Vivarium
0.1 Overview

Vivarium — the live wallpaper app for macOS.

Drop in a clip you already own. Vivarium finds the loop points, trims to them, and cycles the result behind your windows.

Download free See how it works

free while in beta · from $1.99/month after · $29.99 buys it outright

0°
occlusion-aware · deep pause when covered per-display · per-video frame rate
v4.6 macOS 15.0+ Apple silicon direct download no account
A dark desk at night: a MacBook Pro playing a Vivarium wallpaper, between two speakers, in front of a planted aquarium.
0.2 In place

Behind everything you already have open.

A wallpaper is only as good as it looks under a full screen of windows. Vivarium sits below the desktop icons, pauses when it is covered, and stops on battery.

0.3 Surfaces

Three places it shows up.

Same wallpaper, wherever macOS will take it. Pick one to see it against the tone.

0.3.1 Active

Library

Every loop you have cut, in one grid. Sorted by length, tone, or the display it was made for.

one grid · one window

0.3.2 Lock
The Signature loop as it appears mirrored to the lock screen

Lock screen

Mirror the desktop loop to the lock screen. Direct-download builds only.

mirror · direct download only

0.3.3 Rotate

Playlists

Group loops and let them rotate on a schedule you set. Five minutes to a day.

wall-clock · survives sleep

0.4 Comparison

A maker, not a storefront.

Subscription wallpaper apps rent you a catalog. Vivarium sells the tool once and gets out of the way.

row Vivarium Subscription apps Price Free in beta, then $14.99 once Monthly, renewing Subscription None Required to keep watching What you get A loop engine A catalog Your own footage Any clip you drop in Rarely, if at all Loop detection Automatic, then editable Pre-cut for you Offline Everything, no account Sign-in required Send to iPhone Still image, by Apple's rule Still image too Updates Every future version While subscribed
0.5 Pricing

Free while it’s in beta.

Everything is unlocked and there is one build, the full one. It costs nothing while Vivarium is in beta. Testers who are here now get a permanent discount when 1.0 ships — not the whole thing free, but a real one.

beta Free while in beta

$0

$1.99/month · $14.99/year · $29.99 once, yours forever

  • The loop engine — import clips, detect loop points
  • Playlists with scheduled rotation
  • A different loop on every display
  • Lock-screen mirror
  • Two 4K wallpapers we rendered for it
  • Every future version
Download for macOS

! Note — Beta builds are not notarized by Apple yet, so macOS will refuse to open the app and may say it is damaged. It is not. Drag it to Applications, then run xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Vivarium.app in Terminal once.

0.6 Requirements

What it needs, and what it will not do.

Three limits worth knowing before you download. They are here rather than in the footer.

System
macOS 15.0 or later
Architecture
Apple silicon
Version
4.0 (build 17)
Formats in
ProRes · H.264 · HEVC
Distribution
direct download · notarized
Account
none, ever
Download for macOS Release notes

Note — The lock-screen mirror ships in the direct-download build only. Store sandboxing blocks the API it uses.

Note — Send to iPhone exports a still frame. Apple does not allow moving wallpaper from third-party apps, so nothing animates on the phone.

Note — macOS 15.0 is the floor. Earlier systems have no wallpaper API Vivarium can drive without a helper daemon, and it will not ship one.