Your iPhone is getting a cool new feature when iOS 18 launches later this year: dynamic wallpapers. These subtly change at different times throughout the day, giving you a phone background that automatically adjusts itself as the hours go by.
The feature was spotted in the latest iOS 18 developer beta 3, which was released yesterday. If you’ve signed up for the developer beta, you can get the update by opening the Settings app on your iPhone and going to General > Software Update and selecting the Update now knob.
In previous iOS 18 betas, Apple had rolled out a handful of new wallpapers, as it does every year, including four named Yellow, Pink, Azure, and Purple. However, these were static images: while each had a light and dark option, they didn’t change unless you specifically adjusted your wallpaper choice.
The default iOS 18 wallpaper now has a dynamic option that changes based on the time of day ig pic.twitter.com/ejCtVVG4lQJuly 8, 2024
Now there’s a fifth option called Dynamic (as you can see above). With this, iOS 18 will control the wallpaper changing on your behalf. Instead of just light and dark editions, each wallpaper has tons of different versions that it cycles through throughout the day.
It’s not yet clear what the conditions are for each adjustment (for example, how many hours should pass between each change), but it’s a nice feature to have on your iPhone.
Finally available on iOS
The macOS operating system for Apple’s Mac computers has used dynamic wallpapers for years, so it’s surprising that it took iOS so long to realize it.
The reason for the delay could have something to do with Apple’s extensive customization options in iOS 18. For example, there’s a new setting that can automatically change certain app icons from light to dark when you enable Dark Mode. Perhaps Apple wanted to wait until that feature was ready before pairing it with dynamic wallpapers, as the two seem to go hand-in-hand.
Currently, iOS 18 is only available as a developer beta. However, the public beta is expected sometime in July, with the full release a few months away. With a bunch of exciting new features on the way, this could be one of the biggest overhauls in iOS history.