Live Wallpapers Not Working on iPhone, How-to Fix

Having trouble adding some personality to your iPhone when using live wallpapers? Can’t figure out how to add movement to your iPhone’s Lock Screen? Keep reading to learn how to set-up, use, and troubleshoot your Live Wallpapers today!

Quick Tips 

Follow These Quick Tips to Fix Your Live Wallpapers

• Make sure that the photo you select for your Live Wallpaper is a “Live” Photo
• Restart your iPhone
• Disable Low Power Mode
• Turn off Reduce Motion
• Enable 3D Touch, if available on your device
• Set back to a regular static wallpaper image
• Change to a different live photo for your wallpaper
• Make sure your iPhone is model iPhone 6S or newer

Related Posts:

• Live Photos on iPhone, A Complete Guide – 2018
• When Using 3D Touch on Your iPhone Makes Sense: 12 Tips

Live Wallpapers Using an iPhone XR or SE?

Unfortunately, the iPhone XR and iPhone SE currently do not support live wallpapers! That’s mainly due to its lack of 3D Touch.

When you select a live photo for your wallpaper on an iPhone XR or SE, it shows on the lock screen as a still image.

However, there is are options for Dynamic Wallpapers, which simulate motion. But unlike Live Photos, you can’t create your own dynamic wallpapers!

Use a Dynamic Wallpaper on Your iPhone

1. Go to Settings > Wallpaper > Choose a New Wallpaper
2. Tap Dynamic
3. Select one of the available dynamic wallpapers
4. Choose Set

What’s The Difference Between Live Wallpapers and Dynamic Wallpapers?

• Live Wallpapers animate when you 3D Touch them. Since they need 3D Touch, Live Wallpapers are only available on iPhones with that feature–so it’s not available on the iPhone XR or SE. You can create your own live images to use as Live Wallpapers. However, Live Wallpapers only work on the Lock screen. On your Home screen, Live Wallpapers are still images
• Dynamic Wallpapers are animated images that play on a loop and they work on both the Home and Lock screens! And unlike Live Wallpapers, they don’t require 3D Touch. Unlike Live Wallpapers, you can’t create your own Dynamic Wallpapers

Be aware that Dynamic Wallpapers use a lot of power!

How To Play Dynamic and Live Wallpapers

1. Dynamic. The animation plays automatically on your Lock or Home screen
2. Live. On the Lock screen, 3D Touch and hold until the live image starts animating

Live Wallpaper Basics

Live Wallpapers have been around since the iPhone 6S and add a magical flair to your phone. However, they don’t always work correctly. So if you’ve got a problem with your Live Wallpaper, this post shows you exactly how to fix it!

There are a couple of common mistakes people make with Live Wallpapers

• First, a Live Wallpaper only works from your Lock Screen—not from your Home Screen—and to activate it you need to press firmly and engage 3D Touch
• Second, the image selected needs to be either a Live Photo or one of your iDevice’s default Live Wallpaper
• The iPhone XR does not support live wallpaper (due to no 3D Touch feature)

Check That Your Selected Photo is “Live”

Go to Settings > Wallpaper, and tap on the Wallpaper screen, verify that the image is a “Live Photo” and not a Still or Perspective picture.

If you know all that and still can’t get it to work, check out these easy steps below and learn just how to fix it.

How to Fix Your Live Wallpaper

Restart Your iPhone

Whatever issue you may have with your iPhone, the easiest fix is to restart it. This is also true for Live Wallpaper problems, so try a quick restart before anything else and see if it helps.

How you restart depends on your model

• For iPhone 8 and below, iPads, and iPod Touch
  • Press and hold the Top or Side button until the slider appears
  • Swipe the slider to the other side to turn your device completely off
  • To turn it back on, press and hold the Top or Side button again
• For iPhone X Series (iPhone XS/X)
  • Press and hold the Side button and either volume button until the slider appears
  • Swipe the slider to the other side to turn your device completely off
  • To turn your iPhone X Series back on, press and hold the Side button again
• Using iOS 11 and above
  • Turn off ANY device, regardless of model, by going to Settings > General> Shut Down

Low Power Mode Could Be Causing Problems 

Is the battery icon at the top of your display yellow? You might have Low Power Mode turned on.

This shouldn’t make a difference because Low Power Mode doesn’t deactivate Live Wallpapers, but sound logic doesn’t always help with technical issues. Many users have reported Low Power Mode as the cause of their problems.

Turn Off Low Power Mode

1. Go to Settings > Battery
2. Tap to turn off Low Power Mode
3. Return to your Lock Screen and test the Live Wallpaper

Parallax, Live, and Dynamics motion effects are automatically disabled when Low Power Mode is enabled, so that’s why live wallpapers don’t work!

Try Changing to a Different Wallpaper

There could be a problem with your specific wallpaper. You can test it by switching to one of the defaults on your phone. We recommend changing to a Still Wallpaper and then trying a default Live Wallpaper to see if it works.

Change to a Default Still Wallpaper

1. Go to Settings > Wallpaper > Choose a New Wallpaper
2. Select Stills and choose any of the default Still Wallpapers
3. Tap Set > Set Lock Screen (or Set Both)
4. Return to your Lock Screen to see if it has changed

Change to a Default Live Wallpaper

1. Go to Settings > Wallpaper > Choose a New Wallpaper
2. Select Live and choose any of the default Live Wallpapers
3. Tap Set > Set Lock Screen (or Set Both)
4. Return to your Lock Screen to see if it has changed

If the default wallpaper works, there must be a problem with your old wallpaper. Is it definitely a Live Photo?

Check the Reduce Motion Settings

This is a big one and is often responsible for live Wallpapers not working on your device. Tap on General > Accessibility > Scroll down and locate ‘Reduce Motion.’ Make sure that this setting is OFF on your iPhone. 

If it’s ON, tap it and toggle it to OFF, restart your device and then check if the wallpapers start their Live animation sequence now.

3D Touch Needs to Be Turned On

Live Wallpapers use 3D Touch to activate. There’s a chance your 3D Touch has been turned off. Follow the steps below to make sure that isn’t the case:

Turn on 3D Touch

1. Go to Settings > General > Accessibility > 3D Touch
2. Tap to turn on 3D Touch
3. Adjust the 3D Touch Sensitivity to a level you can use
   1. Try turning the sensitivity to light and use your whole thumb on the lock screen to get the live wallpapers to work

Find the Best Live Wallpapers

Now that your Live Wallpaper up and running, it’s time to customize your iPhone with an awesome new background.

Bonus Tip: If you are looking for a wallpaper for your iPhone X/XS Series phone, check out one with a Dark background. The darker pixels on an OLED screen save battery juice compared to the brighter ones.

Finding a high-quality Live Wallpapers is hard

However, you can check out the Apps below for lots of unique options:

• Wallpapers for Me (Live)
• Live Wallpapers Now
• Wallpapers and Themes (Live)
• Live Wallpapers & Backgrounds

Send us a picture of your favorite Live Wallpapers, and let us know in the comments if need more help!

Reader Tips 

• When you’re on the Lock screen, press FIRMLY to play and animate the Live Photo
• For iPhone XR folks, call or contact Apple support and ask them to add Live Photos to the iPhone XR’s Lock Screen in a future iOS update
• I wasn’t pushing hard enough, or with enough of my finger to enable 3D Touch, so I tried to push harder, and it started working. I usually use a light touch on my screen, so it felt a little weird to use so much force. But it worked!
• I agree. What worked for me was adjusting the 3D Touch sensitivity to LIGHT. Then make sure you press a little bit harder than normal on your iPhone’s screen while in lock mode or in a preview to see the live wallpapers
• When I applied a more forceful press, the live wallpapers proceeded to animate
• I had the same problem when I first received my iPhone X, but once I enabled 3D Touch, live wallpapers were working. Go to Settings > General > Accessibility > 3D Touch. After enabling it your live pictures should work

Dan Helyer( Senior Writer )

Dan is a freelance writer based in South West England.

He spent two years supervising repairs as a Genius Admin for Apple Retail and uses that knowledge to keep our troubleshooting guides up to date.

Long before that, Dan turned to Apple products from a musical background. Having owned iPods for years, he bought a MacBook to learn sound recording and production. It was using those skills that he gained a first-class Bachelor of Science in Sound Technology.