Live Wallpapers: Should You Have Them?

Live wallpapers were a rage when they were launched around seven years back. As expected, a lot of us drooled over the fresh and new look it brought to our Android phones. And while these wallpapers did give a lively vibe to the otherwise plain phone, soon the hype fizzled out. The reason, you might ask? Battery drain.

While the wallpapers of the good ol’ days were definitely seen as a breakthrough, they turned out to be huge guzzlers of the battery juice.

I remember my HTC Sensation turn into a power hungry device when I turned on the famous Sense Live wallpaper. The horror of sticking the phone to the power outlet every now and then just to see raindrops sliding down my screen was enough to kick it out, and I resorted back to the standard static wallpapers. That was 6 years ago and thankfully the scene has changed so much in these years.

The war of the power banks: Anker PowerCore vs. PowerCore+

Are Today’s Live Wallpapers Optimized?

Nowadays most of the live wallpapers are not only coded right but are also well optimized. Of course, there are apps still floating around the Play Store with low-quality graphics or causing the system to slow down. But with the right choice of apps, you won’t even notice the battery drain.

So, coming down to the most important question, do live wallpapers eat up battery? Yes, they do. But they do it just like any other app. Surely, you wouldn’t want to compare it with static wallpapers or a messaging app, which would be unfair in my opinion.

After all, we have to cut some slack for the effort it puts into making an interesting screen. So depending on the type of wallpaper app, it might use a phone’s built-in accelerometer or might pull data from the weather app. And the battery consumption would depend on it. But then, remember optimized apps?

Is the Battery Consumption Huge?

The battery consumption has reduced dramatically over the years and if you compare it, the popular live wallpaper apps consume about 2-4% more battery than its static counterpart. The above score is for most of the popular ones out there like the Muzei Live Wallpaper or the Minima Live Wallpaper app.

Another dictator in the field of battery consumption is how much the wallpaper is being used.

If it remains active only during the time you gaze on it, then the battery consumption will be in the lower limits.

However, if your wallpaper camouflages its look according to the color of the open app, then that might be a reason for the battery drain. Plus, some camera also uses the built-in camera.

If you see a decline in the battery life you can quickly catch the culprit in the settings menu. Head out to Settings > Battery to see the percentage of consumption. If it’s alarmingly high, uninstall the app. If it’s within the threshold of 5%, consider it as a safe app.

Here are a few live wallpaper apps to boost your home screen.

So, Should You Go for Live Wallpapers?

I say that you should. Given that most of the apps are so optimized and battery friendly, a live wallpaper wouldn’t be a burden on your battery life or on the RAM. Now that most of the phones ship with considerably good configurations and better displays. And well, you always have the option of uninstalling one if you are not happy with it (just in case).

Also Read: 3 Tips to Extend Battery Life on an AMOLED Android Device