Show HN: I reverse engineered Apple's video wallpapers

The author reverse-engineered Apple's video wallpaper system to create Phosphene, an open-source tool that allows custom videos to play continuously on the macOS desktop (not just the lock screen). The tool uses the WallpaperExtensionKit.framework and includes a companion app for adding videos, while intelligently managing playback based on thermal state, battery, brightness, and window occlusion. The project was initially intended for sale but was open-sourced due to strong existing competition.

Ever since Apple introduced their video wallpapers I wanted to be able to put custom videos there. I decided to reverse engineer and see what I can do. I built Phosphene to sell it, but the existing competitors were polished enough that the time it would have taken to catch up wasn't going to pay off. So I'm open-sourcing it. WallpaperExtensionKit.framework is what powers macOS wallpapers. It controls what’s shows in the Settings app. It took a lot of trial and error to replicate the behavior, but the result is that your custom wallpapers appear alongside everything else. I wanted to have an “add” button there too, but I couldn’t find a way to do so, so there’s a companion app that will put your video where it needs to be. Unlike Apple's Aerials, the video keeps playing on the desktop not just the lock screen . The renderer drives AVSampleBufferDisplayLayer directly with PTS-offset gapless looping, and pauses or downshifts based on thermal state, battery level, brightness, and window occlusion. It’s free and works well. Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48215979 Points: 411 Comments: 103