How to make a gif your iphone wallpaper

On iOS, Apple offers some live wallpapers that you can use for your iPhone’s lock screen background, but these animated options are just wavy color changes and ink-in-water effects. To really personalize your lock screen, you can use a Live Photo as your background. If you can’t find the right Live Photo, GIFs are the next best thing, and experimenting with them almost feels like a game. To use an animated GIF for your live wallpaper, you must first convert it to a live photo. While Apple added GIF support in the Photos app, they didn’t add GIF support to the background settings. But that’s easy to do with GIPHY for iOS. Not only can you browse its huge library of GIFs, but you can also save them as Live Photos within the app.

If you set your GIF converted to Live Photo as your “Live Photo” wallpaper, it will animate every time you hard press on the lock screen with 3D Touch. Remember, if you also set it as your home screen wallpaper, it won’t animate there. Live wallpapers can only be animated on the lock screen. You’ll also need an iPhone 6S or newer, except for the iPhone SE, which doesn’t have 3D Touch.

Use GIPHY to turn GIFs into live wallpapers on iPhone

  • Open GIPHY on your iPhone.
  • Tap on three vertical dots at the bottom right → Tap on Convert to Live Photo from the bottom popup.
  • Depending on your preference, tap Save as Live Photo (Full Screen) or Save as Live Photo (Fit to Screen).
  • Open Settings app → tap Wallpaper → Choose a new wallpaper.
  • Select Live Photos from the list below. And tap the Live Photo you saved in step 3.
  • Tap Set. Make sure that the small circular icon is not crossed (ie does not have a diagonal line).
  • Tap Set lock screen. (Live photos don’t work on the home screen, so there’s no point in tapping ‘Set home screen’ or ‘Set both’. But still, if you do, the live photo will act as a wallpaper normal).

How to make GIF a live wallpaper on iPhone

  • Open GIPHY on your iPhone and tap on the plus icon.
  • The camera will open. Now tap on the photos icon and select your own GIF from the camera roll.
  • Now tap on the arrow pointing to the right → Tap on Upload to GIPHY.
  • If you don’t have a GIPHY account, tap Sign up or tap Sign in.
  • Tap Private and then tap Upload to GIPHY.
  • Tap on the GIF you just uploaded.
  • Tap three vertical dots at the bottom right of the GIF.
  • Choose Convert to Live Photo, and then choose Save as Live Photo (Fit to Screen) or Save as Live Photo (Full Screen) depending on your preference.
  • Now repeat step #3 of method #1 above. (ie go to Settings → Wallpaper → Choose a new wallpaper → Live Photos → Settings → Set lock screen).

Final remarks: How to Set a GIF as a Live Wallpaper on iPhone

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Without undermining the handy home screen widgets that you can create using apps like Widgetsmith on iPhone, customization for many starts with an eye-catching wallpaper. However, instead of a still background, several users prefer using live wallpaper apps on iPhone to apply wallpapers that animate on the lock screen with a press. It adds a new dimension to the iPhone lock screen. And if you are also like me, there is a good chance you are looking for an easy way to set a GIF as a live wallpaper on your iPhone. Well, if that’s the case, let me help you set it up right away!

Set GIF as a Live Wallpaper on iPhone (2022)

When you set a Live Photo (3-second moving image) as the wallpaper on your iPhone, it animates on the lock screen when you long-press it. However, that’s not the case with GIFs as iOS automatically converts them into a still image before setting them as the wallpaper. That’s why we will use a third-party app to convert a GIF into a live wallpaper first to retain the animation.

Another thing worth keeping in mind is the device compatibility. Live Photos are supported on iPhone 6s and later, iPad 5 and later, iPad Air 3 and later, iPad mini 5 and later, and iPad Pro 2016 and later. Hence, make sure your device is compatible with this feature before you proceed further.

Table of Contents

  • Use App to Convert GIF into Live Wallpaper on iPhone
  • Use GIPHY to Set GIF as Live Wallpaper on iPhone

Use App to Convert GIF into Live Wallpaper on iPhone

1. First, head to the App Store and install PicCollage’s Convert – GIF and Live Wallpaper app (Free) on your iPhone. After that, launch the app, move to the GIF tab, and import the desired GIF from your photo library.

How to make a gif your iphone wallpaper

2. Next, use the trimming tool to remove any unwanted parts and tap the download button at the bottom right corner of the screen.

How to make a gif your iphone wallpaper

3. Next up, from the pop-up that appears, select the “Live Photo” option under the “Save as” section. Then, select the “High” resolution option and tap the “Save” button. This step will convert your GIF into a live photo, which you can then use as a wallpaper on your iPhone.

How to make a gif your iphone wallpaper

3. Next, open the Photos app on your iPhone and navigate to the Live Photo you have just saved. Alternately, head to the Albums tab -> Live Photos album. Then, tap the Share button at the bottom left and choose “Use as Wallpaper” in the share sheet.

How to make a gif your iphone wallpaper

4. On the next screen, tap the “Set” button at the bottom right corner of the screen and choose Set As Lock Screen, Set As Home Screen, or Set Both, depending on your preference.

How to make a gif your iphone wallpaper

So yeah, there you have it! Going forward, the GIF you applied as the live wallpaper will animate on the lock screen when you long-press on your iPhone screen. Check out how the animated wallpaper looks on the lock screen right here:

How to make a gif your iphone wallpaper

Use GIPHY to Set GIF as Live Wallpaper on iPhone

If you are fond of GIFs, you would like to have a wide variety of animated images at your disposal. That way, you can explore trending GIFs and set a preferred one as the live wallpaper on your iPhone right away.

For this exact purpose, look no further than “GIPHY”. Aside from offering a ton of GIFs, the app also lets you convert an animated image into a Live Photo. That means you can then use it as a live wallpaper on your device. Since the app is available for free, you don’t need to shell out any bucks to customize your iOS lock/home screen.

1. To get started, download the GIPHY app (Free) on your iPhone (supported on iOS 13 and later). After that, launch the app and find the GIF you would like to set as the live wallpaper on your iOS device. To make sure that the wallpaper looks cool, I recommend selecting a vertical GIF.

How to make a gif your iphone wallpaper

2. Once you have found the desired GIF, open it and tap the three-dot icon at the top right corner of the screen.

How to make a gif your iphone wallpaper

3. Next, choose the “Convert to Live Photo” option from the pop-up menu.

How to make a gif your iphone wallpaper

4. Next up, you get two options:

  • Save As Live Photo (Full Screen): It will crop the GIF to ensure it covers the entire display of your iPhone.
  • Save as Live Photo (Fit to Screen): It will add back bars to the GIF to cover the screen when converting it to a Live Photo.

How to make a gif your iphone wallpaper

5. Now, select the preferred option and tap “Save to Camera Roll” in the pop-up menu.

6. Up next, open the Photos app and navigate to the Live Photo (Albums tab -> Live Photos) you just saved and then hit the Share button. After that, select “Use as Wallpaper” in the share sheet.

How to make a gif your iphone wallpaper

6. Now, tap “Set” at the bottom right corner of the screen and choose to set it as a lock screen, home screen, or set both home and lock screen wallpapers.

How to make a gif your iphone wallpaper

That’s it! You have successfully set a fun-loving GIF as the live wallpaper on your iOS device. The stock Photos app also offers an intuitive way to convert a Live Photo into GIF. I wish it adds a similar tool for converting GIFs sooner rather than later.

Use GIF as a Live Wallpaper on Your iPhone

So that concludes our guide on how to use an animated image as a live wallpaper. Now that you know how this trick works, you can make the most of it to personalize your device. Afterall your iPhone deserves a more lively lockscreen wallpaper. And with a nifty trick to change the iPad or iPhone wallpaper with merely a tap, you can switch to your favorite wallpaper with utmost ease. By the way, do you have any questions or feedback to share about this guide? If yes, make sure to let us know in the comments section below.

How do I make a live GIF my wallpaper?

How to make a live wallpaper.
Go into your Settings app..
Choose Wallpaper. Go into the wallpaper section of your settings. ... .
Tap Choose a New Wallpaper. Tap "Choose a New Wallpaper." ... .
Choose a live photo to use. ... .
Tap Set, and then choose Set Lock Screen, Set Home Screen, or Set Both for your new wallpaper..

How do I make my iPhone wallpaper animated?

Tap Settings > Wallpaper > Choose a New Wallpaper. Tap Dynamic or Live, depending on which kind of wallpaper you want. Get a fullscreen preview of the wallpaper you'd like to see by tapping it. For Live Wallpapers, tap and hold on the screen to see it animate.

How do you put a GIF on wallpaper?

There are no built-in options in your Android device to set a GIF file as screen wallpaper. Therefore, you will have to rely on third-party apps. The first step is to select or download the GIF file, followed by opening it in the GIF Live Wallpaper app to edit, resize and add it to the Android screen.

How do you set a GIF as a wallpaper iOS 15?

Use App to Convert GIF into Live Wallpaper on iPhone First, head to the App Store and install PicCollage's Convert – GIF and Live Wallpaper app (Free) on your iPhone. After that, launch the app, move to the GIF tab, and import the desired GIF from your photo library.