Moon live wallpaper for Mac
The Moon, up close.
The Moon rendered live in 3D behind your desktop icons, its craters and seas lit by the Sun. Fill the top of the screen with it, set it off to one side, or keep a thin crescent.
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 Moon 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 with the line between day and night in the frame, the craters’ rims and rays catching the low sunlight, and the Earth at the edge of the frame.
Crescent
The Sun behind the Moon: a thin lit crescent down one edge and the rest of the disc in shadow.
Whole disc
The whole Moon, mostly lit, with the Earth small and blue in the distance.
Off to the right, at Far zoom
The Moon small on the right of the screen, the rest of the desktop open for your icons.
What you see
Which face you see follows the month.
The Moon keeps one face towards the Earth, and the wallpaper looks at it from its sunlit side. So the face on your desktop follows the real month: around full Moon it is the near side, the one we see from Earth, with its dark seas; around new Moon it is mostly the far side, which never turns towards us.
Its surface is a map made of NASA’s images with the relief of its craters, so their rims and walls catch the light along the line between day and night.
The Moon sits where it really is in its orbit, so on some days the Earth shows in the background, small and blue, when it lines up behind the Moon from where the camera is.
Near side or far side
Which face is lit and in view follows the real month, from the familiar seas at full Moon to the far side at new Moon.
Seven 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 or a slow orbit, each at Close, Medium or Far.
The Earth behind it
The Moon is where it really is in its orbit, so on some days the Earth hangs small and blue in the background.
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 Moon wallpaper show tonight’s phase?
The views are placed relative to the Sun, so Crescent is always a crescent and the others always show the Moon mostly lit. What follows the real month is which face is lit and turned towards you, and whether the Earth is behind it.
Can I see the far side of the Moon?
Around new Moon, yes. The wallpaper looks at the Moon’s sunlit side, which at new Moon is the far side, the half that never faces the Earth.
Is it animated?
Yes. It is a live 3D scene, rendered as you watch: the camera drifts slowly round the Moon, or circles it in Slow orbit through its day and night.
Do I only get the Moon?
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.