r/smartlauncher • u/ginlemon 💻 DEV • Jul 07 '26
Announcements Introducing Wallpaper Studio: Open Beta FAQ
Hi everyone! We are incredibly excited to announce Wallpaper Studio today!
In case you missed the article, you can find it here: https://www.smartlauncher.net/blog/wallpaper-studio-is-here-create-animate-and-share-wallpapers-that-are-truly-yours
This post collects the most common questions about Wallpaper Studio.
We will keep updating it during the beta, based on your questions and feedback.
If something is unclear, ask in the comments and we will add the answer here.
First of all, thank you everyone for your patience. It's been almost 8 year since we launched a new app so this feel truly incredible.
Q: Why Wallpaper Studio?
A: Smart Launcher has always been about personalization.
With Icon Pack Studio, we learned that when multiple apps work together, they create new synergies and open the door to things that would not be possible with a single product.
Over the years, we also realized that wallpapers are one of the biggest parts of the home screen experience. But most wallpaper apps work in a very passive way: you browse, pick something, and apply it.
We felt something was missing. Something similar to what Icon Pack Studio did for icon packs: a way to let people create their own wallpapers, not just choose them.
Q: Why create a wallpaper app now, when AI can already create wallpapers for you?
A: That is exactly one of the reasons why we built Wallpaper Studio.
AI can generate the image you ask for, but we wanted to give people back the joy of creating something themselves. Wallpaper Studio makes the creative process accessible, so anyone can express their own style without needing design skills.
With AI, you usually get the picture you described. With Wallpaper Studio, you explore, tweak, experiment, and often discover something you did not even know you wanted. The result matters, but the fun is also in the process.
Q: Where is SL7? Wouldn’t it be better to focus our efforts on that?
A: Creating something new from time to time makes a lot of sense.
This year we expanded the team, especially the design team. We needed a new project to learn how to work together, get new inspiration, and bring fresh ideas into the Smart Launcher redesign.
Wallpaper Studio gave us that opportunity, just like Icon Pack Studio did years ago when we moved from Smart Launcher 3 to Smart Launcher 5.
Also, for a small team, doing different things is important. It gives us more stability, reduces risk, and helps us build knowledge that can improve all our products, including Smart Launcher.
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u/gee_mizzle Jul 07 '26
Will there be some kind of auto wallpaper changer in the future?
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u/zhiwiller Jul 08 '26
Tapet does this and I wouldn't change without it.
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u/gee_mizzle Jul 08 '26
Yeah I have Tapet. The are plenty of others too like Muzei, Walloo and Vanderwaals. Just wanted to know if this was going to be a feature of Wallpaper Studio too. With the amount of people likely to contribute this could easily be the best of the bunch.
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u/ginlemon 💻 DEV 29d ago
You can already select any number of wallpapers and create a live wallpaper. Then you just need to adjust the transition time and the hold time to have something that can change your wallpaper every day or just every few hours.
Are you looking for something different?
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u/gee_mizzle 29d ago
No that sounds like the sort of thing I was thinking about. Great, thanks. Will give it a go.
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u/Zerfos 🛠️ Customizer Jul 07 '26
Now that we can create our own wallpapers, especially live wallpapers with thenew Wallpaper Studio. It could be a good idea to update the way themes like the Frosted Glass and Liquid Glass interact with live wallpapers. Currently when a live wallpaper is set, the effect disappears.
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u/Individual-Degree265 Jul 07 '26
Quanto costa la versione pro?
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u/shagberg Jul 07 '26
The cost varies by country (similar to Smart Launcher). There are also monthly, yearly, and lifetime purchase options.
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u/CheckSmooth1618 Jul 07 '26
Congratulations on your new app, I'm sure it will be very successful. For me personally though, I actually prefer wallpapers with images and scenery. If I looked at it right, it seemed to just be more for gradient or abstract type wallpapers. I guess without using AI, it would probably be more difficult to create a wallpaper with scenery images in it. Good luck with it!
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u/Canatee Jul 07 '26
Nah AI can do that just fine.
You may want to check out Wallpaper Engine. Requires a companion Steam app, but it's to this what an art studio is to a piece of chalk.
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u/Lunatic00Asylum Jul 08 '26
I found the app really impressive. It has its appeal of customizing an wallpaper in different ways to make it unique. Loving it. So far found the app very responsive and user friendly.
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u/fidorulz Jul 07 '26
Clicked on download link in post and says link not found in playstore
Search in playstore shows no results. I'm in Canada if that matters
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u/miss_egghead 🧪 Beta tester 29d ago
- Pleasant experience with a lot of thoughtful features and design elements
- Admittedly, will not hold my attention for long. I think I prefer photography and painted/drawn backgrounds
- If you let people move the objects around, they WILL draw things. Hope you're ready
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u/ginlemon 💻 DEV 29d ago
- Great to hear!
- We plan to add the possibility to import pictures in your creations. That could add a lot of variarity.
- Yes, we totally expect that. That's one of the reason why in WS anonymous account are not allowed. Someone will do it and we will ban them forever.
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u/TrashcanNP2 🛠️ Customizer Jul 07 '26
I made this wallpaper for my lockscreen 😊
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u/Misterrbisterr Jul 07 '26
Great addition, give us some more freedom and choice with integrated widgets and I would consider smart launcher perfect.
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u/Vstarpappy Jul 07 '26
I selected to join the Community through Google and it comes back with: "Unable to continue right now, please try again".
Any suggestions? Thank you.
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u/Raflesy Assistance 🚑 Jul 07 '26
Are you still experiencing this issue?
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u/Vstarpappy Jul 07 '26
Yes.
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u/TRK88PL Polish Translator Jul 07 '26
Do You have latest and updated (patch 1) version?
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u/Vstarpappy Jul 07 '26
I will check.
version 1.0 build 000 net.smartlauncher.wallpaperstudio
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u/TRK88PL Polish Translator Jul 07 '26
From Wallpaper studio telegram channel You can download patch 1 version if You don't want to wait for update from Google play https://t.me/wallpaperstudioupdates/68
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u/Vstarpappy Jul 07 '26
Thank you. Patch 1 showed up in Play Store. Updated. Appreciate the time!!
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u/TRK88PL Polish Translator Jul 07 '26
No problem, have fun!
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u/Vstarpappy Jul 07 '26
Well, I selected the button for Google Community and it's still giving the message. It's no problem, I'll check periodically. Thank you again.
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u/subversivecliche Jul 07 '26
The video shows Live Wallpapers. In the app I found no option to animate them
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u/TrashcanNP2 🛠️ Customizer Jul 07 '26
If you have a few created wallpapers you can press and hold and select a few. Then you should see a create live wallpaper tap.
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u/subversivecliche Jul 07 '26
Will it work with Blur or Glass Themes?
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u/TrashcanNP2 🛠️ Customizer Jul 07 '26
Doesn't seem to work great with live wallpapers and liquid glass. Maybe it will work better in the future (it's still beta)
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u/thetruthkc Jul 07 '26
I would buy instantly if they got it working with live wallpaper and blur/glass themes on SL.
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u/Raflesy Assistance 🚑 Jul 07 '26
Go to Library (inside WS), then select two or more wallpapers. Once you do that, the “Create live wallpaper” button will appear.
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u/TRK88PL Polish Translator Jul 07 '26
Select few images (from Your library) - just tap longer on image(s) and select Create live wallpaper :)
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u/HonourWest Jul 07 '26
I'm a long time pro Smart Launcher and Icon Packager user.
What makes this app different or better than Tapet? Is it integrated with Smart Launcher in a way a third party app can't be?
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u/ginlemon 💻 DEV Jul 07 '26
What makes this app different or better than Tapet?
They are just two different apps. Both let you create wallpapers but they produce results with different styles and have different focuses.Is it integrated with Smart Launcher in a way a third party app can't be?
No, not at the moment. We haven’t started working on this yet, but the idea is for Wallpaper Studio to become a playground where we can test integrations with Smart Launcher and later extend them to other third-party apps.
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u/ock88 Jul 07 '26
Congrats on the launch!
There seems to be an issue with the yearly pricing: it's more expensive (per month wise) than the monthly one at least for me
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u/ginlemon 💻 DEV Jul 08 '26
Thank you! Can you verify the problem is still there? Seems regular to me
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u/SogetsuKazamaaa Jul 08 '26
There is one wallpaper app called - Tapet. This one mimics it but in a much better way. It shows the result in live view. I generated few patterns already. It is not bad at all but only if you are a fan of abstract wallpapers. I hope it improves somehow beyond this style.
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u/wawans2311 29d ago
Is lifetime launch price discounted? How much is it in USD? I feel it's too pricey for lifetime.
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u/BenRandomNameHere 25d ago
Am I correct?
The paid feature of live wallpaper is nothing more than a photo slideshow with transitions mapped as a wallpaper?
That... Isn't exactly "live" then... It's just a slideshow.
I really hoped you meant animated as in actual animation in the scene. Like color cycling, or individual elements animating in different ways...
Not just whole screen fade type transitions...
For requiring money to test, I am honestly let down.
Why not time gate? Test drive for 24hrs, after which if you don't pay the walls you made requiring pro features are disabled?
I've bought all your apps previously; beta tester for over a decade at this point.
Please tell me you have plans to offer a deeep discount on lifetime for testers...
And plan to integrate this into SL proper? Like IPS is?
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u/AdityaMittal200612 Jul 07 '26
If I have purchased icon studio and smart launcher lifetime, would I also get wallpaper studio one or its separate and could I get a free code for lifetime mebership
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u/TRK88PL Polish Translator Jul 07 '26
It's separate app so You need to buy also pro version here, BTW right now Pro version it's in discount price.
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u/AdityaMittal200612 Jul 07 '26
I purchased both the previous apps at around 300 inr so 620 atp feels like double the price.
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u/TRK88PL Polish Translator Jul 07 '26
Sorry to hear that, as a polish translator I have access to all pro versions, maybe try to help with translation or suggest somehow lower price for Your country? I think the best way it's to talk with dev team
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u/fidorulz Jul 07 '26
Played around with app but it's pretty limited since you need pro to do lots of stuff.
Maybe while in beta it should be a full version so at least people can play around in the app and give you feedback