SCREEN How to Change the Wallpaper on Android (Samsung, Pixel and Others)
Long-press an empty spot on the Home Screen, tap Wallpaper & style (Wallpapers on older versions), pick an image, then choose Home Screen, Lock Screen or both. That is the whole job on stock Android. Samsung reaches the same picker through Settings → Wallpaper and style and treats the two screens as separate previews; Pixels add live, emoji and cinematic options. The steps for each are below, along with how live wallpapers actually run.
The three steps on any Android phone
Manufacturers rename the menus, but the sequence never changes.
- Open the picker. Long-press an empty area of the Home Screen and tap Wallpaper & style, or Wallpapers on older versions. From Settings, the entry is Wallpaper, Wallpaper & style or, on Samsung, Wallpaper and style.
- Choose a source. Your own photos, the phone's built-in set, or Live wallpapers. Installed wallpaper apps show up here too.
- Crop and apply. Drag the image to frame it, choose Home Screen, Lock Screen or both, and tap Set, Apply or Done. Recent versions also offer a themed-colour option that tints icons to match; One UI calls it Color palette.
Stock Android vs Samsung One UI vs Pixel
Use this as the lookup when the button you expect is not there. "Stock" covers phones that ship Android close to Google's version, such as Motorola and Nothing.
| Task | Stock Android | Samsung One UI | Google Pixel |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open the wallpaper picker | Long-press Home Screen → Wallpaper & style (Wallpapers on older versions) | Long-press Home Screen → Wallpaper and style | Long-press Home Screen → Wallpaper & style |
| Get there from Settings | Settings → Wallpaper (some brands: Settings → Display) | Settings → Wallpaper and style | Settings → Wallpaper & style |
| Use your own photo | Photos or Gallery | Gallery, from either screen preview | My photos |
| Different Lock Screen and Home Screen | Choose the screen after cropping; repeat for the other | Separate Lock and Home previews at the top of the page | Choose Lock Screen, Home Screen or both after cropping |
| Live (moving) wallpaper | Live wallpapers section; any installed live wallpaper app | Live wallpapers; Gallery videos on the Lock Screen (many models) | Live wallpapers; Emoji and Cinematic on recent Pixels |
| Video on the Lock Screen | Varies by manufacturer; usually a still | Yes on many models: Lock Screen → Gallery → short video | No; shows a still |
The one real split is the Lock Screen. Stock Android and Pixel show a still there whatever is running behind the launcher; Samsung lets you pick a short Gallery video on many Galaxy models.
Loops composed for the Android Home Screen
Four of the live wallpapers ScreenLux ships for Android: muted 1080 × 2400 loops, each with a matching Lock Screen still. Motion previews are free in the app.
Where is the wallpaper setting on Android?
Two places, and both open the same picker. The quickest is to long-press an empty patch of the Home Screen and tap Wallpaper & style; on older versions the button says Wallpapers. The other is the Settings app, where the entry is called Wallpaper, Wallpaper & style or, on Samsung, Wallpaper and style. A few manufacturers file it under Settings → Display instead. If you cannot find it, search Settings for "wallpaper" and the right page appears.
The long-press route works on almost every launcher, including third-party ones such as Nova and Niagara. Any portrait image in Photos or Gallery is a candidate; the Android wallpaper page is composed for exactly this picker.
How do you set a different wallpaper for the Lock Screen and Home Screen on Android?
Pick the first image in the wallpaper picker, choose Lock Screen when asked where to apply it, then repeat with a second image and choose Home Screen. Stock Android and Pixels ask that question after you crop. Samsung's One UI shows Lock Screen and Home Screen as two previews at the top of Wallpaper and style, so you tap the one you want to change before you pick an image. Nothing links the two screens once they are set.
A practical pairing is a bold image on the Lock Screen and a quieter one behind your icons: Rainy City Lights over Abyss Purple keeps app labels readable. On Samsung, the Lock Screen preview is also where the clock style and widgets live, so set that side first.
How do live wallpapers work on Android?
A live wallpaper is a small app component, built on Android's WallpaperService, that draws the Home Screen background itself instead of handing the system a flat image. The launcher sits on top of it. While the Home Screen is visible the service renders its animation; when you open an app or the screen turns off, Android tells it to pause, so it is not running all day. Video-based live wallpapers loop a short muted clip. Whether the Lock Screen also plays it depends on the manufacturer.
ScreenLux on Android works this way. It installs a real live wallpaper service that plays a muted 1080 × 2400 video loop on the Home Screen (a 1080 × 1920 rendition serves phones that only decode 1080p) and sets a matching still on the Lock Screen. Tap Apply and choose Home Screen, Lock Screen or Both. The Android app is rolling out now, and every loop on the live wallpapers for Android page previews free.
Can you set a video as a wallpaper on a Samsung phone?
Yes, on many Galaxy phones, and it is the one place Samsung goes beyond stock Android. In Wallpaper and style, tap the Lock Screen preview, choose Gallery, pick a short video, and One UI trims it to a few seconds and plays it when you wake the phone. The Home Screen does not take a Gallery video directly; for motion there you need a live wallpaper app, which is the same mechanism every Android phone uses.
If the video option is missing, your model or One UI version does not include it; the live wallpaper route still works. The Samsung Galaxy wallpapers page is filtered for the Galaxy line: Blazing Tunnel Ride and Night Drive Dashboard are 1080 × 2400 loops that fill the S-series screen with a sliver cropped at each end.
Why does my live wallpaper only show on the Home Screen?
Because Android's live wallpaper API was designed for the Home Screen, and the Lock Screen is the manufacturer's territory. Pixels and most stock-style phones show a still on the Lock Screen even when a live wallpaper is running behind the launcher. Samsung allows a short video there through its own Gallery feature. Some other brands allow it, some do not, and a system update can change the behaviour. It is a hardware-maker decision, not a fault in the wallpaper app.
That is why ScreenLux pairs every Android loop with a Lock Screen still: a matched pair rather than a black screen or a mismatched crop. On iPhone the rule runs the other way: the Lock Screen animates as a Live Photo on wake, and the Home Screen holds still.
What resolution should an Android wallpaper be?
1080 × 2400 pixels covers nearly every current Android phone. Most Galaxy, Pixel and mid-range screens sit between 19.5:9 and 20:9, so a 9:20 image fills them with at most a sliver cropped from the top and bottom. Flagships with 1440-wide panels upscale a 1080 file slightly, which is invisible at phone viewing distance. Avoid landscape or 16:9 desktop images: to fill a tall screen, the phone crops away most of the width and softens what is left.
Every ScreenLux phone wallpaper is composed at 1080 × 2400 with the subject clear of the clock and the dock, whether a still like Sakura Kitsune or a loop like Cosmic Energy Vortex. All catalog wallpapers are premium: browsing and previewing is free, and ScreenLux+ unlocks downloads for $19.99 once or $14.99 a year with a 7-day free trial when the store offers one. No account is required.
Wallpapers made for the phone
470+ original live and still wallpapers composed at 1080 × 2400. The app is free to download and every wallpaper previews free; ScreenLux+ unlocks downloads.
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