallpapers, and keeps playing on the login screen after your Mac wakes | Free | macOS 26 or later for 4.1. Version 4.0.16 for macOS 15 |
| Vivid Walls | Exports a wallpaper as video for the Lock Screen | $9.99 once | macOS 14 or later, Apple silicon only |
| gifPaper | 300 or so looping wallpapers in Apple's own aerial format, for the Lock Screen, desktop and screen saver. | $4.99 once | macOS 26 or later |
| Phosphene | Plays your own videos as the desktop and Lock Screen wallpaper from System Settings, using a private Apple framework. | Free | macOS 26 or later |
Most of them need macOS 26 or later for the Lock Screen part. On a MacBook, check each app’s battery options too; our battery guide explains what to look for. For a wider comparison, see the best live wallpaper apps for Mac.
A lock screen that matches, with MacScapes
MacScapes draws its scenes live behind your desktop, and it doesn’t put motion on the lock screen. What it does instead is keep the lock screen matching. With Settings, then Wallpaper, then Match desktop picture and lock screen on, which it is by default, MacScapes saves a still of the current scene or photo as the macOS desktop picture of each display it runs on, a couple of seconds after you change vibes. So when you lock the Mac, you see a frame of the same scene, in the same palette. It’s part of the free version.
- Video backgrounds aren’t copied. If a vibe uses a movie, the lock screen keeps the picture it had.
- Your own picture comes back. MacScapes remembers the desktop picture you had before. Turning the setting off puts it back, and so does Original wallpaper, then Restore in the same section.
- Vibes that change on a schedule update the still each time the vibe changes, so a sunrise and sunset schedule changes the lock screen too.