Native Mac living wallpapers

Your desktop
comes alive.

And knows when to disappear. What you are watching right now is Atheria's art, rendered live in this page. Move your cursor. It notices.

Imagine this on your desktop. Calm, all day.

Download on the App Store Watch it change↓
$9.99 one-time On the Mac App Store Built for Apple Silicon No account required
Scroll. The desktop will change its mind.
01
Aurora · rendered live

Slow light,
always moving.

Every wallpaper in Atheria's library is generative art computed on the GPU with Metal. No video file, no loop point, no seam. This aurora keeps drifting for as long as you leave it running.

Watch. The whole sky is about to change.

02
Dynamic Silk · rendered live

Silk that answers
your cursor.

Presence-aware wallpapers lean toward your pointer and quicken as you work. Drag your cursor through the ribbons. An intensity slider in the app sets how calm or lively the reaction feels.

03
Chroma Flow · rendered live

Color, bent
in real time.

Bands of pure color folding through space. Set your own four colors in the app and most of the library follows your palette. Eighty-five living works, plus creators to write your own.

Then a window covers it, and it simply stops. Zero frames. Zero guilt.

Privacy Guard

Step away, and
your screen vanishes.

Privacy Guard frosts your whole screen after a short idle timeout you set, or instantly with a hotkey Cmd Option /, so a glance over your shoulder shows nothing. It clears the instant you return. No lock screen, no password.

Zero-Drain Occlusion

Atheria tracks your windows continuously. The moment the desktop is fully covered, rendering halts and the frame rate drops to 0 fps. It does no work you cannot see.

Context Triggers

Automate your workspace tone. Switch to a different playlist or wallpaper based on battery status, a time of day phase, or an exact window such as 21:00 to 06:00.

Native Video Workspace

Import and edit loop video right in the app. Rotate vertical clips, trim loops, build boomerangs, and export hardware-accelerated HEVC.

An engine, not a catalog

Most apps hand you a pile of loops and leave the battery to you.

Atheria is built the other way around: an engine that renders living art in real time, respects your battery to the frame, and guards your screen when you step away. Native Swift. Apple Silicon. Nothing leaves your Mac.

Also on iPhone and iPad

Write shaders on the go. Atheria: Generative Art is a free companion app with a real Metal playground inside it. Type a fragment shader on your phone, compile it in a tap, and watch it run full screen. No computer, no build step, no Xcode.

What you make travels as a short text code, so it lands in a message as easily as a photo. With both apps open, Handoff carries it straight into the Shader Creator on your Mac, where it can become the wallpaper.

Atheria: Generative Art, free on the App Store→
Prefer the details? Every feature, explained→
From the Mac App Store
Look no further if you want performance (no kidding) and customization for power users who have a catalog.
Inglotfanner, July 2026
Wonderful addition to my wallpaper collection. A nice variety of intriguing patterns, and great choices between spicy animations or cool lazy morphing. The "code-your-own" ability is excellent as well. Solid software, and a developer who takes care of feedback ideas.
SchwanSongs, July 2026

Everything you
might ask.

What is Atheria?
Atheria is a native macOS app that replaces your static desktop wallpaper with living art: real-time Metal shaders and looping video wallpapers. It is built in Swift for Apple Silicon and Intel Macs.
Will a live wallpaper drain my battery?
Atheria is built around battery efficiency. Its Occlusion Monitor watches your windows and drops the wallpaper to 0 fps the moment the desktop is fully covered, so it does no rendering work you cannot see.
Is Atheria free?
Atheria is free to try, with an optional one-time Atheria Pro purchase that unlocks the full shader library, the Flame Creator, a different wallpaper on each display, smart triggers, and the advanced video editor. Your wallpaper runs on every display for free, and you can run any Pro wallpaper live on your own desktop for 45 seconds before you buy. There is no subscription and no account. Pro is a one-time $9.99 purchase.
Which Macs does Atheria support?
Atheria runs on macOS 15 (Sequoia) or later, on both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs.
Can I use my own videos?
Yes. You can import your own video wallpapers and edit them inside Atheria: trim loops, rotate, create forward-and-reverse boomerang loops, and re-encode to efficient HEVC. H.264, HEVC, and ProRes are supported.
What is Privacy Guard?
Privacy Guard frosts your entire screen after a short idle timeout, or instantly with a hotkey, so a glance over your shoulder shows nothing. It clears the moment you return, with no lock screen or password prompt.
Does Atheria collect my data?
No. Atheria collects no personal data, has no accounts, and runs entirely on your Mac. Smart library tagging uses Apple's on-device Vision framework, so nothing is uploaded. See our Privacy Policy.
On the Mac App Store

Stop staring at
a still image.

Bring your desktop to life today. Native Swift, Apple Silicon, and an engine that knows when to disappear, and when to stand guard.

Download on the App Store

On the Mac App Store · No account required