macOS Tahoe Wallpaper: Change Desktop and Lock Screen

To change the wallpaper on macOS Tahoe 26, open System Settings, click Wallpaper and pick one of Apple's pictures, or click Add Photo to use your own file and set the menu next to it to Fill Screen. The lock screen has no setting of its own: it shows the same picture as your desktop, with a large clock at the top, so changing one changes both. For a sharp result on a Retina screen, use a 3840 × 2160 or 5120 × 2880 original.

How to change the desktop wallpaper on macOS Tahoe

1. Open the Apple menu and choose System Settings.
2. Click Wallpaper in the sidebar. You may need to scroll down to see it.
3. To use one of Apple's pictures, click it in one of the groups, such as Dynamic Wallpapers, Landscape or Cityscape. Group names can change between updates.
4. To use your own image, click Add Photo and choose a file, a folder or a picture from Photos. Some versions show Add Folder as its own button.
5. In the pop-up menu next to the preview, choose Fill Screen. Fit to Screen leaves bars at the edges and Stretch to Fill Screen distorts the picture.
6. With several displays or Spaces, turn on Show on all Spaces for one picture everywhere, or leave it off and set each display separately.

The quick route skips Settings entirely: Control-click an image file in Finder and choose Set Desktop Picture. More options, including Photos and Safari shortcuts, are in our guide to changing the desktop wallpaper on a Mac.

The lock screen on macOS Tahoe

Since macOS Sonoma, the Mac lock screen shows your desktop picture in full, with the time large at the top and your account picture and password field near the bottom. Tahoe keeps that layout. There is still one wallpaper per display, so to change the lock screen you change the desktop wallpaper, then lock the Mac with Control-Command-Q to check it.

Two settings change what people see when the Mac is idle:

1. System Settings, Screen Saver: choose a photo style and point it at a folder or album if you want different pictures to play while you are away.
2. System Settings, Lock Screen: set when the screen saver starts, when the display turns off and when a password is required. The same pane can show a short message on the lock screen, handy on a work laptop.

If the first screen after a restart shows an old picture, FileVault is showing a stored copy from before you signed in. Set the wallpaper again, sign in once, and it catches up. Details are in our Mac lock screen wallpaper guide.

Choosing a wallpaper for Liquid Glass

Tahoe's Liquid Glass design makes the Dock, the menu bar, sidebars and widgets more see-through, so the wallpaper shows through them far more than in earlier versions. In Tahoe the menu bar has no background by default, and the menu text sits straight on the picture. That changes what makes a good desktop:

• Keep the top strip calm. A plain sky or wall under the menu bar keeps menu names and status icons readable.
• Watch the bottom edge. The Dock is glass now, so a busy pattern behind it makes the icons harder to pick out.
• Mid-tones beat extremes. Very bright white can make light glass hard to read, and pure black hides the edges of the glass panels.
• Match the icon style. Tahoe adds icon and widget styles, including clear and tinted looks, under System Settings, Appearance; the exact names can differ by update. Clear icons pick up the colours of the wallpaper, so a soft, low-contrast picture keeps them legible.

If the menu bar is hard to read on your picture, look in System Settings, Menu Bar for an option that shows a menu bar background, or switch to a calmer wallpaper.

Wallpapers that look right on Tahoe

All six keep the top of the frame quiet and put their main shape low or to one side, away from the menu bar and the lock screen clock.

Sage Sun Gallery5K · DesktopIvory Daylight Gate5K · DesktopLilac Drift5K · DesktopLiquid Light Band4K · DesktopSolar Indigo Gate5K · DesktopPetrol Current5K · Desktop

Sage Sun Gallery is a pale plaster wall with one green arch to the right, so the clock and the password field both land on plain wall. Ivory Daylight Gate is ivory and pale blue with a tall doorway, light enough for dark menu text. Lilac Drift is two glass rings on a soft violet field, the closest match to the glass look of the Dock. Liquid Light Band is a ribbon of clear glass with a copper edge on pale grey, low in the frame. Solar Indigo Gate is the dark option: deep indigo with a warm orange arch, made for dark mode. Petrol Current rolls dark teal dunes across the frame, calm enough for widgets. Sage Sun Gallery, Ivory Daylight Gate, Lilac Drift, Solar Indigo Gate and Petrol Current are 5120 × 2880; Liquid Light Band is 3840 × 2160.

For a darker set, see our Mac dark mode wallpapers; for wallpapers that change with the time of day, see how to make a dynamic wallpaper on Mac.

Common problems and fixes

• Blurry wallpaper. The file is smaller than the screen. A MacBook needs at least 3840 × 2160 to look sharp, and a 5K iMac or Studio Display needs 5120 × 2880.
• Bars at the edges or a squashed picture. The menu is on Fit to Screen or Stretch to Fill Screen. Choose Fill Screen.
• The lock screen still shows the old picture. Lock and sign in once with the new wallpaper; after a restart, FileVault may show a cached copy until then.
• Only one display changed. Turn on Show on all Spaces, or click each display's preview and set it there.
• Menu bar text is hard to read. The top of the picture is too busy or too close in brightness to the text. Choose a wallpaper with a plain top strip, or turn on a menu bar background in Menu Bar settings if your version has it.
• The wallpaper resets. The file was moved or deleted. Keep wallpapers in one folder, such as Pictures.
• The setting is locked. A work or school Mac can be managed by an administrator. Only they can change it.

Apple's own page, Customize the wallpaper on your Mac, covers every option in the Wallpaper pane.

Getting the wallpapers in Velpaper

Every Velpaper wallpaper is an original by designer Carlos Vivero. Desktop wallpapers are 3840 × 2160, some are 5120 × 2880, and phone wallpapers are 2160 × 3840. Velpaper is an app for iPhone, iPad, Mac and Android, with the same catalog on velpaper.com, and the desktop wallpapers are free in full size with no account and no watermark.

1. Open Sage Sun Gallery in the Velpaper app for Mac or on velpaper.com.
2. In the app, press Set as Desktop Picture. On the website, press Download, then Control-click the file in Finder and choose Set Desktop Picture.
3. Lock the Mac with Control-Command-Q to see it behind the clock.

Want the same look on your phone? Our guide to matching phone and desktop wallpapers shows how to pair a Mac wallpaper with a phone one.