A small selection of minimalist live wallpapers, from cats and clocks to fractals and paper applications …
Instead of a preface
Once upon a time, when the sun was shining brighter, the grass was greener, and smartphones with a diagonal of 3.7 “were already considered a 'huge shovel', live wallpapers caused a lot of delight among users. They first appeared in Android 2.1 and were interactive wallpapers that either changed on their own or responded to user input. Such wallpapers looked not only spectacular, but also very fresh. Indeed, in those days people were actively switching to Android smartphones from old monoblocks to Symbian and compact 'dialers', where the word 'wallpaper' often meant a plain image of 128 by 128 pixels.
Paradoxically, it was the initial popularity of live wallpapers that did them a disservice. Very soon Google Play (in those days – Android Market) was literally inundated with low-quality handicrafts of novice programmers and self-confident designers who dream of making the whole world around them happy with their creativity, or just making money easily and quickly on the new fashion. It was only by a miracle that an inexperienced user could dig something worthy in this heap, and over time, the glory of tasteless, slowing down and overflowing with ads applications that ate up the battery power literally before our eyes became the live wallpaper.
In fact, the difference between live and classic wallpapers is much less than is commonly thought. And in fact, and in another case, there are enough interesting options, but finding the picture that will appeal to you is much more difficult than it seems at first glance. An attempt to download the first live wallpaper that comes across is not much different from an attempt to install the first picture on the Internet on the desktop. Maybe someone will be lucky and the result of the experiment will really please, but most users will remain disappointed.
Trying to make some kind of objective ratings of live wallpapers is pointless, because the choice of a background picture is in any case a matter of taste and personal preference. But it is not only possible, but also necessary to try to at least conditionally break this whole bunch of wallpapers by genre and make several thematic collections. And it's very strange that in all the years Google has not bothered with this.
Minimalist wallpaper
This time we will focus on the simplest wallpapers, not overloaded with three-dimensional objects and complex animation. And even if they do not look as impressive as their more 'sophisticated' brothers, they fit perfectly on almost any desktop. Especially considering the possibility of customization, which is absent in classic pictures.
Below I offer five options, which (in my opinion) are the most typical representatives of this genre. Of course, there are no comrades for taste and color, so do not hesitate to leave your options in the comments.
Chrooma Live Wallpaper
In my opinion, the best confirmation that everything ingenious is simple. The background is based on a pattern of geometric shapes that resemble a simple applique made of colored paper. There is unobtrusive animation that does not distract at all and does not irritate the eyes. The set of shapes and their colors randomly change when you unlock your smartphone or return to the home screen. The design was clearly inspired by Material Design and fits perfectly with the modern style Android.
Even in the standard version, the wallpaper will look great on almost any desktop, but if desired, a set of shapes, colors, animation and other picture parameters can be changed to your taste.
The main disadvantage of the application is the price, which is about 90 rubles. If you wish, you can find a lot of analogues on Google Play, but personally I liked this particular option more.
Stalker Cat Live Wallpaper Lt
The entire Internet is littered with wallpapers and pictures with cats, and most people have nothing but irritation, all this cat theme has not caused a long time. But even despite the rather hackneyed theme and minimalistic design, Stalker Cat Live Wallpaper Lt looks pretty good. Maybe because the local cat looks at the smartphone screen only from time to time, and does not constantly annoy the eyes.
The cat looks out from one or the other corner of the screen, smiles mysteriously, flashes blue eyes, and then disappears again. The settings in the application are minimal, but they are not particularly needed here.
An annoying minus of the program – advertising with sound when you open the settings window.
Minima Live Wallpaper
Another wallpaper in the style of paper applications, however, this time a little less abstract. If you wish, you can assemble such an application manually, but it's easier to use the built-in theme store. Fortunately, you can find anything there, from themed paintings to stylized inscriptions and geometric ornaments.
Almost every theme has several variations, but if that doesn't seem enough, you can manually customize any of its elements. If you want something new and you are too lazy to mess around with the settings, then an automatic generator is at your service. The default animation is parallax effect, familiar to many from the latest versions iOS.
The app has both a paid and a free version. The latter has noticeably fewer settings and inaccessible half of the ready-made themes. The paid version costs about 60 rubles.
Super Clock Wallpaper Free
A typical representative of 'watch' wallpaper. It will appeal to those who dislike widgets, but always want to have a clock in front of their eyes. In fact, the application simply draws information about the current date and time over the standard background image.
In the paid version (it costs about 30 rubles), you can choose the font, color and location of the text.
Fracta Live Wallpaper
The application allows you to quickly and easily generate a simple 'fractal' picture and customize it to your liking. On a smartphone screen, such background images look good, but the wallpaper is more static than live. Even though there is formally minimal animation there.
The paid version of the application costs about 60 rubles, it differs from the free one by the presence of a noticeably larger number of ready-made themes and manual configuration options.
