iOS 26 adds a fun way to personalize your iPhone wallpaper, here’s how to use it

iOS 26 continues to add many new ways to personalize your iPhone, but one of my favorites was in the first version 26.0: 3D space wallpapers. Here’s how to use the feature.

How to Apply a 3D Space Effect to Your iPhone Wallpaper in iOS 26

Your iPhone wallpaper is one of the best ways to personalize the device for you. And in iOS 26, Apple introduced a fun new 3D effect for wallpapers.

According to Apple’s official release notes for iOS 26:

Space Scenes let you add a new 3D effect to your photo wallpapers, bringing them to life when you move your iPhone

Here’s an example of what this looks like in practice:

The same effect is also built into the Photos app in iOS 26 and the popular Photos home screen widget.

In my experience, this 3D space effect really shines when applied to your iPhone wallpaper.

When creating a new wallpaper in iOS 26, you’ll see a row of suggested wallpapers under the “Space Scenes” heading. If one of them catches you, you can tap to select it and the spatial effect will automatically be applied.

But if you want, you can also manually select almost any picture in your Apple Photos library to get a 3D effect when used as wallpaper.

Just follow these steps:

1. In Settings ⇾ Wallpaper, tap the “Add new wallpaper” button.
2. Tap “Photos” at the top left
3. Choose the photo you want to use
4. Tap the geometric photo icon near the bottom right of the screen (photo above)
5. Once the spatial scene is generated, test the effect by moving your iPhone from side to side
6. Tap “Add” to save the wallpaper

It’s a small, but fun touch to bring your wallpaper to life every time you pick up your iPhone.

Are you currently using the 3D space effect for your iPhone wallpaper? If not, why not? Let us know in the comments.

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