MacWall vs Wallper: Which App Wins in 2026?

Wallper is a curated live wallpaper app with roughly 700 loops at $9.99. MacWall is $7.99 one-time and adds a community-driven catalog across 9 categories, video imports, and a refund program that can pay the license back. Here's the honest breakdown.

Quick verdict

MacWall wins for most users. At $7.99 vs Wallper's $9.99, it covers up to 3 Macs per license (Pro Plus: 5), pauses intelligently to protect battery and CPU, and ships Lock Screen and Screen Saver integration that keeps working through recent Apple wallpaper API changes.

Feature comparison

Price: MacWall $7.99 one-time vs Wallper $9.99. MacWall also offers a Reel refund.

Catalog: MacWall offers community uploads plus curated lanes across 9 categories, ranked by likes. Wallper has ~700 curated loops.

Imports: both support MP4/MOV imports; MacWall adds GIF.

Macs covered: Pro — up to 3 Macs; Pro Plus — up to 5 Macs.

CPU & battery: MacWall pauses on battery, in full screen, and even on high CPU load (auto-pauses at 80%, resumes at 55%), plus quality capping on battery.

Lock Screen & Screen Saver: MacWall plays video natively on macOS 26+, with dedicated macOS 27 beta support.

Refunds: MacWall's Reel Refund: 50% back at 2,000 views, 100% at 20,000.

Performance on Apple Silicon

Both apps use hardware video decode. MacWall layers smarter pause policies on top: it suspends playback when the screen is locked, when a full-screen app covers a display, on battery (optional), and when system CPU spikes. The result is live wallpaper beauty without the fan noise.

macOS 27 beta: the dealbreaker

Apple's macOS 27 beta changed system wallpaper behavior, and most wallpaper apps' Lock Screen features stopped working. MacWall shipped support for the new beta first, so live Lock Screen and Screen Saver keep working natively. If you run beta builds, this alone decides the comparison.

Bottom line

MacWall is a single $7.99 payment for everything, and a Reel with #macwall can earn it all back. Cheaper than Wallper's $9.99, up to 3 Macs per license (Pro Plus: 5), and dedicated Lock Screen support on macOS 26 (Tahoe) and later betas.