Earth live wallpaper for Mac
The real Earth, right now.
The whole planet rendered live in 3D behind your desktop icons and turning at its real rate. The side in sunlight is the side where it is day at this moment, and the night side shows its city lights.
Animated in real time · One-time purchase, every wallpaper included · macOS 12 or later, Apple silicon and Intel
An Apple-verified version is coming soon as a free update. Until then, macOS asks you to confirm the app once, the first time you open it, and your download page shows how.
Views
Frame the Earth for your desktop.
Pick how it sits on the screen from the View menu, and how far out with Zoom. Every picture here is a frame from the animated wallpaper.
Over the limb
Low over the lit edge of the planet, the horizon arcing across space and the line between day and night in the frame. In this frame it is evening over eastern India, and its cities have lit up.
Crescent
The Sun behind the planet, so most of the disc is night: a thin crescent of daylight down one edge, and the city lights across the dark side.
From its moon
The Earth from just behind the Moon, the Moon’s grey edge along the bottom. The Earth shows the phase it has from the Moon at this moment, from the Moon’s real orbit.
Off to the right, at Medium zoom
The whole planet on the right of the screen with the rest of the desktop open. Zoom stands every view further out, from Close to Medium or Far.
What you see
A real-time Earth, with real day and night.
The wallpaper runs on the current date and time, at real pace. The Earth turns once a day as it really does, so the line between day and night creeps across the continents through your working day, and the side in shadow fills with city lights as the evening reaches it.
Its tilt follows the date too, so the seasons show: in June the Arctic stays in sunlight all the way round, and in December the Antarctic does. Faint auroras ring the poles on the night side.
Every view is placed relative to the Sun, so the lit side faces you whatever the date puts where, and the planet turning under it brings each part of the world round in turn.
Day and night, now
The continents in sunlight are the ones in daylight at this moment, and the night side lights up city by city as the sun sets on it.
Eight ways to frame it
The top half filling the screen, off to the left or right, the whole disc, a crescent, low over the limb, a slow orbit through day and night, or from behind the Moon.
Three zoom steps
Close, Medium or Far stand the camera further out, so the Earth sits smaller with more open space round your icons.
Made to stay on
Made to run all day, quiet when hidden.
Under your icons
It sits beneath the desktop icons, widgets and the Dock. Clicks go straight through to the desktop, and it never takes focus from what you are doing.
Pauses on its own
When windows cover the desktop, a full-screen app is open, the screen locks or sleeps, or a screensaver starts, it stops drawing until the desktop shows again.
Easy on the battery
On battery or in Low Power Mode it drops to 15 frames a second, or pauses, whichever you pick. Its usual pace is 30.
Pick your world
The other live wallpapers.
One purchase gets every one of them, over 80 in all, and you switch between them from the menu bar.
Questions
Good to know.
Does the Earth wallpaper show real day and night?
Yes. It runs on the current date and time, so the side in sunlight is the side where it is day right now, and the line between day and night moves across the planet at its real pace. The night side shows the city lights.
Is it a real-time Earth or a video?
Real time. The planet is rendered live in 3D, up to 30 frames a second, so there is no video to loop: the camera drifts slowly, the Earth turns, and the day and night line moves with the clock.
Which view shows the most of the night side?
Crescent puts the Sun behind the planet, so most of the disc is night and its city lights. Over the limb and Slow orbit show the line between day and night up close.
Do I only get the Earth?
One purchase of $2.99 is the whole app: every planet, the Sun, the Moon and Pluto, the Milky Way, the black hole, the ISS and the grand tour, over 80 wallpapers in all.
Will it slow my Mac down?
It is made to stay on all day. It draws 30 frames a second at the display’s normal resolution, stops completely when windows cover the desktop or the screen locks or sleeps, and on battery drops to 15 frames a second or pauses, whichever you pick.
Which Macs does it run on?
Any Mac on macOS 12 Monterey or later, Apple silicon or Intel. Everything it shows is inside the app, so it runs offline.