Fill style
Fill, Fit, or Stretch, set per screen via AVLayerVideoGravity.
Features
Everything KineticDesq does, in detail.
Your own videos as the desktop, configured per display, decoded in hardware, and paused whenever nobody can see them.
Multi-monitor
Every screen, configured on its own terms.
Uncustomized monitors mirror one shared playlist by default. The moment you want one screen to behave differently, KineticDesq lets you detach just that setting, not the whole display.
KineticDesq Settings • Displays
Per-Display Video Wallpaper Configuration
Mirrored (Default)
Connected Displays (Click to Configure)
Built-in Liquid Retina XDR
3456 × 2234 • 120Hz ProMotion
Live Scale: Fill (Aspect Cover)
AVLayerVideoGravity Scaling Mode:
Target Video Folder:~/Movies/Wallpapers-Main
Playlist Order Strategy:In Order (Sequential)
Folder override
Point one monitor at its own folder without breaking the others.
One-click reset
“Reset to Default” hands a customized display straight back to the mirrored group.
Playback
Rotation that respects what's actually playing.
Two ways to move to the next clip. Pick the one that matches how your footage is cut.
Fixed interval
Advance on a timer you set. A 20-second background check keeps it precise without waking the CPU more than it has to.
Rotate on video end
Advance the instant a clip actually finishes. No mid-scene cuts, no waiting through a timer that doesn't match the footage.
Four playback orders
In Order
Plays your folder start to finish, then loops.
Reverse
Same playlist, tail to head.
Shuffle
Randomized, never the same morning twice.
Pinned
Lock one clip in place. No rotation, no surprises.
Quit and relaunch, or restart the Mac entirely, and KineticDesq picks up the same clip it left on. No extra setup, it just remembers.
Quiet efficiency
Built to disappear into the background.
The player pauses the instant it is covered by a fullscreen app, a hidden Space, or the lock screen.
Apple Silicon VideoToolbox Hardware Decode
KineticDesq (Native Swift)3.5% CPU
Generic Electron/Webview Wallpaper Apps42.0% CPU
KineticDesq leverages Apple Silicon's dedicated media decode block, leaving your CPU & GPU 100% free for heavy workloads.
3.5–6.6%
CPU while a video is on screen
hardware-decoded, not software
~55MB
RAM footprint
consistent across 4K sources
0%
CPU when occluded
auto-pauses behind fullscreen apps, hidden Spaces, and on lock
CPU tracks scene motion, not file size or resolution. Two independent 4K streams on two monitors cost the same as one, since Apple Silicon decodes video on a dedicated hardware block the CPU never touches.
Break Reminder
The Electron app it replaced, built in natively.
Mini and long breaks, a real countdown, and a panel that never steals focus from what you're doing. It runs in the same lightweight process as your wallpaper, not a second app sitting in your dock.
Non-activating NSPanel • No focus steal
Rest Your Eyes & Stretch
Long Break Interval
Appears seamlessly without stealing keyboard focus or interrupting your work.
04:12
Independent timers
Mini and long breaks, each with their own enable/duration/interval.
Pause, not just skip
30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, or until morning, straight from the menu bar, without opening Settings.
Your color, your material
Accent color and overlay material (Regular, Thick, Ultra Thin, Chrome), themed rather than fixed.
Never steals focus
A non-activating panel. It appears, it doesn't yank you out of what you were typing.
Experimental
Lock screen sync, labeled honestly.
KineticDesq can carry your current clip onto the lock screen by re-encoding it into an Apple Aerial slot you've already downloaded. It's real, it works, and we tell you exactly when it won't rather than pretending it always does.
Requires at least one Apple Aerial wallpaper already downloaded in System Settings. It relies on undocumented macOS behavior, so a macOS update can break it.
Built to be trusted
The kind of craft you only notice when it's missing.
Your original wallpaper, never lost
The first time it touches your Desktop Picture, KineticDesq backs it up. One click restores it, even after you uninstall.
Signed, notarized, auto-updating
Every release is Apple-notarized and update-checked via Sparkle, with EdDSA-signed artifacts so a tampered download can't install silently.
A Settings window redesigned three times
Each pass shipped for a real usability bug, not an aesthetic itch. It is now a sidebar that matches System Settings, not a wall of toggles.
Also included
The small things that make it stay installed.
Menu bar quick actions
Skip to the next video or jump to a specific clip without opening Settings.
Launch at login
Your wallpaper is running before you have opened anything else.
Automatic updates
Checks daily through Sparkle, or run Check for Updates from the menu bar.
Clean uninstall
Drag the app to the Trash. Settings live in one folder under Application Support.
Every feature is included in every subscription. See pricing
Install it in under a minute.
Drag it into Applications. Point it at a folder of videos. That's the whole setup.
Download for macOSv1.4.0 · Universal (Apple silicon and Intel) · macOS 14 or later
Every Mac starts with a 7-day free trial. No account or card needed to try it. See pricing