You pick a wallpaper, you like it for a week, and then you look at it for six months.
Not because you've run out of options. Because changing it means opening System Settings, finding the folder, scrolling thumbnails and choosing again, and there's always something more important to do.
We had that problem with our own wallpapers, which is a strange position to be in when you make them for a living. So we built an app for it.
Before that though, it's worth knowing what your Mac already does, because for some people that's enough.
What macOS does on its own
macOS can rotate a folder of images without any app at all.
Go to System Settings > Wallpaper, click Add Folder or Album, choose a folder of images, then scroll down to it and click Auto-Rotate. Pick an interval and tick Randomly to shuffle. It takes about a minute, it's free, and it works.
It also watches the folder, so anything you add later joins the rotation on its own.
For a single screen and a folder you've already built, that might be all you need.
Where it runs out
Four things it won't do, and they're the reasons we stopped using it.
You still have to find the wallpapers. This is the real work. The setting takes a minute. Sourcing a folder of images that are sharp enough for a 5K display, that suit each other, and that you don't get bored of, takes considerably longer.
Displays don't stay in sync. Each display keeps its own settings and its own timer. You set up the first, set up the second, and by the next morning they're showing unrelated images at unrelated times.
It has no idea what you like. No favouriting, and no way to say never show me this one again. Every file carries equal weight forever, the three you love and the four you're sick of.
Light and dark aren't paired. When a wallpaper ships in two versions, macOS sees two unrelated files, so you get the dark one at nine in the morning and the bright one at eleven at night.
PlatSupply Wallpapers App
That's why we created the PlatSupply Wallpapers App.
It sits in your menu bar and changes your wallpaper on a schedule you set. Every few minutes, every hour, once a day.
Every display changes at the same moment, so a two monitor setup stays matched. Favouriting marks a wallpaper, and there's a favourites-only mode for when you want the rotation narrowed to those. If you're sick of one, kill it off and it won't come back. Our 3D packs ship in light and dark, and the app picks whichever matches your Mac at the time. Skip sits on a keyboard shortcut, and there's a pause for screen shares.
Choose your packs, choose an interval, close the window. There's no dashboard and nothing to configure again next week.
The collection is built in
This is the part that solves the first problem on the list above. All 28 of our packs are in the app. That's 519 wallpapers, rendered at 6768 × 3807 rather than upscaled from something smaller, which is more than a 5K Studio Display needs and far more than a MacBook does.
Every new pack appears on the day we release it. Nothing to download, no folder to maintain, no unzipping something and forgetting where you put it.
The side effect we didn't expect is that you actually see the work. Before the app we'd use three wallpapers and forget the other 500 existed.
What it costs
The app is $5 a month or $39 a year, on up to two Macs, macOS 13 or later.
If you'd rather just own the files, the complete bundle is all 28 packs for $129, paid once. You download everything and manage it yourself.
Both exist on purpose. Buy the bundle if you want the files and nothing else. Get the app if you want new packs turning up on their own and a desktop that changes itself.
Already bought the bundle? The app is included. Enter your order details on first launch and the full collection unlocks permanently.
Try it first
The free version comes with five wallpapers. No account, no card. Enough to find out whether a changing desktop is something you like or something that irritates you by Wednesday.
Download PlatSupply Wallpapers
Questions
Can macOS change wallpapers automatically without an app? Yes. System Settings > Wallpaper > Add Folder or Album, then Auto-Rotate and pick an interval. You supply the wallpapers, and each display is configured separately.
Which Macs does the app run on? macOS 13 or later, Apple Silicon and Intel. One subscription covers two machines.
Does it work with multiple monitors? Yes, and they change together rather than independently.
Do I need to download the packs separately? No. Everything is in the app, including anything we release later.
Can I use my own images? Not yet. The app rotates our packs. It's the most requested thing on our list.
What happens if I cancel? It returns to the free version. Bundle owners are unaffected, because that's a permanent unlock.
