Equinox

Create dynamic wallpapers for macOS

Equinox is an app that lets you create macOS-native dynamic wallpapers. Starting with macOS Mojave, macOS supports wallpaper types like Dynamic Desktop and Light & Dark Desktop.

With Equinox, you can create these wallpapers in seconds: choose a type, drag and drop your images, and export your wallpaper.

There are three types of wallpapers you can create:

1. Solar
2. Time
3. Appearance

• This wallpaper type takes the sun’s position into account. Depending on the time of year, you’ll see the most appropriate image on your desktop.
• No need to calculate sun positions manually — with the Solar calculator, you only need to know where and when the photo was taken.

• Time-based wallpapers change throughout the day according to the schedule you define.

• This type is as simple as it sounds: the wallpaper changes based on the system appearance (Light/Dark Mode).
• You only need two images: one for Light Mode and one for Dark Mode.

The Solar calculator helps you determine the sun’s position in the sky.

1. Choose the place, date, and time on the Sun timeline for when the photo was taken.
   If you don’t know the exact time, use the timeline to estimate the sun’s height and match it to your photos.
2. Drag and drop (or copy) the result onto your image.

• Q: How do I set the wallpaper after saving?
  A: Right-click your wallpaper, then choose Services → Set Desktop Picture.

• Q: I set up my wallpaper, but it doesn’t change over time.
  A: This can be caused by a macOS issue. Before setting your wallpaper, make sure Desktop & Screen Saver is set to a Dynamic type:

  1. Open Desktop & Screen Saver in macOS Settings/Preferences.
  2. Choose any Dynamic Desktop wallpaper and set its type to Dynamic.
  3. Right-click your wallpaper, then choose Services → Set Desktop Picture.

• Q: How can I test whether my wallpaper works correctly?
  A: Open Settings/Preferences → Date & Time, then change the time to see the wallpaper update.

• macOS 10.14 (Mojave) and later

• SolarNOAA

Many thanks to the macOS community — and special thanks to mczachurski for the excellent articles.

MIT

Equinox is translated into:

• English
• French — by W1W1-M
• Turkish — by furkanipek
• Chinese (Simplified) — by Chuan Hu, DevLiuSir
• Chinese (Traditional) — by 5idereal
• Chinese (Traditional, Hong Kong) — by changanmoon

To translate Equinox into another language:

• Fork the main branch.
• Create a branch for the new translation named: translation-xx, where xx is the language code (e.g., en, fr, es, de).
• Add the new language to the Xcode Equinox and EquinoxAssets projects.
• Add the new language to the Localizable.strings localization languages in EquinoxAssets.
• Update Localizable.strings with your translated strings.
• Update this section of the README with the new language.
• Open a pull request on GitHub.