Comparison

Live Wallpaper & Background vs Backdrops

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Live Wallpaper & Background

Discover a vast collection of animated live wallpapers and high-definition backgrounds for your device. Enjoy a constantly refreshing mix of visuals, with options to create your own or easily set and arrange favorites. Designed for a seamless experience on iPhone and iPad.

Highlights
  • Animated live wallpapers for Lock Screen
  • HD backgrounds for Home Screen
  • Constantly shuffled and fresh wallpaper collections
  • Save favorites and arrange them
  • Browse by collection or search
  • Create wallpapers with Image Playground
  • Designed for iOS with native interface
Features
Read full description

Live wallpapers that really move on your Lock Screen - saved as real Live Photos, not videos - and HD backgrounds for your Home Screen, in a mix that is never the same twice. LIVE WALLPAPERS - Neon, space, nature, animals, abstract motion and more - Each one saves to Photos as a genuine Live Photo, ready to set as your Lock Screen - Watch it play before you save it A FRESH MIX EVERY TIME - Every collection is shuffled each time you open it - Shuffle: one tap starts a random run through the whole library - Collection boards show different pictures on every visit HD BACKGROUNDS - Collections for nature, mountains, space, cars, anime, flowers, minimal, dark, neon, patterns, animals, city, sunset, winter and many more - Full-quality downloads sized for iPhone - New wallpapers added regularly MADE FOR YOUR LOCK SCREEN - Preview any wallpaper behind the Lock Screen clock before you save it - Step-by-step guide to set a saved wallpaper in a few taps - Save favorites, then drag to arrange them your way FIND THE RIGHT ONE FAST - Browse by collection or search by subject, mood or color - A Today widget puts the wallpaper of the day on your Home Screen CREATE YOUR OWN - Describe a wallpaper and Image Playground makes it in portrait, ready for your Lock Screen (requires Apple Intelligence) BUILT FOR iPHONE AND iPAD - Designed for the latest iOS with a clean, fast, native interface - Light or dark appearance, and reminders as often as you like to change your wallpaper - Works on iPhone and iPad PREMIUM Save any wallpaper by watching one short ad. A Premium subscription removes the ads and unlocks every live wallpaper with unlimited saves. Payment is charged to your Apple Account, and the subscription renews automatically unless it is cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel it any time in Settings. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://wallpapers-hd.app/privacy

About

Backdrops

Discover and download unique, original wallpapers designed in-house or contributed by the community. Explore daily new designs, save your favorites, and sync them across devices. Unlock premium collections and an ad-free experience with a Pro upgrade.

Highlights
  • Original hand-crafted wallpapers
  • Community submissions
  • Daily featured wallpapers
  • Variety of styles and themes
  • Premium and Pro collections
  • Ad-free experience (Pro)
  • Favorites and sync across devices
Features
Read full description

The only wallpapers you'll ever need. Say hello to Backdrops. • Explore Sift through hundreds of original wallpapers hand crafted in house by the the Backdrops team. Enjoy exclusive walls designed specifically for your devices. You won't find these backgrounds in any other app. • Let's Get Social Join in on the action and upload wallpapers yourself. Share your own pieces of work or photography. Only high quality original submissions will be approved for the Community tab. This ensures a full collection of photos worthy of becoming your wallpaper. The Backdrops team will be side by side with you sharing high quality public domain photos with some delicious edits. • Wall of the Day Come back every day for a new treat. This is where we showcase newly created backdrops, or just some of our favorites. Contact us if you want your own original work in the spotlight. • Variety is the Spice of Life Enjoy a wide variety of different wallpaper styles and flavors, such as material, minimal, aesthetics, patterns, scenery, outer space, earth views, abstract, photography, geometric, dark AMOLED friendly walls and much more. • Premium Collections Unlock bonus collections to gain access to even more original designs. These collections will be updated along with the Explore section. More backdrops equals a happier you. • Go Pro Going Pro unlocks a few extra features, including a completely ad-free experience, and all Pro Collections of exclusive backgrounds that we'll continuously be updating with new designs. Access to future Pro features are also covered. • Favorites Click some hearts and build a collection of your own. Have all your favorites handy for quick access. • Sync Your Favs Sign in to sync and save your collection of favorites across multiple devices. • Stunning UI Fall in love with a beautifully designed app. Open up Backdrops continually for some daily eye candy. • Updated Daily We'll be constantly designing new backdrops for you. This means new high quality content within the app every day. Follow Us on X aka Twitter: https://twitter.com/backdropsapp Please note that the Backdrops app consists of high quality wallpapers. Regular usage can use a lot of data. Please be aware that your Internet Service Provider or mobile carrier's normal rates and fees may apply to your use of Backdrops. You are solely responsible for such charges and fees, as stated in our Terms of Use. This app contains ads that can be removed with an IAP. http://backdrops.io/ Terms of Use: http://backdrops.io/terms/ Privacy Policy: http://backdrops.io/privacy/

Screenshots

Live Wallpaper & Background4 screens
Backdrops4 screens

Verdict

The call

Live Wallpaper & Background and Backdrops both sit at 4.6 stars, but that hides the real split: 74% of Live Wallpaper & Background's written reviews are positive against 60% of Backdrops's. Live Wallpaper & Background also leads on update cadence (monthly vs every 2 months) and ratings volume (12K vs 1.6K). Backdrops's advantage is iOS requirement (15.6 vs 26.0). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Live Wallpaper & Background sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per 7 days and Backdrops sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Live Wallpaper & Background against 4.7 for Backdrops. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Live Wallpaper & Background has 12K ratings behind it against 1.6K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 74% of Live Wallpaper & Background's written reviews are positive against 60% of Backdrops's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Live Wallpaper & Background ships an update monthly, Backdrops every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on November 13, 2026 and November 11, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Live Wallpaper & Background versus Backdrops: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLive Wallpaper & BackgroundBackdrops
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (12K ratings)4.7 (1.6K ratings) — better
Positive reviews74.3% of reviews — better59.6% of reviews
Number of ratings12K — better1.6K
Update frequencyMonthly — betterEvery 2 months
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS26.015.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size16 MB64 MB
Age rating9+4+
DeveloperLIVE WALLPAPERS LLCChristopher Morales

Customer experience

Live Wallpaper & Background

All ratings12,483 ratings
Positive88.4%
Neutral4.8%
Negative6.9%
Written reviews1,097 reviews
Positive74.3%
Neutral6.1%
Negative19.6%

Backdrops

All ratings1,624 ratings
Positive92.1%
Neutral2.3%
Negative5.6%
Written reviews411 reviews
Positive59.6%
Neutral10.5%
Negative29.9%

User reviews

Live Wallpaper & Background

From 12K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Variety of wallpapers
  • 🚀 Quick wallpaper loading
  • 💡 Ability to change wallpaper colors
  • 👍 User-friendly interface
  • 👍 Good selection of categories

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Wallpapers take time to load in color
  • 🔍 Lack of search functionality
  • 💰 Many premium-only wallpapers
  • 📢 Frequent ads and premium prompts
  • 🌐 Language issues for non-English users

Backdrops

From 1.6K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 High quality wallpapers
  • 🚀 Simple and intuitive interface
  • 💰 Free with optional paid pro version
  • 🎨 Variety of wallpaper styles and themes

Room to improve

  • 🔒 Forced to watch ads to download wallpapers
  • 🔒 Pro version has limited additional content
  • 🐛 Occasional app crashes and loading issues
  • 🔋 High battery consumption

Bugs and requests

Live Wallpaper & Background

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Wallpapers not saving properly
  • App crashes and freezes
  • Live wallpapers not working as expected

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add calendar category
  • Improve live wallpaper functionality
  • Provide more free wallpaper options
  • Implement search feature
  • Add language customization

Backdrops

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Sign in with Apple not working
  • Paid pro version not recognized
  • Unable to return to main menu after viewing wallpaper

Requested features

4 requests
  • Full-screen wallpaper preview
  • Landscape support for iPad
  • More frequent updates to pro wallpapers
  • Dark mode icon

In-app purchases

10 purchases

Live Wallpaper & Background

Subscriptions7
  • WALLPAPER PREMIUM WEEKLY$1.997 Days
  • WALLPAPER PREMIUM YEARLY$3.491 Year
  • WALLPAPER PREMIUM MONTHLY$3.991 Month
Show 4 more
  • WALLPAPER PREMIUM MONTHLY$5.991 Month
  • WALLPAPER PREMIUM WEEKLY3 Days trial$6.997 Days
  • WALLPAPER PREMIUM YEARLY$9.991 Year
  • WALLPAPER PREMIUM YEARLY3 Days trial$39.991 Year
One-time3
  • REMOVE ADS FOREVER$7.99
  • REMOVE ADS FOREVER$16.99
  • REMOVE ADS FOREVER$20.99
10 purchases

Backdrops

One-time10
  • Acid Pop Collection$1.99
  • Horizon Vice Collection$2.99
  • Macro Mode Collection$2.99
Show 7 more
  • Elevations Collection$2.99
  • Optic Odysseys Collection$2.99
  • Synth Wavez Collection$2.99
  • Lost in the Void Collection$2.99
  • Backdrops Pro$4.99
  • Backdrops Pro + Big Tip$6.99
  • Backdrops Pro + Huge Tip$8.99

Questions

Is Live Wallpaper & Background free?
Live Wallpaper & Background is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Backdrops free?
Backdrops is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Live Wallpaper & Background or Backdrops?
Backdrops is rated higher. Live Wallpaper & Background averages 4.6 out of 5 from 12K ratings, while Backdrops averages 4.7 from 1.6K ratings.
Do Live Wallpaper & Background or Backdrops have ads?
Both Live Wallpaper & Background and Backdrops show ads.
Which is updated more often, Live Wallpaper & Background or Backdrops?
Live Wallpaper & Background ships an update monthly, and Backdrops every 2 months. Most recently, Live Wallpaper & Background was updated on November 13, 2026 and Backdrops on November 11, 2026.

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