Apple called this “liveliness” with iOS 7, and it has actually been available on Android for a long, long time. There’s countless live wallpaper apps on the Google Play Store for Android smartphones and tablets that use this feature, and have been available for nearly 2 years. Apple and iOS 7 made it popular, and we’ve been getting asked about it, so here’s how to add the same iOS 7 parallax effect to Android devices.
If you want your wallpapers to pan and tilt to your movement, a quick Parallax app for Android will do the trick. We’ve enjoyed live wallpapers on Android for a while, but this brings a completely different dimension to your homesreen. It’s visually impressive and great for objects like a picture of the kids or your family pet.
Adding the popular iOS 7 Parallax Effect to an Android smartphone or tablet is dead simple. It’s as easy and downloading an app from the Google Play Store and applying a wallpaper. If you’ve never done that before don’t worry, as the steps below are so simple you’ll be able to follow right along.
We chose 3D Parallax Background, which is $0.99, but there’s countless free apps available from Google Play that give a similar result. The reason here being this app allows for customization, and using any image from your gallery, not just what’s already on your device. So head to the Google Play Store and search for “3D Parallax Background” or Parallax Effect, and pick one you’d like. The video above showed off this impressive visual feature and experience, but we’ll go over the instructions one more time below.
Instructions
What you see above is the parallax effect, and it’s that easy to get on your Android device of choice. Using pictures of family or pets is my favorite, but a beautiful sunset or landscape image works great too. Now that you’ve seen how it looks above, and how to do it, here’s how to do it in simple terms and screenshots.
Once you’ve downloaded the app of choice from the Google Play Store, the simple steps shown above are all you need to do to get started. Hit the Settings (gear-shaped) icon in the notification bar or in your app tray and go to Settings > Display > Wallpaper > Live Wallpaper and you’ll see the list of downloaded apps on the next screen (shown below) and then just select the one you’d like.
From here you’ll change any settings for the Parallax Effect wallpaper you’d like to change, make the image a picture of your kids or pets, and hit “Set Wallpaper” and that’s it. All done. Then go back to your main screen and enjoy the neat visuals. It may be a bit strong for some, and could get you motion sick, but I’ve used this for almost a year and love it.
Should You Use This?
The beauty of Android over almost any other OS on the planet is the amount of options and customization. The options are truly limitless and this is just one of the many different things many users enjoy. Adding the Parallax effect to your smartphone or tablet with a live wallpaper can be fun, but it may drain your battery. This is a hotly discussed topic in Android forums, but overall this type of wallpaper will have minimal effects to battery life.
It isn’t the best feature we’ve ever seen but it’s fun, neat, and simple to do. It certainly isn’t for everyone and you may delete it in a mere minutes or days, but it’s worth giving it a try and seeing the many different ways you can change your Android device. Give it a try today from the instructions and links above. Oh, and don’t forget to head into settings and increase all the effects for some real fun.
