Phosphene

v1.0 Feature

This release adds 3 notable features for engineering teams evaluating rollout.

Published 14d Media Servers

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✓ No known CVEs patched

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✓ No known CVEs patched in this version

Topics

animated-wallpaper desktop-wallpaper macos macos-wallpaper

Summary

AI summary

Adds support for playing video files as desktop and lock‑screen wallpapers on macOS Tahoe.

Changes in this release

Type	Severity	Summary	CVE
Feature
Feature	Medium	Adds support for playing MP4/MOV videos as desktop and lock-screen wallpapers. Adds support for playing MP4/MOV videos as desktop and lock-screen wallpapers. Source: llm_adapter@2026-05-25 Confidence: high	—
Feature	Medium	Enables multi-display and per-Space wallpaper selections, persisted by macOS. Enables multi-display and per-Space wallpaper selections, persisted by macOS. Source: llm_adapter@2026-05-25 Confidence: high	—
Feature	Medium	Implements gapless looping with frame‑accurate PTS/DTS offset across loop boundaries. Implements gapless looping with frame‑accurate PTS/DTS offset across loop boundaries. Source: llm_adapter@2026-05-25 Confidence: high	—
Feature	Medium	Introduces power‑aware playback that pauses or down‑shifts based on thermal state, battery level, brightness, occlusion, Game Mode, lock‑screen state, and screen sleep. Introduces power‑aware playback that pauses or down‑shifts based on thermal state, battery level, brightness, occlusion, Game Mode, lock‑screen state, and screen sleep. Source: llm_adapter@2026-05-25 Confidence: high	—
Feature	Medium	Supports optional per‑video pre‑rendered variants (lower resolution / lower FPS) selected adaptively at loop boundaries. Supports optional per‑video pre‑rendered variants (lower resolution / lower FPS) selected adaptively at loop boundaries. Source: llm_adapter@2026-05-25 Confidence: high	—
Feature	Medium	App is signed with a Developer ID certificate and notarized by Apple, allowing Gatekeeper to launch without warnings. App is signed with a Developer ID certificate and notarized by Apple, allowing Gatekeeper to launch without warnings. Source: llm_adapter@2026-05-25 Confidence: low	—
Dependency	Medium	Loads Apple's private WallpaperExtensionKit.framework to register as a wallpaper provider. Loads Apple's private WallpaperExtensionKit.framework to register as a wallpaper provider. Source: llm_adapter@2026-05-25 Confidence: high	—
Deprecation	Medium	Notes that future major macOS releases may require maintenance of WallpaperExtensionKit.framework usage. Notes that future major macOS releases may require maintenance of WallpaperExtensionKit.framework usage. Source: llm_adapter@2026-05-25 Confidence: high	—

Full changelog

First public release of Phosphene.

A video wallpaper engine for macOS Tahoe that integrates with the system's native wallpaper picker. Bring your own video files; they appear alongside Apple's built-in Aerials in System Settings → Wallpaper.

What's in v1.0

Play any MP4 / MOV / AVFoundation-readable file as your desktop and lock-screen wallpaper.
Plays on the desktop too (not just the lock screen).
Multi-display + per-Space selections, persisted by macOS.
Gapless looping — frame-accurate PTS/DTS offset across loop boundaries, no flush, no stutter.
Power-aware playback: pauses or down-shifts based on thermal state, battery level, brightness, occlusion, Game Mode, lock-screen state, and screen sleep.
Optional per-video pre-rendered variants (lower resolution / lower FPS) selected adaptively at loop boundaries.

Installation

Download Phosphene.dmg below and drag Phosphene.app to Applications.
Launch Phosphene. Use the menu bar icon to add videos to your library.
Open System Settings → Wallpaper and pick a video from the Phosphene collection.

Requirements

macOS Tahoe (26.0 or newer)
Apple Silicon

Notes

The app is signed with a Developer ID certificate and notarized by Apple, so Gatekeeper will let it launch without warnings.

Phosphene loads Apple's private WallpaperExtensionKit.framework to register as a wallpaper provider. This works on macOS 26.x; future major OS releases may require maintenance.

View diff on GitHub

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