You wake up to a calm beach photo and fall asleep to a dark starfield — and you never lifted a finger. Phones don't ship with wallpaper timetables, but iPhone and Samsung both give you the tools to build one. Here's how to make your wallpaper change itself: day/night automations on iPhone with Shortcuts, timed wallpaper modes on Samsung Galaxy, and what to do on other Android phones.
Auto-change wallpaper on iPhone with Shortcuts
iPhone has no built-in "change my wallpaper at 8 PM" toggle. You build it with a Personal Automation in the Shortcuts app: the time of day is the trigger, and Set Wallpaper is the action. No third-party app needed — Apple doesn't allow App Store apps to change your wallpaper automatically, so this native method is the only real route.
Step 1 — prepare your images. Save your chosen wallpapers in the Photos app and put them in two albums (Photos → Albums → + → New Album), e.g. "Day Wallpaper" and "Night Wallpaper". Picking from an album is far easier than scrolling your camera roll later.
Step 2 — create the morning automation.
- Open the Shortcuts app, tap Automation at the bottom, then + (or Create Personal Automation if it's your first).
- Choose Time of Day. Set the time (e.g. 7:00 AM) and Daily repeat. Tap Next.
- Tap Add Action, search Set Wallpaper, and add it.
- Tap the action's image field and pick your day wallpaper from the album. Expand the action to choose Lock Screen, Home Screen, or both. Turn off Show Preview so it applies silently.
- Tap Next. Turn off Ask Before Running and confirm Don't Ask — this is what makes it truly automatic. Tap Done.
Step 3 — create the evening automation. Repeat the same steps with a night time (e.g. 9:00 PM) and your dark wallpaper. Two automations, two wallpapers, every day — done.
Sync with Light/Dark mode. Add a Set Appearance action to each automation — Light in the morning, Dark in the evening — so the wallpaper and system theme flip together.
More than two wallpapers? Stack more time triggers (midday, late night). Each is its own automation. One limitation: iOS has no "every hour" repeat, so frequent rotation needs many stacked triggers.
Random daily image instead of fixed times: build a one-off shortcut — Find Photos (from your wallpaper album) → Get Random Item → Set Wallpaper Photo — then run it from a single Time-of-Day automation at 6:00 AM. Every morning, a surprise. Apple's built-in Photo Shuffle wallpaper does something similar natively; our shuffle-frequency guide covers its settings.
Auto-change wallpaper on Samsung Galaxy
Samsung does it with Modes: one Mode per wallpaper, each with a time window, and the phone switches looks by itself.
- Open Settings → Modes and Routines. Tap Add mode, name it (e.g. "Day Look"), pick an icon and color, tap Done.
- Tap Turn on automatically → Time period. Set the window (e.g. 7:00 AM–7:00 PM), pick the days, tap Done.
- Under Change appearance (or Wallpaper), set the home-screen and lock-screen wallpaper to your daytime image from Gallery. Tap Done.
- Add a second mode ("Night Look") with an evening-to-morning window and your dark wallpaper.
The phone flips between the two at your times, no further input needed. Location-triggered wallpapers work too: use a location condition (arrive/leave) under *Turn on automatically* instead of a time period. Modes and Routines needs One UI 5 or later; older Samsung phones have it under the name Bixby Routines.
Other Android phones (Pixel, Motorola, OnePlus)
Stock Android has no built-in scheduled-wallpaper setting. Honest options:
- Pixel: Google's Modes can schedule Do Not Disturb, but not wallpaper timing. For timed wallpaper on a Pixel you'll need an automation app like Tasker (more setup) or a wallpaper-cycler app.
- Launcher cyclers: Microsoft Launcher's Spotlight, Nova Launcher with a wallpaper-changer plugin, and Action Launcher can rotate wallpapers from a folder on a timer you set.
- Manufacturer tools: Xiaomi, OnePlus and others include their own "Routines"/"Automations"/"Scenes" features — look for them in Settings.
If your phone has none of these, search the Play Store for "automatic wallpaper changer", choose a well-reviewed app, and point it at a folder of your own images. Less seamless than iPhone Shortcuts or Samsung Modes, but it works.
Troubleshooting
My iPhone automation asked me to run it. Ask Before Running is still on. Open Shortcuts → Automation → tap the automation → turn it off and confirm Don't Ask. Apple's own support docs list Time of Day among the automations allowed to run silently.
The automation runs but the wallpaper doesn't change. Check the Set Wallpaper action's image field — it may point at a deleted photo. Also confirm the automation is enabled (Enable This Automation) and the repeat is Daily, not a single date.
Wallpaper looks zoomed or blurry after switching. The image is too small for your screen. Use one matching your phone's resolution — our wallpaper sizing guide has the exact pixel counts — and see the zoomed-wallpaper fix if it keeps cropping.
My Samsung mode changes settings I didn't want. A Mode applies everything in its setup, not just wallpaper. Leave every other action (sound, brightness, DND) untouched so the mode changes nothing else.
Modes and Routines isn't on my Samsung. It needs One UI 5+. Check Settings → About phone → Software information. On older phones, look for Bixby Routines instead.
Sunrise/sunset triggers are slightly off. iPhone uses your location from the Weather app. Make sure Location Services are on for Weather and your location is correct.
FAQ
Does scheduled wallpaper drain the battery?
Practically none. The automation runs for a second at the scheduled time, then stops.
Can an App Store app change my iPhone wallpaper automatically?
No. Apple blocks it, which is why the Shortcuts automation is the way. Wallpaper apps can only open your settings for a manual tap.
Can I automate Lock Screen and Home Screen separately?
Yes. On iPhone, add two Set Wallpaper actions with different images and different screens. On Samsung, each Mode has separate home-screen and lock-screen picks.
Will it run when the phone is locked?
Yes — with Ask Before Running off, Time-of-Day automations run in the background on a locked screen.
Limitations
- iOS has no hourly repeat. Smooth hourly rotation isn't possible; stack multiple time automations or use a random-image shortcut once a day.
- One Samsung Mode at a time. Keep wallpaper modes in non-overlapping windows (day/evening/night) or they fight each other.
- Menu names move between updates. Samsung relabels these screens between One UI versions; labels may differ slightly on your phone.
- Third-party Android apps need permissions. Cycler apps need media access and background-run permission; aggressive battery optimization can kill their timers.
- Images change, not lock-screen style. Clock, widgets and depth effects stay as set; the automation only swaps the photo.
Keep customizing
- How to Set a Random iPhone Wallpaper That Shuffles Automatically — native shuffle frequency settings.
- Best Wallpaper Size for Android and iPhone — exact resolutions so scheduled wallpapers look sharp.
- Why Your Wallpaper Looks Zoomed In (and How to Fix It) — stop auto-applied images from cropping badly.
- How to Turn Off the iPhone Home Screen Wallpaper Blur — keep your scheduled look crisp behind icons.
- How to Set Different Home and Lock Screen Wallpapers on Samsung — pair your modes with matching per-screen images.