Personalizing our phones with custom wallpapers is a popular way to showcase our style. According to a 2022 survey by Statista, over 60% of smartphone users have customized their phone‘s wallpaper.
And Android offers plenty of options for easy wallpaper changes – you can select cool default wallpapers or use your own photos.
In this guide, we‘ll provide the steps to change your Android wallpaper along with expert tips to help you level up your phone‘s style.
Why Change Your Android Wallpaper?
Before we get into the how-to, here are some great reasons to change it up:
- Refresh your phone‘s look over time
- Show off your personal tastes
- Enjoy new artwork whenever you want
- Match wallpapers to different cases
- Customize home and lock screens separately
Changing your wallpaper helps keep things feeling fresh. With loads of default and millions of usable photos at our fingertips, options are endless!
Access Wallpaper Menu from Home Screen
The home screen offers the fastest way to get to your wallpaper settings.
Nearly all Android phones support long pressing on an empty spot of the home screen to open the home screen menu.
Home Screen Access Compatibility
| Android Version | Access Method |
|---|---|
| Android 7.0+ | Long press on empty home screen area |
| Android 12L+ | Two-finger pinch gesture |
Then look for Wallpaper & style and select it:
From here you can browse wallpaper categories like:
- Featured
- Favorites
- Gallery wallpapers
- Apply third-party theme packs
When you find one to use, choose to set it as your home screen, lock screen or both!
Change Wallpaper Via Settings
All Android devices also let you access wallpaper settings from the Settings menu:
- Open Settings
- Select Display > Wallpaper
Or on some phones it‘s under Wallpaper & theme or Display & Wallpaper.
- Pick a built-in wallpaper or gallery image to set
Again you can designate it for your home screen, lock screen or use on both.
Use Gallery or Google Photos Picture as Wallpaper
To set one of your own photos as the wallpaper:
- Open your Gallery or Google Photos apps to find your picture
- Tap the menu (3 dots on Gallery or More Options on Google Photos)
- Choose Use as wallpaper
An advantage of using your own pictures is choosing different ones for your home and lock screens. Say you have a cute pet photo for the lock screen and a scenic landscape for your home screen.
đź“ť Pro Tip: Always set custom photos to "Span" crop mode. This makes sure the image sizes properly across your whole display.
Additional Android Wallpaper Tips
- Try slideshow wallpapers to automatically rotate selections of photos
- Use Wallpaper Changer apps for fresh randomness
- Look into icon packs to reskin all your app icons
- Go wild with live wallpapers featuring animation or interactivity
Hopefully these steps give you ideas on customizing your Android wallpaper exactly how you like it. Change default wallpapers monthly or enjoy a personal photo forever – however you get your customization on, have fun making your phone your own!
